Outhaul

Question
Hi there,

I'm a fairly experienced Dinghy sailer, but have recently fallen in love with Windsurfing.

I've never been shown how to rig the board properly, so have just been trying different things to see what works. I'm getting good sail shape, by pulling on LOADS of downhaul, but I can't work out how much outhaul I should pull on.

My sail has 6 battens.

One of the guys at the lake just told me to pull on as much as outhaul as I could, but this seems to make the sail ridiculously flat.

A internet site recommends pulling on lots of outhaul, fitting and tightening the battens, and then letting the outhaul off.

What should I do?

Many thanks in advance!

Answer
Hey Rich,

First, welcome to windsurfing.

Most newer sails without cambers tend to want to be somewhat flatter than older sails. Thus the tendency to rig flatter. Some folks just do it that way because someone said to. Doesn't mean that it is correct.

Loads of downhaul is good. Watch the top of your sail and when the leech starts getting a bit floppy, your close to good. A little tighter for lighter winds, looser for higher winds.

As for the outhaul, the internet sight is more correct. Pull it out tight and tighten the battens. If you have cambers, be sure they are placed on the mast and snug them down. You want to remove most of the wrinkles in the batten pockets and the sail. Now, release the outhaul and adjust your boom end in towards the sail until there is about 1-2" of gap. Retighten the outhaul. You should have some shape in the sail without it being too flat. Stand the sail up and flip the sail like you are tacking. Be sure the battens (especially any cambered ones) rotate fairly easily. You can add more outhaul as the winds increase or release some for lighter winds.

Hope this helps.
Keep on sailing,
Windlover