While sailing a few days ago somewhat overpowered on a 5.8 (there were other
sailors powered on 5.0s) on my Seatrend 9'5 w/ 14" Rainbow Litespeed fin, I
found myself occasionally starting to spin out. (Other possibly relevant
data - I weight 185lbs and there was substantial chop on the day in question.)
I was always able to recover by tucking my back leg in and heading slightly
off the wind, but I'm wondering what steps I can take to reduce the problem.
It happened to me four times over a full day's sailing so I wouldn't say that
it is interfering with my fun, but it is a little disconcerting to find
oneself going sideways. :-) Would moving my fin back help? There is room to go
one more inch back. I wasn't having problems closing the gap but then I was
running with the mast a little forward since I was overpowered. Would moving
the fin all the way back help with the spinout problem (and maybe allow me to
move the mast further back and hopefully pick up a bit more speed at the
same time)? I was also feeling that I had too much fin - could this be a
contributor to the problem?
Also (and perhaps in particular), is there something I might be doing wrong
wrt my technique which would be likely to induce spinout? (Guesses would be
welcome - what things should one be sure NOT to do?)
TIA for any advice!
Eric
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(613) 591-0931