Joe, unless I have the terminology wrong I did mean Planing not Surfing. As it was explained to me, surfing is short bursts of speed in excess of hull speed as the boat is pushed by the waves. Planing is sustained speeds in excess of hull speed as the boat climbs out of displacement mode and out runs its bow wave.
This boat will plane in most conditions with wind speeds as low as 10 knts true. Remember, the dry displacement of this boat is only about 2700lbs with 1800 of that in the bulb. We have over 600sf upwind and about double that down. We were running up and over the waves.
If you're speeding down the face of a wave and jamming your bow into the trough or back of the next wave... gravity, wave power and wind are moving the boat... not just wind. When you plane, it's just the wind powering you out of the bow wave... it can be done on any point of sail.
Generally speaking... when you are riding waves downwind, yes, even out running them, you are "surfing"... but hey.... call it what you want... but please, I'm the last guy you want to lecture on "hull speed" and "displacement mode"
When I sailed my Nacra in the ocean I always looked for waves to surf and give me extra power. In a flat bay you had to rely on wind and hull design to get the boat moving. In the ocean you can use the power of the wave... like a turbo. If your are nose diving your vessel ... then you are not planing... other wise you wouldn't be nose diving (surfers call it "pearling").. cat sailers call the result of nose diving a "pitch pole"... but anyway.. if the boat starts nose diving you must move the ballast aft, just as you would when planing... but you must also turn the boat so it goes ACROSS the face of the wave ... this can be a very daunting maneuver and requires some skill to avoid broaching...... but interestingly, the boat will pick up speed dramatically .... to the extreme.. so.. the strategy is to surf diagonally down the face of the wave, then straight up the back to the crest.. then diagonally down the next face.... like an "S" pattern.... (BTW this pattern is also a good strategy when sailng upwind in choppy conditions or steep faced waves.. so you don't lose your apparent wind or slam the hull down over the crest.)
Next time you're out in a bad ass speedy sport boat.. try the "S" pattern when sailing in waves... you'll be stoked.
