Railing a raceboard – The key to good Pointing

The art of railing a race board is one of the keys to upwind success as it delivers critical extra height compared to riding the board flat. If you are to be a successful “uphill” Raceboard sailor you will need to master this in all wind conditions. While there is no hard and fast rules on how to do it and different people have different techniques the following points may help.

1. PLANNING CONDITIONS
In over powered conditions the board may want to rail up on its own. If this is the case you will need to control and work with this through moderation of your daggerboard position. However, in moderate conditions you will often need to encourage and maintain the board on its rail. To do this, place your front foot in the straps and your back foot across the centre line of the board and gently push down. As the board rails up your back foot goes into the straps. From here you need to maintain the railing position from your feet in the straps. This is generally possible through a combination of down would pressure with your toes and lifting in the straps.

Railing a longboard windsurfer

This process can be assisted by marginally bearing away and going for speed before you rail the board up. As the board rails up head up to your transit line and keep pushing for height and board speed. At the same time you will also need to ensure that your rig handling is also maximising your railing opportunity. Stand square to the rig with no twisting, sheet in and put your weight in the harness and your body over the water.

2. LIGHT WIND CONDITIONS
In light conditions the technique is generally the same except that you will need to place more down force to dig the leeward edge in as the board will not want to naturally do it on its own. Your back foot is also likely to permanently need to be applying the down force rather then getting into the straps. Light conditions mean that you will need to concentrate to ensure that you continually rail the board. Don’t make big steps in light conditions, subtlety applying leeward pressure with your toes is the key.

While there is no exact and correct way of ensuring that the board is railing you will need to find a technique that works for you. The instructions above are a starting point for railing your Raceboard. Practice and see what works for you. If this all sounds too technical look at the sailors in the top of your fleet, who undoubtedly are good railers, see what they do and copy them.