Had a call from the front earlier on. Sounds like the slalom titles today were extremely marginal.

I thought there was a wind limit for slalom racing, but then the last time I officiated nobody thought of racing with anything bigger than a 7.5

I suppose there's always tomorrow, but so far it looks like the only winner is the club itself...

and the club is its members....so the members are the winners.

Unfortunately i have to agree with Dylan72 if Wq does not enforce the wind limit for major queensland events then it just becomes a gear race for those who can afford 9+m sails, not a race of skill or ability.

Are the results available ?

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hinch said...

Are the results available ?

Not Yet Hinch there still today but no wind.

Four races were held on Saturday starting at approx 1140hrs with wind speed approx 14kts. During a couple of races it dropped below 12kts for a short time.

No problems for our French member Julien Savina who was never off the plane and won all 4 races on his F2sxl with 9m sail.

B.C.D. Up to 10m sails are allowed for slalom racing.
Granted the wind did fluctuate but the average was above 12kts.
As for a gear race, some dont havegear for 12kts while some others have no gear for 25kts. Julien has 2 sails, one being a 9m.

Unfortunately for Julien Sundays races were cancelled then postponed to another date when he will be overseas. 4 wins from 4 races ?

Need to get your facts straight hooray, wind readings from the start boat were 8 to 11knts over the course of the 4 races.
I'm not taking anything away from Julien or any other place getters just posting my view with the intention of keeping it fair for everyone.

All i want to say is if more than half the fleet isnt planing what's the point.
Its all about keeping it fun for everyone otherwise slalom racing we not survive.



On a Lighter note well done Julien great effort mate not bad for a Frenchie.
We will turn u into an Aussie yet mate a few BBQ and Stubblies and your almost there cya when ya get back
ta vando

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mikey100 said...

and the club is its members....so the members are the winners.

Yeah, that was kind of my point.

Anyway, it was good to hear there was a good turnout. And also I hear there has been a postponement of the 2nd day? Is that right?

Hi Dylan, we do try and do the right thing by all involved. The sad fact is that you can't please all of the people all of the time. Personally my biggest sail is 7.8 and a 69cm wide board. This is my choice, I could go to a 80cm wide board and a 10m sail as the rules stipulate.

As with all things in life, somewhere along the line you have to make a decision on what gear you want to spend your money on and what conditions you would like to compete in.

With any event you need to set a date and hope for good conditions. They take a lot of organisation and are expensive to run so we can't just keep running them until everyone is happy.

Personally I was very happy to see so many competitors turn up and have a go. I was one of the strugglers but I still got a lot of experience out of the day and had some fun.

PS: Regarding your comments about the club being the winner (I am assuming you are talking about some monetary reward?) you are quite welcome to sponsor the next event so you van see for yourself how much profit is in it.

Dylan,

An interesting point you bring up. But Scot has hit the nail on the head. Slalom regulations allow up to 80 cm wide board and 10 m sail. By the way I believe that the minimum wind speed required is set a 7 knots (int'l rulings). WQ does not and has not set any different, and the day did not drop below this. We attempt to run every event on the day, and this does not always work out for the competitors gear range as scot has described.

It looks very much like sour grapes when people complain about organizers because an event does not turn out in their favour. Was it really the wind or the weed that was the problem. I like many do not carry weed fins in my quiver, and consequently had trouble keeping on the plane - is that the clubs fault or mine?

And regarding the club being the winner - you are dead right. We had 34 competitors, for an event with a dim forecast, our membership numbers are now over 90 more than double from 2 years ago. And apart from your complaint (and you weren't there) everyone has had a good weekend - sailing or otherwise.

By the way - if you would like to have an input to Windsurfing Queensland, you are welcome to become a member and vote at the next elections or even put your hand up for a position on the committee

Currently rules are rules and if the rules were 7 knot minimum then we cannot argue. If people are unhappy then it is better voicing it to a committee member so it can be raised at the next meeting, instead of being the vocal minority on the internet. I feel the committee is doing a great job with what we are dealt with, they provided an alternative this morning and no one voiced anything different.

SEQ is blessed (cursed) with consistent 8-15 knot winds, so make your choice. After speaking with a few sailors over the weekend it surprised me to discover that many are racing with 1 sail and 1 board, if it was 25 knots this weekend that is the roll of the dice and they would not have been able to sail. It is up to the sailors to decide how important this is for them, personally I knew all week we would be racing in these conditions- I am one of the few with gear to suit but I could not justify the cost to replace a carbon boom so I could do well in 1 event.

I am however a little bit disappointed for other sailors which are absolute chances to become state champion but the conditions didn't suit. Brad, Dave & Vando are those specifically: Brad to me has always been a yardstick for conditions suitable for racing, he is a fit 95kg odd with a 8m+ sail and 120L+ board yet he did not do well.

Regarding wind limits, the minimum is that decided upon by the committee. Maybe the committee needs to decide at a future time which rule book to follow, the nationals was pre-posted as consistent 10 knot minimum and the PWA uses a 7 knot minimum.

To the sailors that feel hard done by certainly voice your concerns, but let's see what the race in a few weeks brings before anyone gets too upset.

Again I'd like to thank:
Brad & family for organising the boat
Darryl and Physio Dynamics
Board Crazy and on a personal note Simon & Julie for providing their home to a bunch of grumbling windsurfers [}:)]
The rest of the committee and helpers who made the event run smoothly (some more wind next time please )

Was this at Wello!????

So this is why there were tarps and windy gear EVERYWHERE and such. lol.

Explains that

You fellas missed out on the morning wind! Guys were down the point by 630, I was there at 7, and kited until 11.30. HaHa
So GOOD!

Hi guys,

Was disappointed I missed the racing this weekend but its been a busy weekend doing some pre-event filming for the FW Oceanics this week.

Just for interest, Julien asked me a while back what a good sail size would be for racing in QLD if he was only going to buy one sail. I told him about an 8.5-9m because 90% of our racing events are usually pretty light. So he bought my 9m and apart from the weeks over Xmas with the ballistic winds he's had a heap of TOW with it. The other sail he owns is a 5m wave sail; perfect combo for Brisbane.

I think if you are interested in racing, you should definitely own a +8m sail. If you're not racing, you can get away with a 7m (and just go sailing only twice a month;) ).

Regarding wind limits. Under the IFCA rules (ifca.internationalwindsurfing.com/page0138v01.htm), it's 85cm boards / 10m sail limits with a 10 knot wind minimum (which is generally what most slalom in Australia is ruled under). The PWA are moving from an 80cm to 85cm board width this season still with a 10m sail but use a 7 knot wind minimum.

Interesting to note that even with 7 knots and a 10m limit, there are many sailors such as Steve Allen, Ross Williams etc who only register 8.2m as their biggest sail. There's a lot more to lightwind slalom than just a big sail, it requires great pumping technique and footwork in the gybes to keep the board moving and accelerating. Julien is an ex-French Olympic Team sailor so I think you'll find he could've won the racing on a 7.5m if needed...

5 years ago we would run slalom at Wello/Manly and people would complain about the guys using 9m rigs in the lightwinds! Nothing has changed. There is so much second hand gear floating around these days, especially big rigs, why not just buy one cheaply so you can just use it in the race days etc? Don't blame the race crew. I'm sure they were doing a great job as always.

Thanks Sean for your imput. To Be honest ive always thought the wind limit was 12knots so ive never worried about going bigger. However the wind was dropping below 10 knots on sat thats for sure. As I remember 2 years ago mate at the Nats South West Rocks The wind was above 10 knots but we never thought about racing slalom. I was on the plane with a 7M. Oh well now i know the limit is 10 i will go bigger. One thing though maybe we could limit the size in the freeride class what do u think then i can race in there.
Anyway mate all the best This week might cya on Fri.
ta Vando

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DAM71 said...



By the way - if you would like to have an input to Windsurfing Queensland, you are welcome to become a member and vote at the next elections or even put your hand up for a position on the committee

Thanks for the offer. Been there and done that. I was newsletter editor of the club for several years, and designed the logo (that they still use today, lord help me, it looks very dated now) for my first newsletter.

Plus I was membership secretary for several years, created the first membership database for the club, and the first website for the club. I also ran the first wq forum (an email list that was not affiliated with the club.)

I would love to be more involved, but distance and parenthood have put a dampener on it. It was more feasible in the "good old" days when we had regional branches that ran their own races, in my humble opinion. Alas numbers no longer permit.

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Scotf said...


Regarding your comments about the club being the winner (I am assuming you are talking about some monetary reward?) you are quite welcome to sponsor the next event so you van see for yourself how much profit is in it.

Also done that. About ten years ago, I organised some races, including one where there was zero wind and nobody showed up at all (which was the normal reaction to a zero wind race day then.) It is a PITA, and you are seriously underappreciated for it.

We also ran some corkers that made it all worthwhile.

I know it is not about profit.

Dylan,

Mate if you have been there and done that, then why did you post what is believed by many as an inflammatory comment? If you had any respect for the work that the committee does, then such a query should be put to the committee and not placed on a forum such as this.

Thanks for your past work, but as a sport we need to look forward to the future. Which in our current climate of kitesurfing poaching many windsurfers away from the sport is much harder than in the good ole days.

Please do not let distance be a hurdle, as you have demonstrated the advent of internet and email, allows us to operate very efficiently. Parenthood, well half of the committee have families, and operate their own businesses, and we seem to be able to make some time for the sport we love.

So if you would love to be involved as you have mentioned, why not start by joining? Memebership forms can be found on the WQ website.

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SeanAUS120 said...

Under the IFCA rules (ifca.internationalwindsurfing.com/page0138v01.htm), it's 85cm boards / 10m sail limits with a 10 knot wind minimum (which is generally what most slalom in Australia is ruled under).

Thanks for the link, Sean. I think everyone should check these rules out. They make interesting reading. (I am not suggesting that they applied to the weekend racing. I think the club has its own subset of these rules?)

I wonder what circumstances brought about the introduction of some of these rules:
"It shall be possible to incline the mast to an angle of at least 90 degrees to the vertical in every direction unless the sheer of the deck prevents this." (I wonder how this one came about. Was someone using a fixed mast on a windsurfer?)
"A Woman's sail shall carry an equilateral diamond on both sides of the sail in the proximity of the head. The minimum length of each side shall be 150mm." (So you know who to rescue first?)
"The mast at any cross section normal to the mast axis shall be circular and of uniform thickness" (Did someone try for a square mast?)

I think as a suggestion (perhaps a club official can take this to the committee for me) that the notice of race should include a web link to the rules being applied to that race so that less experienced sailors know ahead of time what they can bring.

Also, people should be aware that rules do change over time. The link above is to the rules created in 2005. If anyone had tries to sail with a 9m sail ten years ago, they would probably have been in breach of the rules.

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Dylan72 said...

"The mast at any cross section normal to the mast axis shall be circular and of uniform thickness" (Did someone try for a square mast?)

Remember the Wing mast Fred Hayward used to try to break the speed sailing record back in the late 80's...that certainly wasn't round or square :)