Steering: Falling off and heading up

What to do if the board doesn't go where you want it to? Steer it! You go "straight" when you are "perpendicular" to the wind on a beam reach course (picture in the middle).

 

Falling off

Now to fall-off leewards "with" the wind, route to the left to a broad reach course here, slide your back hand a bit further down the boom and slightly hold tight. Hereby, lean the rig in direction of the mast to a certain degree, as if you wanted to extend your boom towards the front that way. By doing so, weight the back foot a little bit more, and your board will already turn to leeward (left picture).

 

Heading up

To direct the board to windward "into" the wind, in this case to head-up to the right to an upwind course, lean the rig towards the back with the arms outstretched. Hereby also weight the back foot. To not cant over backwards, turn your hip a bit forward as a counterweight and your board pilots "into" the wind (right picture).

 



Photos North Sails
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