The general impression is that a sailboard is faster in chop. I have been riding with a GPS recently and I am getting 25-30 kph upwind and 35-45 on a broad reach with a fair bit of tweaking.

This is not super fast, but it's pretty fun.

How fast are other people going in normal 20+ knot open water conditions?

My top speed so far is 38 MPH on my Naish Starship. But I find the flatter the water, the faster I can go. I would think chop would add obstacles to prevent the board from achieving top speed.

I'm yet to see the top guys here regularly post 40kts in chop.
Flat water spots no probs.
You might be able to get some fast peaks in chop coming town the swell/waves but normally I'd say it's slower

I am thinking real world sailing, so moderate chop in open sea. I know people are doing 40knots (and much more) on speed courses but that's not realistic in open waters.

I am thinking of a skilled rider, blasting along on decent performance gear, riding in 18-22 knots, with a cross-onshore wind at an open beach. You'd expect chop around half a metre with the odd metre sized lump. i.e A normal rider's happy riding day.

You could count on one hand

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Gorgo said..
I am thinking real world sailing, so moderate chop in open sea. I know people are doing 40knots (and much more) on speed courses but that's not realistic in open waters.

I am thinking of a skilled rider, blasting along on decent performance gear, riding in 18-22 knots, with a cross-onshore wind at an open beach. You'd expect chop around half a metre with the odd metre sized lump. i.e A normal rider's happy riding day.

You could probably count on one hand the windsurfers in Australia who could approach 40kts in those conditions

Up here on Lake Macquarie out in the open lake in 20 knots, there is a group of us that regularly get low to mid 30knots in chop. Im at the lower end but the more you tweak your gear the easy it becomes, if it's set up perfect you learn to fly over the chop. Its taken me all year but I've finally got it right and it's a blast.

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John340 said..
You could count on one hand

Gorgo said..
I am thinking real world sailing, so moderate chop in open sea. I know people are doing 40knots (and much more) on speed courses but that's not realistic in open waters.

I am thinking of a skilled rider, blasting along on decent performance gear, riding in 18-22 knots, with a cross-onshore wind at an open beach. You'd expect chop around half a metre with the odd metre sized lump. i.e A normal rider's happy riding day.

You could probably count on one hand the windsurfers in Australia who could approach 40kts in those conditions

Definitely the Hobart GPS crew have crazy skills sailing fast in rough conditions.....40 knots at Dorens!!!! that place gets bigger waves that Pozo...


www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Tasmania/New-spot-record-for-Stanley-3rd-place-4534kts/

My average speed on my lake is 26-28 MPH with 2-3 feet of wind chop. I am proud to be able to sail on nicer gear finally, but it's not racing gear by any means. Just Freeride and free wave gear I have. Not into the slalom stuff.

I remember reading this blog: mauivmax.blogspot.com/ a few years ago and thinking wow! these guys are doing almost 40 knots on the northshore of maui!

I tried slalom sailing there 19 years ago and found it very hard to keep my board on the water in the amongst the ocean swell.......so just went wave sailing in the swell instead :-)

In terms of what is believable, I would accept 30 knots, and that is really motoring. Very dubious about 40 knots unless they're on a speed course, or specialist gear in relatively smooth water.

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Gorgo said..
In terms of what is believable, I would accept 30 knots, and that is really motoring. Very dubious about 40 knots unless they're on a speed course, or specialist gear in relatively smooth water.

Yes we live in a post truth world and GPS is a very approximate device ......

Thinlyds, what sort of gear are you using in those conditions for 30+ knots?

Me personally, cruising along in the chop, bit of upwind happening, somewhere between 20knts and 25knts.

Offwind, somewhere between 25 and 30knts, in all honesty closer to 25 than to 30. I'm far from being a fast sailor though.

Someone like Isaac, who is at the pointy end of the slalom fleet in Perth goes quite a bit faster. There's mast top footage of him doing 30+knts off wind, in decent lumped up chop at safety bay last season.

I have never used a device to measure my speed but i know in nuclear conditions i go fully sick fast just short of the point of pooping my pants .

But for me that's quick

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bhc said..
Thinlyds, what sort of gear are you using in those conditions for 30+ knots?

Everyone is on full on slalom boards either Isonics or Exocet RS -- 6.2-7.7 race sails. A few use Vmax fins and some use Vector (personal choice) we're lucky to have a couple of Aussies best sailors in our club and it's amazing watching them just scoot along the top of swell, it sure beats going up and down it. If you check Lake Macquarie on the GPSteam challenge you can see for yourself

At Peli Point in 25 plus knots out in the middle where its real choppy, I'm dubious if even Isaac would achieve much better than 30-31 knots.

On the inside however,its much flatter and mid to high 30's are achievable.

Slowboat was at Melville yesterday - and all he did all day was sail upwind then downwind chasing those stupid artificial times!

Across the wind - looks like he's really slowed up a lot

Vince68,

If you have a smart phone, just down load a GPS app. I downloaded mytracks and use it all the time. It's very accurate and it's free!!! You can set it to Kilometers per hour or MPH. You can also click on different tacks you did and find out which one was your fastest. I put my phone in a dry pack, push record and off I go. Mytracks also has a lot of extra bells and whistles too. Check it out!

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Magic Ride said..
Vince68,

If you have a smart phone, just down load a GPS app. I downloaded mytracks and use it all the time. It's very accurate and it's free!!! You can set it to Kilometers per hour or MPH. You can also click on different tacks you did and find out which one was your fastest. I put my phone in a dry pack, push record and off I go. Mytracks also has a lot of extra bells and whistles too. Check it out!

If by chance water does get into your expensive phone I believe putting it in a bag of dry rice will usually fix it.

I'm with Lyds on this one. The other day I was out on an underpowered Hucker having a bit of bump and jump fun. Steve Walsh was on the same tack about 200 metres back, thought I'd try and stay ahead of him, lasted about 10 seconds, he came whistling past me (literally thanks to his North Platinum Boom that is prone to make loud noises at high speed) like I was standing still.
The goal right now is to see who is going to crack 40knots on Lake Macquarie first. It's a 3 horse race between Walshy, B-Mac, and Hugo (sorry Andy)
I love Budgewoi but flying over clean, cool water, nothing better

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Belly25 said..
I'm with Lyds on this one. The other day I was out on an underpowered Hucker having a bit of bump and jump fun. Steve Walsh was on the same tack about 200 metres back, thought I'd try and stay ahead of him, lasted about 10 seconds, he came whistling past me (literally thanks to his North Platinum Boom that is prone to make loud noises at high speed) like I was standing still.
The goal right now is to see who is going to crack 40knots on Lake Macquarie first. It's a 3 horse race between Walshy, B-Mac, and Hugo (sorry Andy)
I love Budgewoi but flying over clean, cool water, nothing better

What do you mean sorry ANDY? What about sorry Andy and LYDS

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Vince68 said..
I have never used a device to measure my speed but i know in nuclear conditions i go fully sick fast just short of the point of pooping my pants .

But for me that's quick

I often go to that speed too and the GPS just lies...

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jusavina said..

Vince68 said..
I have never used a device to measure my speed but i know in nuclear conditions i go fully sick fast just short of the point of pooping my pants .

But for me that's quick

I often go to that speed too and the GPS just lies...

Is that fully sick fast or fully sick bro fast , the latter is faster

There are a few who have managed a 30knot+ nautical mile in open ocean out off Leighton Beach in Perth. This is usually with a 7.0 Race sail in 20-25 knots on a slalom board in sea and swell around a metre.

From memory Slowy may have even had a 32 or 33 knot NM out there.

If you really wanna know if your GPS is accurate, test it in your car against your speedometer. I did that with mine, plus against my Garmin GPS in my truck and everything matched up. So I know Mytracks is an accurate source.

What's the fastest combo of sail and wind strength on your starship 100 ?

Define chop

I have sailed in chop, been absolutely uncomfortably outta control and felt like my numbers would be in the 30's but only to be surprised to see them in the 20's.
Also sailed flat water, been absolutely comfortably in control and felt my numbers would be in the 20's but only to be surprised to see them in the 30's.
So that tells me that I am no good at estimating my speeds in either conditions.

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Magic Ride said..
If you really wanna know if your GPS is accurate, test it in your car against your speedometer. I did that with mine, plus against my Garmin GPS in my truck and everything matched up. So I know Mytracks is an accurate source.

Rubbish

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mr love said..
Define chop

+1

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petermac33 said...
At Peli Point in 25 plus knots out in the middle where its real choppy, I'm dubious if even Isaac would achieve much better than 30-31 knots.

On the inside however,its much flatter and mid to high 30's are achievable.

Sailing slightly off the wind coming back from majestics, 25-30knots, 50cm predictable chop (that's the key), hitting mid 30s is completely possible, PM. Not saying its easy, nor would you hold that speed down for the entire run, but it can be done. Plenty of good sailors in Perth could do that. Averaging 30-31? completely doable.

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srtgumbee said..
I remember reading this blog: mauivmax.blogspot.com/ a few years ago and thinking wow! these guys are doing almost 40 knots on the northshore of maui!

AFAIK, hitting 40 knots on Maui has been an elusive goal. The fastest guys have hit high 30s at Kanaha and Camp One. Usually, that's going down the line between waves. It can get pretty smooth in between, but you may hit one of the big turtles and end up with 2 boards.

Boro did almost 35 knots at Kanaha in May (www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/sailor_session/show?date=2016-05-03&team=124). The chop and swell there can be rather nasty; he'll usually do low 40s on flat water (and has a top speed of 51.16 at Lüderitz last year). I think PWS slalom guys also usually do mid-30s in chop.