i wanna go faster !!!

aaaah the joys of living in the prehistoric timewarp of WA where the dinosours are still allowed to vote. And vote they did, to be 3 hours behind the east coast...

Thanks for that great explanation slowy. I am only 63kg and have only managed 32 knots. Think it is time to rethink the weight jacket.
I have always thought the big guys definately had the advantage and like you said, they cant just drop down to 60kg and see the difference in their speed so cant really speak for us lightweights.

Another thing to keep in mind is if you sail on a nice speed course you will get to your goal with ease,alot of these top lighter weight sailors live close to and sail some of the best spots in the world.

I reckon Narrabeen Lakes would also have some charms

Tell me about it

By looking at fast Kites, the kite board seems to have much more board surface area attached to the water than that of windsurfer speed board when going fast?
If this assumption is correct, the windsurfer board has less drag than kites when traveling over 40knots?


For Light weights to go fast;
The Go Fast Small Board Speed formula is something like this;

Fast Speed from board = volume distribution + outline/ rocker profile + narrow width + low tail surface area (low tail area = low fin surface area/ length fins) = Control, Control = Fast.

Fast Sailors = Greater weight + Greater leverage = control.
Slow Sailors = Less weight + Less leverage = no control.

Sailors < 75kgs should be using much smaller speed boards than that of the slightly heavy sailors.

The ideal speed board for light weights should be low volume (<50 liters), 2-3" thick board, & very low volume in the tail area, possibly less width, too narrow & control is lost.

Naturally to go fast you need opportunity/ skill/ tuning, without the right gear the light weight sailor is really pushing it to go fast.

Until Light weight windsurfers master "Control with Power" we will always be a few knots of the pace.

Light weight speed Kiters have mastered "Control with Power" & now the heavy weight speed kiters are slower!, guess the heavy weight is pushing too much water resulting in too much drag.


Edited "(low tail area = low fin surface area/ length fins)", have seen 12cm fins giving same lift as 28cm fins, now think fin surface area is more important than length when matching tail surface area.

One advantage of being light is that in "real world" conditions, you can jump on a little low-drag speed board and be flying in 15-18 knots while the fatties (ahem..) have to remain on their voluminous slalom boards until it's 22 knots or more to avoid sinking.

So in practice, the fleabag can be as fast or faster than the big fella most of the time.

It's all about playing to your strengths.

As one of the 'fatties' Chris I have to agree with you.

In a strong breeze, say 25K+, being heavy has its advantages. For a typical Perth seabreeze around 18-20K those advantages are negligible, especially if you're sailing on the gusty Swan river.

I think the ideal weight is around the 85-90kg mark (for typical days). At 105kg I have to use a larger, more floaty board than the lighter guys. My main board for summer sailing is the 68 wide Futura 111, whereas guys like Claude and yourself will be blasting around on 85 litre boards, around 59-60 wide, in the same conditions.

I think I've only got a speed advantage when it gets strong enough for me to pull out a smallish slalom board, in my case a 93 S-Type, typically when its around 22-23K. Any less and I'm usually getting smoked by skinny buggers on iS86's and 59 Manta's

icesurf- kiters arent limited by righting moment since they can control oodles of power almost horizontally. The upward angle of the lines supports their body weight and thats adjustable. We would be in the same "boat" if we could get the power down near our knees, but obviously thats not possible when the rig is so close to us.

So for kiters the key is going to be leg strength. In fact being shorter and lighter would help due to the ability to have higher accelleration with a lower centre of gravity (which would result in closer power source-to-board coupling). Also being lighter would allow more of the kite lift to be used in the horizontal plane, not vertically. If the fastest kiters are anything to go by- they fit this description pretty well. And they dont wear weight because its a hindrance.

I think the kiteboards are running heaps higher hydrodynamic drag than windsurfers due to the higher lateral forces involved with only the high pressure side to work with. L/D is probably around 2-3 on a kite. But they have SO much more power available due to the non-issue of leverage. Basically they have as much power available as their little legs can hold...

Wasn't Eric Beale 75 kg when he set the wind speed record at something over 40?

Does natural lead around the waist area help?

How much faster than the wind can we really go ?
I am surprised that you could go twice the speed !

you are not aloud to go faster

It all depends on how flat the water is and how much power you can develop without overloading the fin. Take a look at this day I had with an RAF sail.

session_date Thursday, 08 January 2009
Spot Sandy Point, Victoria, Australia
Board Carbon Art Speed 40
Sail Neilpryde Hellcat 5.7
Fin KA-Fin Lockwood McDougall Assy 20
GPS type Navi GT-11
Average speed 34.84 knots ( 35.82 34.7 34.69 34.51 34.49 )
Max. GPS (display) 36.47 knots
Max. 2 sec. (software) 36.47 knots
100 m run 36.07 knots
250 m run 35.65 knots
500 m run 34.56 knots
Nautical mile 24.21 knots
1 hour 11.54 knots
Alpha racing 23.38 knots
Distance 62.874772
Windspeed 15 knots
Gusts 21 knots
GPS type Navi GT-11

And when I say 21 knot gusts that means they only lasted for about 10 seconds or so. Most of the time it was really under 20 knots but it was very consistent wind mainly around the 18 knot mark. Extremely flat very low tide with high pressure system. Water ripples about 2cm high. This is why I reckon most of the time the most important factor is of course flat water followed by fin selection, the rest is tinkering in comparison.

The might Kato said your not aloud to go faster