Thanks guys for some great racing. Was amazed that we got that NE, was nice to race on a smaller course with the other fleets. A lot of fun and some nice fast reaches on the way home

Another Saturday is almost upon us and and the Formula/Foil event on Lake Macquarie has been postponed! So there will be Sailboards racing at Gosford tomorrow.

We have 2 or 3 Windsurfer LT's racing, 2 or 3 Foils as well, Raceboards, Formula and Div II are also welcome. So come down and join us for a great afternoon of windsurfing. If you have a GPS unit bring that along too.

Saturday 27th October
10:30am - Boatshed Bar open for coffee
12:00pm - Yachts Offshore Race 5- To CYC
2:00pm - Juniors Spring Heats 2 & 3
2:00pm - Etchells Pointscore A7 & A8
2.05pm - NS14/Fireball/Mixed Fleet Spring Series Races 11 & 12
2.10pm - Lasers Pointscore 6
2.15pm - Sports Boats/16 ft Skiffs Spring Race
2.20pm - A-class and Windsurfers Spring Race

Love to join in one day. Unfortunately, the mast tendon on my Hifly has snapped and I'm struggling for a solution.
Good luck.

Maximusbolicus said..
Love to join in one day. Unfortunately, the mast tendon on my Hifly has snapped and I'm struggling for a solution.
Good luck.

Hi Max, as Pete said I'm sure we could get your HiFly back on the water (and a pic of the universal tendon - even if broken, upper and lower pieces will help us to know what you need), alternatively we could also loan you another board as an immediate temporary solution.

The schedule for racing tomorrow.

Events This WeekSaturday 3rd November
10:30am - Boatshed Bar open for coffee
2:00pm - Juniors Club Championship 2 & Spring Heat 4
2:00pm - Etchells Pointscore A9
2.05pm - NS14/Fireball/Mixed Fleet Spring Series Races 13 & 14
2.10pm - Lasers Pointscore 7 Sprint Series 3 & 4
2.15pm - Sports Boats/16ft Skiffs Spring Race 13
2.20pm - A-class and Windsurfers Spring Race

Saturday turned out to be an interesting day indeed!

We started at 10am with a lesson on Lyndons Naish beginner board with an inflatable rig, which makes it super easy for beginners to get started! Within 2 hours absolute beginners are sailing in both directions and completing turns! Thanks Lyndon for the loan of the gear, our new starter (only 12 years old) hasn't stopped telling his mates about windsurfing!

Back to shore and time to decide what to rig for the afternoons race, Pete had only his Phantom Raceboard and rigged his Lord Racing 9.5, Lyndon had his Windsurfer LT rigged and with the arrival of my new Slingshot Warp Speed 65 foil last week, I was torn between Raceboard or Foiling (I so wanted to try my new foil, but was there going to be enough breeze to get flying at all, let alone complete a race against a Raceboard powered with a 9.5?

So I made the choice to try my new foil and rigged my BIC Techno One Design 8.5m. Lyndon decided to try his foil too, however he was using the Slingshot Infinity 84cm (the big daddy if the Slingshot lineup) which is a monster compared to the Warp Speed 65 when placed side by side.

Once on the water and clearing the wind break caused by the shore in a SE breeze, I quickly realised there was plenty of breeze (at times a little too much for an 8.5m) and that my new foil didn't require much more breeze than my old Slingshot H2 foil to get flying and to stay flying. Furthermore it was much more forgiving than I expected and much easier in stronger breeze especially in the gusts, far more capable and less sensitive you weight distribution and extra power than the old H2 foil.

As our start sequence commenced the breeze decreased a little (oh no the Raceboard is going to smash me if I can't get flying) The gun sounded and we were off, thankfully there was enough breeze to get flying, but there were holes in it so I was going to have to be careful when I tacked to make sure could get flying again.

Pete on his Phantom Raceboard rounded the top mark about 200m in front of me, but once I rounded the mark I quickly caught him, the foil flying easily and going much faster and much deeper downwind.

The second lap had the breeze gradually easing, but I managed to hold my lead around the top mark, but a blown gybe and the ever decreasing breeze had Pete closing the gap on his Raceboard far too quick for my liking.

I rounded the bottom mark in first but was struggling to fly, would Pete catch me on his Raceboard? Unfortunately Pete decided not to go all the way to the bottom mark and headed to the finish line. With the fading breeze he slipped past me for a narrow win (well sort of as he didn't found the bottom mark). It would have been super close had he finished the full course.

Unfortunately Lyndon missed the start, but he did race and it was great to see him getting some long smooth flights on his foil!

To round out, I'm super happy with my new Slingshot Warp Speed 65 foil. Can't wait to get some more practice on it and find out what it maxes out at. I've already bettered my previous fastest maximum foiling speed by 2 knots on just my first day out!

Heavy1 said..
Great article John.
Some first time experiences for me ... always really special!

1) foiling between racing yachts and skiffs etc. Normally (non foiling raceboard) I'm feeling every wake and hearing lots of splashing and looking at the types of boats and timing to be able to slip through. With the foil its silent, and you are free of the wakes and chop and you are going fast enough to ignore the surrounding boat types and speed. In fact I had a bizarre feeling as if someone had (xmen like or perhaps Dr who) frozen time and I was just flying through ignoring the boats frozen in time. A really strange feeling.

2) Going upwind on the foil. OK Ill admin I couldn't understand why people were standing out on the rail while foiling. If I did that I carved straight into a round up. But going upwind you discover it only works if you commit to the sail. then the windward rail lifts and you need to move out on the rail.

3) Going downwind on foil, Not so hard so far not going very deep though, maybe 40 degrees, still VMG is outstanding.

Great to have some new people young and old joining us!

Filling certainly adds a new dimension, in still waiting for my Xmen moment though, I'm still too focussed on keeping myself flying and not going over the handlebars! :)

Have posted that retro whitsunday article.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Some-racing-inspiration-from-pre-90s-magazines?page=2#2294687

Good morning all,

Due to the Windsurfer Class and BIC Rippers events being held in conjunction at Balmoral Sailing Club this weekend there will not be any Sailboards racing at Gosford Sailing club this weekend.

We will return to Gosford the following weekend.

Anyone interested in getting into windsurfing is welcome to come to Balmoral where there is a FREE try Windsurfing activity also being held - but you MUST pre register. For more details please follow the below link. Last year's event at Balmoral was a huge success, so come and join us this year.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/New-South-Wales/Rippers-Windsurfing-Series-2018-19?page=1

Due to the Windsurfer Class State Titles being held at DAC tomorrow, there will not be any Sailboards at Gosford sailing club tomorrow.

We'll be back at Gosford Sat 15-Dec-2018.

Hi Everyone

At present the cost to enter the Windsurfer Nationals at Toronto (Lake Macquarie) NSW on 23 to 27 January increases by $50 after December 21, so everyone is encouraged to enter ASAP.

As of mid day 15 January there are 39 entrants already and we are hoping for lots more.

Time is ticking. Join in the action. NOR and online entry here:
www.regattatoolbox.com/eventDetails?eventID=w1FzSSZMiy

Good morning all,

Another Saturday is almost upon us, and I hope you all had a very merry Christmas.

While I don't believe there is any official club racing tomorrow there's a number of us that will be sailing from Gosford sailing club on our Windsurfer LT's to try and get some much needed training in for the upcoming National championships in less than 4 weeks time.

It doesn't matter what board you have, we'd love to have you come and join us. The more the merrier and we ask need the practice for the huge fleet already registered for the Windsurfer nationals (85+).

The forecast is looking marginal but we might get a good NE late in the afternoon and it's going to be warm, so come spend the afternoon out on the water with us.

I hope to see you there.

John

Good morning all,

Another Saturday is almost upon us, and I hope you all had a very merry Christmas.

While I don't believe there is any official club racing tomorrow there's a number of us that will be sailing from Gosford sailing club on our Windsurfer LT's to try and get some much needed training in for the upcoming National championships in less than 4 weeks time.

It doesn't matter what board you have, we'd love to have you come and join us. The more the merrier and we ask need the practice for the huge fleet already registered for the Windsurfer nationals (85+).

The forecast is looking marginal but we might get a good NE late in the afternoon and it's going to be warm, so come spend the afternoon out on the water with us.

I hope to see you there.

John

Copied from John's post as I think most of us just read the last message and today should be a great day.

Jethrow said..
Hi guys, good to meet you all and have a chat today, hope the training session was a good one. I'll bring my Lechner up next time

Geoff

Cheers Geoff,

Great to meet you too. I hope you're enjoying your time in the Central Coast and we look forward to seeing you out on your Lechner.

John

Good morning all,

Another Saturday is upon us already, and we have another training day for the Windsurfer Class National Titles which are only a few weeks away.

Come and join Peter S, Peter D, Lyndon, Al, Cline and myself for an afternoon of racing. We will all be sailing Windsurfer LT's or One Designs, so the racing will be close.

We aim to have one short race starting around 12:30pm, then a larger race with the rest of the Sailing Club fleet.

So come on down and join us, it doesn't matter what board you sail, come down and join us to get out on the water and out of the heat. the Gosford fleet is starting to build some numbers, so we'd love to have you join us.

John.