Tacking and wind direction

Question
Hi !
I usually practice windsurfing on a bay which opens  on a large lake.
Before I ask my question, I have to give you a brief description of the lay of the bay.

THe bay is probably 2-300 hundred ft across,it widens into open waters almost due  North ( about a couple 100 ft to the right of where I launch ) and ends in shallows and marshes to the South.
The only place where I can launch the windsurfer is a  beach located on the East side of the bay and  very close to the itssouthern end .The prevailing winds are  from the West, i.e.  the opposite side from  where I launch. Usually the westerly winds are considered the most suitable for windsurfing in this spot.

Yesterday I had no problem in tacking across the bay , even  with moderate  westerly winds and I was moving pretty well without drifting ( I am sort of a quasi-beginner, with  180 lt Starboard Rio with a daggerboard and a 7.6 sail).
However, when the winds changed from Westerly to N/North-westerly( practically almost from due North) and started blowing right into the southern end of the bay and I tried to tack around the new North/South axis of the wind direction in order to stay away from the shallows and head back towards the open water,  I could no longer do the  tacking  and I kept drifting and drifting into the shallows . Yet the winds were much stronger than what they were when they were blowing from West and the tacking should have been even easier and swifter than before.
I cannot understand why the force of the small waves whippped by wind towards the shallows always carried me with them  and seemed to overcome my efforts to harness the wind by tacking off the shore. Why was I drifting and  unable to tack when the winds changed, even though they were considerably stronger?

Do I have to attribute this only to  my inexperience or  is there perhaps an explanation in terms of basic principles of physics ?

I'd appreciate your comments on this


Thank you

Franco

Answer
Hey Franco,

It sounds like you were trying to go upwind too tightly to the wind. This will cause stalling and the wind/waves will push you downwind. Try going offwind a bit more to get your board speed up and once up to max speed for the winds, start pointing upwind. You can go upwind a lot farther with some speed than when going slow.

Check out www.windsurfingmag.com in the instructional area for some good upwind advice. You will need to read a few of the articles to get the maximum information. Another idea is to maybe get a video that covers basic to intermediate sailing. Peter Hart has some great instructional videos. Just put his name into Google and you will find a number of places to purchase his videos. These are a great way to get the techniques in your head so you can use them on the water.

Hope this helps.
Keep on sailing,
Windlover