Nationals Downunder Highlights and Lessons Learnt The Australian National Windfoiling Championships were held at RQYS earlier in February and it was great to see just how much the level of sailing has improved since 2019!
Full results here:
app.sailsys.com.au/club/25/results/series/2194/pointscore?view=individual&handicap=s&division=5799A few Formula Foil riders came up with me, Dave, Roger, Tom, and the iQ crew including Will, Grae, Amelia, Andre, Max, Henry, Nic, Rohan. There were also a few from WA including Harry... and a bunch of local sailors, but due to the cyclones over the tropcis, trips to/from NZ were cancelled, reducing the fleet sadly. Keith was over from Malaysia and Steve Allen showed up too! There was a good fleet of just over 40 across iQ Men, Women, Junior and Formula Foil.
Day 1 Upwind course racing. We had a 15-22 knot breeze but some of the gusts felt like 25. the swell upwind was manageable and near the top mark the downwind started off quite fun. I'd use maybe 50% of available power and send it downwind. until about half way when after a series of catapults I whimped out, feathered the sail and "survived" the 1m steep and short swell to the bottom mark. Definitely not my proudest moment. The front runners were powering upwind (my best run was 60 late to the top mark!) and downwind they seemed to just eat the swell, finding smooth water and sailing fully committed all the way to the gybes and around the mark.
One downwind run near the gate I was hurtling downwind and tapped the top of a swell. then 0.1 second later the foil pierced through and I was catapulted (again). I didn't stop to watch any of the successful riders but I can only imagine they were sailing a shallower angle downwind and rolling the board through the swell. Oh and a friendly hammerhead showed me the original foil design as S/he swam past. Scary!
One start sequence (maybe race 3 or 5, I can't rememmber) and on approach to the line two Sydney regulars were pushing each other up so hard they ended up behind the start boat nearly stalled before pivoting downwind and starting late behind me... Will won most of the races with Grae, Harry, Steve and local Hamish close behind in Fleet A.
Day 2. Light wind Slalom The bay settled down overnight and on Saturday we had a nice flat harbour with 6-12 knots. This was my first attempt at a tactical 2 gybe 3 mark downwind slalom course. and I wasn't alone as a lot of riders missed the course!
* Start on starboard Reach to round mark1 to port
* Gybe sometime later to pass mark 2 also to port (or do 3 gybes to track inside the course marks)
* Reach to starboard mark 3 and gybe for the finish line on starboard.
The course was a long way upwind and after yesterdays experience I under-rigged, 9.0 sail and 900 wide foil which proved to be too small, even with a -1? power shim.
There were 2 races with 10-12 knots that got exciting but 2 others I struggled to finish and four I abandoned. The 1000 wide Patrik is very sticky below 6 knots board speed!
The smart riders got foiling around the start sequence, rode away from the line until about 90s to go, AVOIDED the start triangle, sailed backwards towards the sand bars, gybed about 45s to go and hit the line on the foil at speed... Grae, Steve, Harry, Hamish and Will getting the best out of the day in the fleet A.
Day 3. Upwind Course Racing Final Sunday and the start was delayed a few hours. Finally the start was called and I got a decent start flying upwind just behind the iq team. I had better angles than some thanks to the 1000 front wing and 10.0, but Dave was hot on my heels. Having him so close trying to punch above me gave me the incentive I needed to sail better! Sheeting in a bit tighter and standing the sail more upright I gained maybe half a knot and so Dave changed tactics trying to accelerate below me. After our tacks Dave found himself nearly a km downwind (his assessment) while I managed to point higher and made it to the top mark. I made it back around to the upwind mark after some slow tacks but the wind died as I rounded the top mark. Sailing conservatively I broadened up my reach and sailed far off course. past my first gybes point. past my estimate of the ideal gybe lay-line. until I had a minor gust. Gybing I fell to the water and the board stuck as I hadn't got the sail around. With no wind to refill the sail after stalling I was dead in the water. I made it downwind with 5 more pumping attempts but was over the line outside the 10 minute window (only 8 made it in time!).
According to Roger, Harry did a fully flying tack mid-race to pull out a 100+m lead over Steve Allen!
So the flying tack is confirmed for a national race event and not just a snapchat meme! Harry ended up winning with Hamish, MattQ and a bunch of lighter locals and Grae (just) the only 8 to finish the race! The wind really died in the last 10 minutes.
Mitch Pearson
> 9 months ago, 14 Sep 2022
