Kit problems: loud flappy leech, unwieldy board

Hi everyone,

LONG POST WARNING!

TL;DR:
- too much front foot pressure + catapult feeling
- loud flappy leech between top 2 battens
- board bouncing all over the place

Full post:

I recently had 2 sessions on my 4.2 approx 2003 NP Expression (5 batten crossover sail) with my 94L 2013 Kode with 28cm freewave fin.
I was somewhat overpowered during both sessions.
I am 80kg.

I've not upgraded my 4.2 as I rarely use it hence why it is a bit old. It is in good condition.

The Kode works well for me as I sail in the bay in Melbourne and I'm also sailing 1-3ft waves outside the bay.
This is my smallest board.

There are 3 problems which I have been having which I'm hoping you can help me out with:

1) Loud flappy leech

I'm using a NP X9 370 wave mast (unsure of year but probably 2010+) with 24cm extension which is 2cm more than on the sail specs. The reason I use an extra 2cm extention is that the leech remains tight with if rigged to the specs.
Now the first issue is the leech, namely between the top 2 battens which flicks in the wind and makes lots of noise! It sounds quite unhealthy and is quite distracting...

- Should I be worried or just deal with it as I don't use the sail often?
- Is it likely that the mast isn't 100% compatible due to the age difference with the sail?

2) Sail pulling forward and over the boom, wayyyy too much front foot pressure

I have been learning to sail off the front foot to improve my marginal wind sailing and to use smaller sails.
However (!), with this setup all the power seemed to go straight through my front foot and pulling over the boom in the harness. The outside of my front foot was being pushed into the front of the front footstraps, causing pain and discomfort. Little to no pressure on back foot, feeling like I was going to get catapulted.

I tried lowering the boom but all this did was stick the board flat to the water and make it feel very slow and heavy.
Can't remember if I tried moving the mast track back.

- Could this also be related to the mast/sail compatibility? (Leech not releasing etc.)
- Ideas?

3) Bouncy board

The board wasn't tailwalking but was a handful. Bouncing on every piece of chop.
When I manage to get any sort of speed on the way back in to the shore, the speed and chop made for a violent rodeo-style journey.

I don't seem to have this problem when using the board with my 4.7m and 5.7m sails.

- Could a smaller fin help control the board better? (I intend on getting a 24cm for wave riding anyway)
- Is the board too big for the conditions?
- If so, what size would you recomend?

Thanks for your time!

Ride it on the rail. Push into the board with your backfoot heel, the top of the backfoot pushing against the strap (bigger straps help). Keep your legs straight. Move the harness lines 3-5 cm further back (back harness line 1/3 from the mast). It will feel like your front forearm is burning, but it will force you to get your weight forward and after a while it will feel natural, especially when powered up. It will all feel catapulty for a few sessions, then it will feel normal and you'll be able to get away with much smaller fins and you'll just slice through chop upwind.

In 4.2 weather I'm using a 23cm wave fin on a Fsw 78, you really don't need much fin, you'd be plenty powered up I assume. I'd definitely go smaller to help with board control.

sail pulling forward suggests not enough DH, but the noisy leach can be a sign of too much DH. maybe you need to look at mast compatibility. tuning can be a challenge on gear / sail you use once in a blue moon.

Thank you everyone for all the tips.

Lots of tuning to try! I forget about these things when I've gotten used to my kit and know how to rig it.

Select to expand quote

Roy said..
PPB gets pretty choppy when its windy and a smaller board would probably help. I would usually use my 85lt with a 4.2 (I'm 87 kgs), although sometimes I run a larger board when the water is flatter & gusty (usually when its a Northerly!).

As for the sail, the Expression was also NP's "freestyle" wave sail at the time and freestyle sails do tend to be more bottom end orientated with a tighter leach in order to get going with the smallest sail possible (although this is a bit of a generalisation). Therefore you might find if you rig your sail to the spec's (i.e. with the tighter leach) the wind range might be more similar to your 4.7 especially if your 4.7 is a top-end orientated sail.

Perhaps you should ask a few people at the beach next time you a sailing.....I'm sure you will get plenty of opinions

I'm getting back into B & J and using older sails ( 2008 Sailworks Hucker ) on a modern mast ( 2017 Severne 430 SDM ) . I had to add heaps of extra downhaul to get the sail to look right . I assume the mast is the wrong bend curve or too stiff.. maybe that's part of your problem?

I reckon my NP Search from that era looks pretty good on a Severne 430 RDM.