It's starting to pick up again here, and I went out a couple days recently in pretty much dead-on onshore waves.
I used my Dyno 115L with stock thruster arrangement. I've been told that it would've been better to go for a larger single to get planing earlier/faster to get out.
Most of my time was caught on the inside, as I kept getting trapped between shallows when trying to push downwind to get going and if I did get going, I was 50/50 getting thrashed in the breaks. Was using a 5.0 the second day and was mostly powered/overpowered in gusts but was suffering/falling off in the lulls. The first day I was out with a 6.6. Guys were out on anything from 4.2-5.2 and smaller volume boards than me. I'm ~85kg.
I finally managed to push out after moving further upcurrent from the rip, and when the wind rotated to have just a little bit more sideshore to it, and it was much more pleasant dealing with smoother waves than breaking whitewater.
But, what else can I do? Is single actually better? I've got a 33cm Black Project Kraken that I didn't try (should have), and I've also got a 102l JP freewave with a 29cm MFC.
Bigger main fin AND the sides.
And biggest wave board you gave.
Speed is your friend, pinching into the whitewater, climbing over, then bearing off on the green behind the froth, to pick up speed again.
You don't want top speed, you want no drift downwind and extra upwind pinching thrust.
In onshore wind, FSW or turns freeride is more useful than any size "wave" board.
I'm afraid this is down to technique and practice, not down to equipment.
85kgs isn't heavy and 115ltres should mean you have plenty of float.
The Dyno is an early planing board and so if other sailors were on 5.2m rigs and smaller then why were you on a huge 6.6m sail?
Using such a big rig when there are waves and a shorebreak doesn't make things any easier.
I'd suggest trying again with a smaller sail and keep the fins as they are - the Dynos come with plenty of fin area, as supplied.
I'd also suggest some practice sessions on flatter water if you can find some.
Currents do make it hard to plane on any board, but the technique is to pump the sail and to unweight the tail of the board.
If it's a longshore current by the beach shorebreak then one trick is to slog out through that before bearing away in the less-rippy water further out.
Good luck. It'll come with practice.
Thanks guys. That first post was unclear.
Thursday I was on a 6.6 and it was about the right size. Others were close. Friday I was out on a 5.0 and I saw 4.2-5.3s, and mostly felt powered enough to plane other than accelerating through the rip current, with some lulls that had me waiting to waterstart between gusts that were getting to be overpowered.
Flat water I can usually get it going fairly well, even pumping it, but usually then I don't have to deal with shore break to catch small waves, I can just sail out of the protection of the sand bar. I guess these conditions are unusual as I've taken it out before and caught some smaller waves but it was about 45deg side/on and didn't really have much of a problem getting through the inside.
There was a shallow part, then a deeper channel followed by the sandbar further out. That deep channel is where the rip got strong. I think there was a change in the ground shape downstream making the waves break larger/more powerful where I got caught as well. I tried to stay away but kept getting pushed down that way.
45 degrees cross onshore is tough. You have to bear off to plane and gain speed quickly before bearing up to get out past the waves. I usually slog out straight into the waves until I'm certain I'm in deep enough water for my fins, then I'll bear off and pump to plane.
Aeroegnr it depends on what you want to do. I have a 105 Dyno and am 70kg. Love the extra float and early planing it gives me. My thruster main is 22cm. I wouldn't go much bigger than that - stock feels pretty right for me. When I have used a bigger main, I don't feel the planing threshold drops much as the 3 fins feel too draggy? If I need more grunt to get out the back, then I'll use a 34cm single with the side fin slots blanked out as others have suggested to you. It will get me planing in wind of a few knots less. So if you're struggling to get planing and are spending lots of time wallowing, put the bigger single in and blast out. But know that you'll lose a bit of manouverability, even if the big single has a fair bit of rake in it. I'd rather be on the plane most of the time and have a little less in manouvers than wallow most of the way out and have to pump like buggery to get a wave. But that's me.
