By about 2pm we were starting to get a bit worried. The promised wind and change had not arrived but there was howling NW. Then, finally at about 3pm the wind suddenly dropped out and we noticed it had swung SW. In the next 15 mins it gradually built back and was soon 20-25 knots but SW making for quite a tight course. The wind gradually increased and by 6pm was gusting 30-35 with perhaps the odd gust to nearly 40. Unfortunately for us the wind stayed SW and later, even more south of SW so the course remained very tight. The best one could do without running out into the near suicidal channel chop was about 120 degrees right at the end, but earlier, with the tide going out, the following chop down there was very scary. Surprisingly, as the tide started to come in the end of the course actually smoothed out. Never seen this before. I got my best runs at about 120 degrees on this smoother water at around 7pm but by that time most people, including me, were spent.
Many of us have gone quite a bit faster on less windy days so it shows how much influence the angle has.
Some preliminary numbers from the guys that dropped around to my house after sailing:
Mal Wright almost always goes sensationally well on a tight course and today was no exception with peak speeds up around 46.5 knots and a 5 x 10 sec average around 44.5 Kts.
Spotty was smokin' on the CA 44 with a NO CAM KA Koyote 5.4. and a new world record for NO CAM sails with 5 x 10 sec at 43.4 kts and 500m at 43.34. He actually had 3 500m runs over 43.2kts and a 5 x 500m ave of 42.9 knots. I think his peak GPS was 44.9 but he may have improved on it later. Amazing!
Mat Robertson did a sensational gps peak of 44.9 kts (confirmed on his track) and managed to get his 5 x 10sec average over 40 knots for the first time. Congratulations! That lad has a few of us other lightweights looking over our shoulders. :-).
I was disappointed not to improve my PB's but in the end I was very happy with a 5 x 10 of 42.6 kts and a peak GPS speed of 43.9 considering the angle of the wind.
I am sure there will be more news to follow......

Thanx Andrew we were all wondering how you guys went, incredibly impressive no's, I'd love to be dissapointed with those!!!!!!!

Oh, and I must mention that we had a Japanese visitor today who was using all borrowed gear (Thanks Tom) and put in a sensational debut with peaks speeds over 41 knots and probably, close to a 40 knot average which I believe may be a new Japanese GPS record I was most impressed with his skills and the way he handled the wild conditions for such a small guy.Congratulations Hajime!

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sailquik said...

Oh, and I must mention that we had a Japanese visitor today who was using all borrowed gear (Thanks Tom) and put in a sensational debut with peaks speeds over 41 knots and probably, close to a 40 knot average which I believe may be a new Japanese GPS record I was most impressed with his skills and the way he handled the wild conditions for such a small guy.Congratulations Hajime!

WOW!!!!!!

I hope to be there Monday some time, it looks the only decent day in the forecast, get off plane at 4.55am, hopefully get hire car and drive down to SP, catching up with Kato along the way!!

Forecast is half decent for Monday Hardie. We will set you up with something fast! :-)

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sailquik said...

Forecast is half decent for Monday Hardie. We will set you up with something fast! :-)

Don't knock the ol fulla about, he has just had his birthday

Wow, great results. And Spotty getting so close to the full on cammed race sail with a non-cam KA Koyote and a new world record for no-cam, must be an excellent sail (and sailor of course). You should definitely get the results up on GPS-SS.

Big Congrats Mat on ya pb's.

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sailquik said...

Forecast is half decent for Monday Hardie. We will set you up with something fast! :-)

Please[}:)][}:)][}:)]

Don't forget he cant use anything smaller than a 6m[}:)][}:)] no matter what he says


Well done peoples it looked like a good session even is the planets didn't quite align to make it a classic

"Mat Robertson did a sensational gps peak of 44.9 kts (confirmed "

Well done Mat,
(I checked out the weights of the gps speedsurfers > 44.9 - and yes, no one lighter has gone faster.)

Thanks for the complements guys! Here is what I saw when I regained my composure....:



My weight is currently 73kg + a weight jacket with 7kg -> making about 80kg.

Matt R ,Yeah Haaaaaarrrr echoing around that helmut. img from Sat 22 Dec07

Nice one mate you have come along way particularly with your stance it's really change since we first meet.
cheers vando

Hey Vando that stance looks strangely familiar to me, front arm up head tucked behind . Heres what you missed out on check out the sand, you were stuffed if you didn't have any eye wear on. Sailing with one eye open and exhaustion helped me call it a day.

Ta Vando - my stance has changed dramatically. The pic of me sailing upwind doesn't really do it justice (lots of short-sharp chop combined with a high boom) - my profile pic is much closer to what I now use. I reckon stance is probably about 80% of how the fast guys go fast, ie: maximise leverage, unload the fin, control the board trim, etc

What got me thinking originally was that there was a great pic of you sailing towards the camera, from Al's SF 2006 during a NW'er. The sail was twisting reallying well and board trim looked superb. After looking at lots of pics/vids, there were two main ideas that I ran with, a) higher boom with longer lines, b) straight'ish front leg and quite bent (chop absorbing) back leg.

Still have some way to go - I want to flatten out the board trim as I think this is the difference between the Mal's/Spotty/Daff's and the me's... So I think I have to commit some more weight to the front foot + mast.

One point that I think I am finding, which might relate to body weight (or lack of skill ), is that I find that a bit more sail twist than we see presented in the static pics of the Koncepts, results in a bit more speed (or at least better control) - not much more, maybe half a panel more - so that instead of the head twisting, the whole upper-body will twist.

Mat, that 4.4m Koncept was rigged perfectly. Great pictures Spotty!