At the moment we're practicing a bit on a (sea) beach start without rudders. (we want to attent to the Round of Texel (NL) in June but haven't got many sea experience)

So when we start from the beach (at the moment the beach from our lake) we want to use the "power of the sails" for steering instead of the rudders. So we start with a closed jib, and a open main with the traveler in the far end corner. Wind is coming in 90 degrees on the beach.

Now I would expect the boat to float/sail away from the wind, but instead our boat luffs up against the wind (every single time, in whatever position we start)

What is happening here? Why doesn't this work out for us? The only way we can make it work, is with the help of 1 (loose) rudder

Where is your weight on the boat? Boards part way down or all the way up?

Inter 18?

Have you tried to just sail the boat without rudders yet? You will need to get a board down asap. You need to have something to balance the sail plan over.

Leaving the beach without either daggers or rudders in the water is almost impossible.
Normal thing to do is to have the rudders just hanging down so you can steer a little,
crew will put a little bit of board down as soon as you leave the beach and depending
on the wind angle hold the board in your hand so that you can pull it out if needed (dont want to break it when you get pushed back onto the beach!).
Jib should be a little bit tight and mainsheet traveler out, like you described.
Sometimes the wind on Texel is offshore, than you just push of and set the spinnaker

In that case, I usually get the jib CRANKED on hard and as much daggerboard as you feel safe with. The boat should be easy to control that way and I usually find that I need to travel in to the hiking strap and put a little sheet on to balance the boat. Daggerboard may be your problem - make sure to get enough in the water to get a bite. I drop the rudders off their upper lock (Nacra style) and let them float in the water behind the boat. I'm also careful to watch the water flow and if a sizeable wave gets the boat and starts to back it down, I pull hard on the cross bar to try and keep the rudders at the top of the water and from being dragged down where they might catch the sand and get damaged. I've (knock on wood) never broken a rudder or casting due to a beach launch.

@ Jake, yes it's the Inter 18

@ Orphan, 1 sitting in front of the mast, the other at the rear beam

@ Orphan & Catman, This might be it. We do lower them, but maybe not enough/ too late??

@ Tony: Really? You go out on the spi?

So to summarize:It is acceptable to use one or two dragging rudders, we should lower the boards as soon and as far as possible.

Thanks again for the usefull help!

Arjan, have a look again to my vid with a beachstart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMKThlRmCGE&list=ULfbpc_evUIHE

Skip to about 3 minutes in the video.

In the footage you can see that there was a northern wind from the right and I also had to start even close to a breakwater on the right hand. You can see the cat wants to go all the time to the right, luffing up.
Which is your problem too.

So, jib tight, main open (but not completly because otherwise I don't have driving sailpower anymore).
Rudders are hanging loose, which means they are floating horizontaly behind the transom.

Now I have to pull hard on the stick in order to course straight to the waves. The trick is to open your main so far that you can just manage this weather helm (which can be enormous) and still have enough forward speed.

It means your rudder system must be able to withstand these powers too!

In the vid you see that after passing the break I can pull the rudderblades down with a rope just behind the mast.
So, all the time I'm near the front luff-stay, holding my balance with my free hand.

Passing a break like this, is daily stuff for me; because of the breakwaters with 100 m. distance between them I have no space for starting on a broader reach and making speed. Sometimes with the wind cross on-shore I even have to start like this on a close-reach or closehauled.
Very nerve breaking when you see the breakwater coming nearer when you are pushed back by some breaking waves.

The trick is to keep your speed and steer the cat into the wind when climbing a wave and steering away as soon as you have reached the wavetop.

By the way, beach starting with a cross-offshore wind or even a full offshore wind (and waves), is even harder because even with a fully open main the weather helm is enormous.

It all needs exercise!

and yeah - use the chute whenever it's possible. That makes the beach launch much easier.

The problem with to much weight forward is the boat will windvane(pivot point is the bows). Keep the crew in the center of the boat until a wave comes then move forward only if the wave is large enough to worry about flipping backwards.

Also keep in mind that you don't need to be in the surf to practice sailing the boat without rudders. Just try it next time you out in open water and get a feel for what it's like with boards, no boards, rudders, etc.

We did try indeed last saturday without the surf, and yes doing it some rudder and a little board in helps! We didn't knew that was "allowed", but it seems logical when you keep a forward speed.

@ Nothsea... Nice video! Also interesting to see you have to rig the whole boat every time...