As mentioned on the Bayside Post, we are having an extra Freerace this Saturday 22nd..and with the forecast looking so good it's sure to be a cracker!

Plenty of crew coming up from Brisbane to give Freerace ago for their first time, so if you haven't done a FR yet, or missed the last few no better time to give it a crack. Its all very low key, no pressure, its really a race against yourself, but you can compare yourself with others that sailed in those exact same conditions as you, so at the end of the day you really can see where you sit on a very equal platform.

If your a GPS sailor and haven't done a Freerace event yet, why not come and test yourself against your peers.

For windsurfing to 'grow' and 'attract sponsors and new comers' events are key, nothing looks better than a heap of windsurfers all sailing in one location, so get out from behind your computer come and join in this Saturday!

If you don't have a GPS PM us here and we will see if we cant find one for you to loan, I also have it on Good Authority that all our Retail Shop Sponsors have GT31's all in stock!

Board Crazy, Goodtime, Surf Sail Australia, Surf Connect, Caloundra Wind&Surf, Sunshine Coast Sailboards.

All the details about Freerace can be found here, along with photo's, GPS replays and current results table.

http://www.freeracequeensland.com/

Updates will be posted here and on our FaceBook Site.

See you up at the Lake Saturday.

Very exciting for both days! If the wind gods stay kind we are on track for an awesome weekend of sailing!!

Sign on tomorrow at 1pm at the park (just north of sailing club). Little less parking now with a house being built on vacant block but find a park where you can and come and find us to register/sign on. Racing to start around 2pm. Remember you can pre pay on our club website at this link
http://www.windwanderers.org.au/Events/FreeRace/OnlineEntryFees.aspx and print out and sign the event registration forms. $20 for awa members or if you are a season pass holder nothing to pay just come along and sign on, no need to fill out event registration as we have all your details.

Remember to charge your GPS and make sure there is a card in it! Wearing a watch is also handy so you can keep track of the hour. Forecast is looking great for the weekend.
See you all tomorrow
Kellie

Results table from today's event. More details to follow.

Progressive table of results for the FreeRace events this year, including this event.

Another fun session with great numbers and good wind, till the end, lots of gear carnage again!, much smother water than last couple of Lake C events.
Great to see a bunch of new faces.

Acton replay video is now in YouTube at

Very useful replay. LOL! the wind shutting down at the end was a killer. Went from 4th to 9th in the last five minutes!

Was a great event thanks guys, plenty of wind and a great crew and I really enjoyed the format. It is quite a challenge to push yourself to the limit for an hour and I'd recommend it to others because as the name refers it is a very free way of racing.

It is always good to see so many sails on the water at one time and I was surprised to see around 30 sailors out there despite the wettish conditions that would have kept a few away.

Thanks to Dylan for doing all of the collation and the video replay, it is great of you to do that when you weren't even sailing.

A really well run event and a very challenging format.

Another great event, loved it and it really challenges your sailing. Thanks so much !

Great event, had a great day and an even better evening.

Thanks

+1, thanks for another great event, really enjoy the format and company
Though did much better at pool at the pub than the race...LOL

At about 1.58 on the replay watch the green dot stop dead in the gravel bar, sailed the last 20 min with busted fin, boom and a uni pin bent and hanging on by a thread!
Apparently it gets shallow down that end, Doah
Was having a great session till then!
Looking forward to Sandgate in March!

Nice work Dylan.

Another great event

^ +1 Thanks Dylan and the crew from WW. A great event and weekend. The video is fantastic. Looking forward to Sandgate in March.

Select to expand quote

JonesySail said..

At about 1.58 on the replay watch the green dot stop dead in the gravel bar, sailed the last 20 min with busted fin, boom and a uni pin bent and hanging on by a thread!
Apparently it gets shallow down that end, Doah
Was having a great session till then!
Looking forward to Sandgate in March!

Hey JonesySail. I saw that boom and can't believe you had to sail with it for the last 20 minutes. I'm pretty hard on booms but I've never seen one so bent and twisted, especially on both sides. Did you get a photo?

Good luck with the warranty claim.

here's one angle, lined up against my other 'normal' boom,, it actually bent in a few places and different angles, had to sail with that and bent uni and buggered fin for the entire last bit of the race...that part wasn't fun.
Had a look at the boom today, its still 'stiff as' flex wise..so I guess all the talk about 'flex tests' etc mean nothing because the booms are stiff and solid as, but obviously not bomb proof!
Any Boom manufacturers that want me to product test for them?!!

Jonesy

As I mentioned to you last sunday, you may be able to repair the boom by using a hand operated hydraulic pipe bender, which you should be able to hire from Kennards at a reasonable rate. There will be some work hardening of the aluminium, but no more so than when the original pipe was bend into shape when the booms were made in the first place. Its worth a try, at least to see if you can salvage a serviceable boom from the wreakage.

Thanks John, I think you have me mixed up with someone who a)enjoys fixing stuff b) has some spare time!
I invested my spare 20minutes of fixing and tinkering time this weekend on the fin, It came up like new, and giving the board some TLC.

Do you want the boom for a project?..happy to donate to you or anyone that wants it at next FR meet, was only hanging onto to it for spare parts, (which I'd never have time to salvage anyway!), I'm sure it could come up ok in the right knowledgeable hands...just not mine! I wreck stuff.. 3 Uni's, 1 Mast, 1 Boom, 1 Fin, 1 Chicken loop (kite) all in the last 2 months.....which is actually probably more an example of the decent wind season/summer we have ..!

The Blue boom in the pic stretched out to 210cm so no mad rush on a new one, let me know if you want it, I'll bring it to Sandgate FR.
Cheers

Select to expand quote

Dylan72 said..

Acton replay video is now in YouTube at

?rel=0

I love this animation , Dylan
If all our GPS's use the same universal time, or each has own clock that could differ a bit ?

I would throw that boom away Jonesy, yes you can straighten it but as John said the tube will work harden and be even weaker than original.

Select to expand quote

JonesySail said..

Thanks John, I think you have me mixed up with someone who a)enjoys fixing stuff b) has some spare time!
I invested my spare 20minutes of fixing and tinkering time this weekend on the fin, It came up like new, and giving the board some TLC.

Do you want the boom for a project?..happy to donate to you or anyone that wants it at next FR meet, was only hanging onto to it for spare parts, (which I'd never have time to salvage anyway!), I'm sure it could come up ok in the right knowledgeable hands...just not mine! I wreck stuff.. 3 Uni's, 1 Mast, 1 Boom, 1 Fin, 1 Chicken loop (kite) all in the last 2 months.....which is actually probably more an example of the decent wind season/summer we have ..!

The Blue boom in the pic stretched out to 210cm so no mad rush on a new one, let me know if you want it, I'll bring it to Sandgate FR.
Cheers

Thanks but no thanks, I have 2 functioning, relatively new Naish booms. I'm afraid its a case of 'do as i say rather than as i do'

There apears to be a scheduling clash with both Bayside slalom and Freerace scheduled this Sunday