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Introduction to
Equipment & Wind
(Thanks to http://garnet.berkeley.edu/~wprinz/windsurfing/Terms.html
, with minor additions)
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Mast: The long skinny pole that holds the sail up. It
slides into the luff sleeve of the sail.
Boom: The wishbone-shaped structure that goes around each
side of the sail and holds the sail out from the mast. The boom
attaches to the mast at the boom head, and at the sail at
the clew (both the sail and the boom have a clew).
Sail: A windsurf sail has 3 corners (head, tack, clew)
and 3 slides (luff, leech, foot).
Lines: Three ropes (or 'lines') are attached to the sail. The downhaul
pulls the sail down the mast. It is attached to the tack of the
sail. It is the most important rope for adjusting the sail. The outhaul
pulls the sail out the boom. Finally, your friendly uphaul
is the rope that you use to pull the sail up out of the water. The
inhaul is a line which attaches the boom to the mast at the
boom head.
Battens: flexible plastic strips or tubes that hold the shape
in the sail.
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| The fin (or skeg) and the centerboard (or daggerboard)
provide lateral resistance and keep the board from going sideways.
The universal is a flexible joint that attaches the mast to
the board. The pointy (forward) end of the board is the bow or
nose, the other (back) end is the stern or tail.
The top surface of the board, on which the sailor stands, is
called the deck, while the bottom is, well, the bottom. The
cylindrical piece that fits inside the mast and connects to the
universal joint is called the extension. |
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It is necessary to describe the direction a sailboard is
traveling, relative to the wind direction. When you start
up, you will be on a beam reach. You will notice in the
figure below that you cannot sail directly in the direction that
the wind is coming from. To get upwind, you will need to sail on a
close reach and zig-zag back and forth (tack).
Sailing directly downwind on a run will give you a tippy
ride, but is a necessary skill to learn in order to master the jibe. |
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Directions on the water can be described in terms relative to
the wind, or relative to 'left' and 'right.' Let's begin with
terms relative to the wind.
The direction from where the wind is blowing is windward.
The direction toward which the wind is blowing is leeward.
To change one's direction to point more toward the wind is to head
up. To change one's direction to point more away from the wind
is to fall off.
Now for left and right. If the wind is coming over the right
side of a sailboard, and therefore the sailor's right hand is
forward, the sailboard is on starboard tack. If the wind is
coming over the left side of a sailboard, therefore the sailor's
left hand is forward, the sailboard is on port tack.
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