Hey so thinking of entering sail townsville with a flyrace race board I do have a new directional board but have not mastered tacks and that yet.. Obviously wasn't too serious on being competitive but thought it would be good to just get involved... Then work up to the directional.. My questions are..
This should be all legit for racing yeh?
And has anyone actually ever tried competing with one of these boards?
Is it worth getting involved with this sorta gear , or just wait till I got the directional sorted...?
I could get around the track no problems so I thought gotta start some where...

Obviously these type of boards won't be as fast but a fair bit easier in my opinion, might be good to get new people hooked.

Mate come up and use your raceboard! Most of us fall on tacks. U be much quicker on fb than twintip.
I cldnt tack when I entered my first regatta in Melbourne last year..

See you in Townsville. Yeww

I used to think that about starting on a twin tip, I actually made one a couple of years ago, short coarse and upwind no to many issues, but downwind and big waves a problem with a big flat twin tip going fast, remember your not in flat water.

If you wanna get into racing then using a twin tip is only delaying the inevitable, bite the bullet, come up with your race board and just doit, the sooner you start learning the better, you have a month, that should be enough time to practice and get at least 30% of your tacks and gybes.

Remember on an upwind beat from the start line you may only do two tacks to get around the top mark so while it is important to do them good, it's not the end of the world, the bottom half the fleet will be falling of on some tacks and even the pointy end will still fall off from time to time.

At Sail Brisbane at easter we had all levels of skill and everyone had someone to compete with around the course and we all had a great time.
Most came away with something learned and something to learn and a little better for the experience

Yeh the plan is to get onto the rrd race board but only used it once and yeh only 1 month left and with work and bad winter conditions I doubt I will get much more practise in. I mean I was even struggling to go downwind properly... That's why I thought I might be better off trying the flyrace as its a lot easier with little prep time, and it's not just any twin tip it goes upwind so well I am pretty sure it's on the list of registered production boards allowed for racing, thats why i wondered if anyone has actually tried racing them, I thought on a short course they would be semi competitive especially if some people are falling off.

but yeh thanks for the heads up on the lack of flat water up there, I was going to ask that.. That's an issue.

I guess I will see how I go over the next month, but I wasn't going to try it unless I could get round the track sort of decently, I don't mind crash tracking.. But if I can't sail all directions confidently might just be better of practising more before trying a regatta.

My understanding - they are legal and you can compete on them. They fit in the box. Would be interesting to see how they stack up against the raceboards. Having said that - I agree 100% with above comments. The best way to improve with your raceboard is to come to an event and go on it. You will learn more at one event than months of practicing by yourself. Don't worry about falling off - most of us have that down to an artform and you will be in good company.

I can't tac either bud, I'll be there on my race board.

I will be there as well on my race board and definitely can't tack....was expecting to get a bit more practice in before hand but that did not happen. Join the rest of us, at least the water will be warm when you do swim

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flybywire said..

I will be there as well on my race board and definitely can't tack....was expecting to get a bit more practice in before hand but that did not happen. Join the rest of us, at least the water will be warm when you do swim

haha thats it mate at least water is warm and we dont mind falling in ;)

There were a few Flyrace's being used in the men's PKRA Slalom in Germany last week. You can see how they did at slalom. They needed the daggerboard fin to get upwind to the start of the race.

Bonninger dominated the women's races with a flysurfer kite and a slalom race board.

The flyrace isn't competitive in course racing, but you could argue that if you already own one, using it in your first few races would allow you to learn how to handle the start and picking lay-lines etc.

I guess that was the question... I wonder if I am better off using the flyrace and spending more time racing or the RRD raceboard and more time swimming.. I was sorta thinking might be better off on the flyrace better experience to be had in starting, laylines, mark roundings and just generally being involved rather than swimming more of the time.. Then practice solo riding the big board...

How rough is the water up there??

I reckon if you got both boards with you will be the go. Regattas are mostly about gaining experience. I had lots of dnf in my first one and it was still a blast. Even with the fly race you will mostly likely pass people that crash a bit and u can get a feel for starts and how it all works.

Water is rather flat if 15knts. Choppy in 20-25 but manageable.

ssp83,
If you've got the latest RRD race board, the guy in the mustard coloured wetsuit does well against the top guys on one in this series of races, and does some fast manoeuvring on it near 7 minutes in.
It also shows how they signal that they are going to tack etc. - good vid to see what goes on.

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terminal said..

ssp83,
It also shows how they signal that they are going to tack etc. - good vid to see what goes on.

They only signal because they are getting to close to the shore (obstruction) , anywhere else in open water you cant expect a starboard tacker to help you too much ;)