So I thought I might get into this GPS thing; Slalom sail, tech fin and a slalom/speed board. I do like riding the fin with lots of apparent wind.

But then I wondered what might be the best type of gear for a top Alpha score/time (and might I already have half of it?)
I have to admit cracking a perfect gyybe where you come out faster than you went in is a real buzz.

Since so much of it is dependant on the gybe perhaps a slalom board isn't best suited for the task?
Perhaps a cammed sail isn't best suited for the task either?


How might a FreestyleWave board + camless "freerace" sail like a Hellcat + fin with some curve go for an Alpha?

And while I'm asking; might it be better to have a large sail for the particular board, or a small sail? That is if a board has a sail range of 4.7 - 7.0 are you champions rigging a size as close as you can to 7.0, or to 4.7. Or in the middle? I've found that for this example something like a 6.5 seems to feel the fastest, but that's purely conjecture. I've never made notes nor measured accurately.

while a wave board turns easier than a slalom board it does not generate a faster alpha as a really fast turn tends to really drop the board speed.
It fees really fast when you hit a bank do a 180 and start heading the other way but in reality your entry and exit speeds are slow and you are also bringing the board to a complete stop then reversing direction.
doing this makes it a lot harder to accelerate back up to top speed -
For great alphas you need to be fully powered up and sling shot out of the gybe. the exit speed will be the difference between a 20 knot alpha vs a 25 knot alpha.

Fast alphas are the average speed of the board so a small slalom or speed board will allow you to do a nice arc keeping speed up.
Cam sails when they pop on the rotation will give a rally good sling shot out of the gybe in powered up conditions (or catapult you if you slow down too much)

At lake george i did 25 alpha on both a 5.5 slalom on a super windy day and a 7.0 TRX on a 20-25 knot day where the extra sail size had enuf power to accelerate out.

Rule of thumb would be rig the smallest you can get away with that has the power to not just plane out of the gybe but really rip you out

Probably the best thing to do is to use the windsurfing gear you have with a GPS and then see how you go. Once your windsurfing is recorded by a GPS you can make an educated assessment of what you need to do to improve, whether its different gear or better technique.

Find something good to stick between boom and board

Select to expand quote

elmo said...
Find something good to stick between boom and board

My rider just isn't getting enough TOW, and there aren't any for sale in the buy & sell section. Also his hands freeze up after only two hours lately - bit of a sissy.

I suppose if anyone has recorded an Alpha on less-slalomy gear and compared to recorded Alphas on their slalom gear that'd answer my question.

There's no reason you have to slam gybe wave gear, it can do nice big step-gybe arcs too, which is what I usually do, especially in flat bits. I suppose the reason I got to even asking this question is that I find my Wave gear holds its speed through a turn more than my FreeWave gear, which holds its speed through a turn more than my FreeRide gear. Planing exits are easier on wave gear, for me anyways. Considering that they are designed to project off of bottom turns... I thought they might be actually better for Alphas.

Anyways, thanks for the feedback people. Think I might get a GPS and some second hand "starter gear" and see how fast I can get this litte FSW board going for starters - challenge myself.

And then join the arms race.

A stylish red fur outfit definitely doesn't help, especially when water logged

The thing about alphas, is there's no hard and fast rules, what works well for some people doesn't for others.

But for me, I'm better off doing a fairly sharp strap to strap gybe, keeping the time in the gybe to a minimum and the time in the faster in and out legs to a max.

Minimum speed in the gybe doesn't seem to be a big issue, I've done high 24s with min speeds between 12 and 15knots, it's how long you're at that min speed that's important, and how fast you can go across the wind.
And it's across the wind that wave gear misses out.

Some cammed sails gybe better than others, if you have to kick the bottom batten over, that will slow you down heaps!

Here's my 25kt alpha from Lake George this march, got my direction a bit wrong, came in a bit downwind and went out a bit upwind.
I'm not sure if it would have been much faster going square.
This was using a 5.8m koncept a 48cm speed board and a 24cm weedy. I estimated the wind at 18-22kts.

Select to expand quote

elmo said...
A stylish red fur outfit definitely doesn't help, especially when water logged

That got a green thumb from me Elmo!

Select to expand quote

evlPanda said...

Since so much of it is dependant on the gybe perhaps a slalom board isn't best suited for the task?
Perhaps a cammed sail isn't best suited for the task either?

Sounds like you're confusing consistency with speed. Your gear might "make" the gybe more often but alas it is unlikely to be faster. I'm tending to enjoy consistency more than the outright alpha figure so I have gone from slalom to freeride. Not a lot slower but I get way more planing gybes.

Fast in fast out. Remember it's measured across a 500 metre distance. You need slalom gear for fast alphas. Mind bendingly quicker than wave kit.

Select to expand quote

Roar said..
while a wave board turns easier than a slalom board it does not generate a faster alpha as a really fast turn tends to really drop the board speed.
It fees really fast when you hit a bank do a 180 and start heading the other way but in reality your entry and exit speeds are slow and you are also bringing the board to a complete stop then reversing direction.
doing this makes it a lot harder to accelerate back up to top speed -
For great alphas you need to be fully powered up and sling shot out of the gybe. the exit speed will be the difference between a 20 knot alpha vs a 25 knot alpha.

Fast alphas are the average speed of the board so a small slalom or speed board will allow you to do a nice arc keeping speed up.
Cam sails when they pop on the rotation will give a rally good sling shot out of the gybe in powered up conditions (or catapult you if you slow down too much)

At lake george i did 25 alpha on both a 5.5 slalom on a super windy day and a 7.0 TRX on a 20-25 knot day where the extra sail size had enuf power to accelerate out.

Rule of thumb would be rig the smallest you can get away with that has the power to not just plane out of the gybe but really rip you out

Aah I can blame the board then can I?

Last year I got a new board. I went from a JP FSW 92 to an Isonic 97. My 2S improved by about 1 knot, but I have not had the new board out in as good conditions as I got the old out in (Canton on a good day). I expected my Alpha to go down, but my Alpha improved by about 2 knots pretty much straight away. I am not fantastic on alpha, but I went from around 20 knot alphas to 22 knots. Note that I have never specifically sailed for alpha. This is just going sailing and looking at the numbers later. The slalom board does not lose nearly as much speed in the gybe as the FSW. It is much easier to come out planing, and it feels much quicker through a gybe. It is harder to adjust your line through chop in a gybe than the FSW, but overall I prefer gybing the slalom board to the FSW.