Hi Jerry,

In 5 min on the water you'd get the hang of it. I'll try to explain.

When a swell begins to push the boat, it tends to turn the boat up wind (when waves/swells are behind, usually the wind is also). So as the boats "catches" the wave and begins to pick up speed, you absolutely must steer more squarely down the wave to avoid broaching (which I have had happen to me, just like Wouter). Depending on the wind speed, you may going too slow and eventually loose the wave (ie the wave is going faster than you); or you may be going about the same speed as the wave and just surf it; or you may be going faster than the wave and punch into the one in front of you or (if it is a large swell) sail up the back of it like going uphill. The last situation--going faster than the waves--is the most exciting.

I've found that when you are going faster than the wave you've got to really be on your toes and do a lot of steering. In that situation, I surf down the face of the wave and when nearing the trough--but before loosing speed going up the back of the next wave--I feather back onto the face of the wave diagnally rather than trying to sail uphill. Sometimes you can get the angle just right and stay on the face of the wave for a long time. It allows you to sail downhill, which is very fast. Of course in certain racing conditions you may not be able to hold the right course and may need to sail over some waves to lay a mark. But the idea is to sail downhill as much as possible.

Sailing "downhill" in 2 foot windswell is fun; but doing it in 10 foot ocean rollers is something you'll never forget!