The Summer Slalom Series will be held on one Saturday of the month from November to March:
Starting at 3pm at Boggy Lake (http://www.boggylake.org).

Dates are:
23 Nov 2013
14 Dec 2013
11 Jan 2014
15 Feb 2014
15 Mar 2014 (Presentation and BBQ)

The race is to do the most laps around 2 buoys in 1 hour. The person completing the most circuits by the end of the summer series will be the winner. Best 4 results are counted for the series as one race can be dropped. A carbon extension is up for the major prize courtesy of the Strath Windsurfing Shop. Prizes also for most improved over the series. Judges decisions are final for more time sailing and less talking :-)

There are no rules about equipment - whatever gets you around the course and you can even swap during the race. There are also no rules about the weather - whatever Mother Nature provides on the day. We may delay the start to get the most wind.

Beginners and juniors welcome! Boggy Lake is a safe place to sail with shallow water and a good chance of a breeze.

Entry is free - and we will have a sausage sizzle and presentation after the last race of the series in March. All entrants will need to be members of Windsurfing SA for insurance purposes ($35 - you can join for the year at wsa.roundtablelive.org, Juniors $5).

Cheers, Richard for Windsurfing SA

Looking good for tomorrow kids!!

Yep, looks like a bit of breeze down there today.

Well, a small but select group gathered for the racing yesterday. Mother nature turned the wind on for us with what I'm guessing was a 17-22 knots southerly (Boggy Lake wind sense not yet calibrated).

In a new innovation this year, we ran a smaller Juniors/Windsup course prior to the main race. 15 mins around a smaller course. Some drama just before the start when the buoy drifted off down-wind. Someone can't tie knots :-( We had 4 starters, Phoebe, Dave, Richard U and Juan. All completed 3 laps, but Phoebe looked in the most control and fell in the least. Other competitors trying to show off too much I think :-)

For the main race, we had a long course and 4 starters. Richard U, Richard BS, Lachlan and Gareth. After a spectacular LeMans start it was a charge out to the far buoy. Took a few navigation skills to find it, but that added to the challenge. At one point the 2 Richards had a conference in the water and decided we had both sailed way past the buoy and were practically in Wellington :-). It was a close race, with the two Richards battling it out with powered-up 7.5's and 115 L slalom boards (heritage listed equipment for both sailors) on 11 laps each. Lachlan and Gareth were having a close one further back - not sure who triumphed there. Racing is fun if you have some-one with similar speed near by - I think we had that for most of the race for everyone. Personally, I was knackered by the end of the hour. Harder than it sounds to sail powered-up for 60 min.

Thanks to Michelle for the record keeping and Gareth for the apres-sail beer.

My apologies, the briefing and sign-up was a bit slap-dash with the juniors to organise etc. Will do better next time.

Cheers, Richard for the WSA Committee.

Couple of pics from the race on Saturday afternoon,

Loved the Le Mans start!

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Thanks Dave, Nice picks.

Pleasantly surprised to see how much that white Gath helmet makes me look like Homer Simpson from behind....

Agreed - nice shots Dave.

So here we are, Event 2 tomorrow!

Not sure what to make of the forecast - could be a seabreeze if the clouds stay away.

Big race is at 3 pm.

We will run a juniors/WinSUP course before the main race at 2.30 pm.

See you at Boggy Lake.

Regards, Richard

Hi will be down at boggy lake around 1400 with kids for a bit of racing hope its as windy as last time great fun
Juan

Well, we got another race under our belts. The forecasts weren't looking promising, but about 2pm the first puffs from the S started appearing and before you know it it was 15-20 knots and people were scrambling to change down. Sun was shining, birds were singing and all was good. We had 8 racers in all, which is a great turn out with Xmas so close and everything. The pre-race warm up were some pretty hot laps, but come the 3.05 drop of the flag for the LeMans start the wind had backed off a bit with some lighter patches.

Unlike the November race which was a matter of slogging it out fully powered for an hour, yesterdays race had elements of that but much more. Lighter patches that needed to be pumped through, very tight reaches with a tack or two to make the mark, gybing in some pretty messy chop and the tactical decisions about which of the 3 far buoys to aim for. As always, carrying as much power as you could muster paid off.

The 2 Richards had their heritage gear out again, but were completely trumped by Mark, who had some sort of long thin Bic from the 90's with a slotted fin! Ask Granddad about those kids! Nevertheless, he was flying.

It was a bit hard to follow what was a happening to the other sailors on the water. Let us know how your race went. My own race was going OK till one of my characteristic VBD's (Very Bad Decision) towards the end. I knew I was probably level pegging PJ for laps done because we kept crossing on opposite tacks in the middle of the figure 8. But towards the end I beared off too much after the inside buoy looking to get planing and took an extra knock that left me unable make the far buoy. Instead of taking the pain and tacking for the upper buoy, I beared off for the middle buoy. The mental picture was screaming down to this mark on a wind shift, then screaming back to the inside buoy and looking smart. The reality was a slow 500m dead down wind run to find the buoy bobbing in a huge wind hole. In retrospect, all I had to do was try cover PJ for the last couple of laps so that we were sailing in the same wind. No amount of equipment upgrades will fix a VBD - well played PJ!

No juniors for this race, but a few encouraging signs that we might get some more young sailors or WindSUPers in the fleet soon.

Thanks to my fellow racers for the fun race, Michele for the record keeping and Gareth for the apres beer.


Name Laps
Richard U 12
Richard B S 8
Lachlan 5
Gareth 4
Peter (PJ) 13
Juan 7
Tim 9
Mark 11

Cheers, Richard for Windsurfing SA

who won ,,, sems topped a 25 knot seabreeze ,,, sems still adelaide premier sailing location in adeliade

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HaydenM said..

who won ,,, sems topped a 25 knot seabreeze ,,, sems still adelaide premier sailing location in adeliade

Adelaides premier spot in Adelaide - wow that makes sense???

Hi Everyone,

Race 3 is scheduled for Saturday! The forecast a little hard to interpret at this point - a bit of sunshine and I reckon the seabreeze will be on.
Hope to see you there.

Regards, Richard

If we make it down, I'm breaking out the one design. Need a tyronsea euro pin base, anyone got one?

I thought I had a tyronsea euro pin base Dave, but looks like it's gone now. Must have been cracked.

Marine wind is showing 15-20 for the race, but I don't want to jinx it by talking about it :-)

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Dr Duck said..
I thought I had a tyronsea euro pin base Dave, but looks like it's gone now. Must have been cracked.

Marine wind is showing 15-20 for the race, but I don't want to jinx it by talking about it :-)

Shhhhh!

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divaldo said..
If we make it down, I'm breaking out the one design. Need a tyronsea euro pin base, anyone got one?

I used a tyronsea uni into a Chinook two bolt base many years ago and it worked all right - the pins aligned with the tyronsea cut outs in the brass pin quite well - wouldnt trust it for jumping though - not sure if thats what you meant

pretty sure this thing doesnt jump Russ........

Hey Dave, if you really want to get a taste of a longboard, I'll can bring down my Kona One for you to borrow.

Also, jumping a longboard is a sensible and well-established practice:

Richard, if we come down I was planning on bring down the clubs One Design, not sure it gets much longer (thats what she said)

Well, the racing Gods smiled on us again, with a well powered Race 3 in 15-20 knots. No need for longboards :-) The course was the usual figure 8 across to the reeds and back. Wind must have been a SW? LeMans start was it's usual chaos, then the first leg was a little on the light side with some concern about reaching the first mark without a tack. Next thing you know our ears were pinned back and it was hang on for what seemed like a very long hour. Gybing seemed particularly choppy at the "home" buoy.

Everyone was showing good speed on the reaches, with most of the jockeying for position taking place at the marks from what I could see.

Tim I think started the race with a 10 m sail - he's a big guy, but had to concede defeat and do a running sail change mid race.

Mark I think replaced the Bic with a freestyle board this time - he made that go fast too!

Juan was on a bigger board for this round, and looks like it paid dividends.

Gareth and Lachlan have had an epic battle all series, and carried on the tradition

Considering it was the same course as Race 2, we all made big improvements on our lap count compared to that race. I think we are all refining our gear and technique as the series goes by. Always something to learn.

Richard U jagged an extra lap by rounding the final buoy just as the flag dropped. PJ was only seconds back but ended up 1 lap down. Racing can be cruel sometimes!

Richard BS had a go on PJ's kit after the race, and seemed pretty stoked at what modern gear can offer - was last seen on the phone to his accountant :-)

After the race those with any remaining energy headed out for a bit of bump and jump or some GPS work further up the lake.

Thanks for the racing everyone, and thanks again to Michele for the record keeping, and for taking the above photos.

The results table shows some close results after 3 rounds - the final order definitely still up in the air with 2 races to go.


Name Laps Running total (1 discard)
Richard U 16 28
Richard B S 13 24
Lachlan M 7 12
Gareth 8 12
Peter (PJ) 15 28
Juan 13 20
Tim 13 22
Mark 13 24

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divaldo said...
If we make it down, I'm breaking out the one design. Need a tyronsea euro pin base, anyone got one?

Hey Dave I have got the base that goes on the board if you really need one I can post it up just call or text me Jimbob

Yeh I got a couple as well if ya need with the old Brass pin? and yellow twin pin?

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Dr Duck said..
Well, the racing Gods smiled on us again, with a well powered Race 3 in 15-20 knots. No need for longboards :-) The course was the usual figure 8 across to the reeds and back. Wind must have been a SW? LeMans start was it's usual chaos, then the first leg was a little on the light side with some concern about reaching the first mark without a tack. Next thing you know our ears were pinned back and it was hang on for what seemed like a very long hour. Gybing seemed particularly choppy at the "home" buoy.

Everyone was showing good speed on the reaches, with most of the jockeying for position taking place at the marks from what I could see.

Tim I think started the race with a 10 m sail - he's a big guy, but had to concede defeat and do a running sail change mid race.

Mark I think replaced the Bic with a freestyle board this time - he made that go fast too!

Juan was on a bigger board for this round, and looks like it paid dividends.

Gareth and Lachlan have had an epic battle all series, and carried on the tradition

Considering it was the same course as Race 2, we all made big improvements on our lap count compared to that race. I think we are all refining our gear and technique as the series goes by. Always something to learn.

Richard U jagged an extra lap by rounding the final buoy just as the flag dropped. PJ was only seconds back but ended up 1 lap down. Racing can be cruel sometimes!

Richard BS had a go on PJ's kit after the race, and seemed pretty stoked at what modern gear can offer - was last seen on the phone to his accountant :-)

After the race those with any remaining energy headed out for a bit of bump and jump or some GPS work further up the lake.

Thanks for the racing everyone, and thanks again to Michele for the record keeping, and for taking the above photos.

The results table shows some close results after 3 rounds - the final order definitely still up in the air with 2 races to go.

Name Laps Running total (1 discard)Richard U 16 28Richard B S 13 24

Lachlan M 7 12Gareth 8 12Peter (PJ) 15 28Juan 13 20Tim 13 22Mark 13 24

Well summarised Richard. The wind was the polar opposite of the last race with it starting out perfect for my 10m and then getting a bit too solid in the choppy turns. Well done to Richard and PJ who were both taking turns at position 1.

I checked out my tracks and lost 1 1/2 laps doing the rig change but unfortunately I had not started my HR monitor to log before the race. I was hitting 170 running the rig to the bank for the change. I am really enjoying the challenge and the chance to race against other sailors on a fixed course again.

Thanks to Richard, Gareth and Michele for counting laps. I am still a little sore today and look forward to getting the gear selection closer to the mark for the next event.

I captured the race nicely on the head cam and might post a little footage when I get the chance to edit it.

Time marches on, and here we are with the fourth race coming up on Saturday.

Forecast looks slightly encouraging with SSW gradient wind. If the clouds stay away, could be a replay of the last 3 races with good solid racing conditions.

Looking forward to it, it'll be great to see everyone down there.

Regards, Richard

missing out on the fun

This must be the luckiest Race series ever - Race 4 in the bag, and another event with plenty of wind and powered up racing. We had another excellent turn-out, with 9 racers. We welcomed Rob for the first time - thanks for coming down.

The day started out with fog and mist in the hills on the way through, but once at the waters edge we were faced with a 15 k SW. As we seem to be finding, all sorts of stuff can be thrown at us in 1 hour. The race started at 3.00 pm in a solid 15 with gusts to 20, and ended with 20 knots with gusts to 25. A solid figure 8 course without too much pointing required kept the board speeds high. There were a couple a bits where the sun came out and threatened to add another 5-10 knots to the wind, but to the relief of my forearms at least it didn't eventuate.

The "you wouldn't read about it award" went to Richard BS who had upgraded his uni joint, boom and sail since the last race. Yep, one run out and his mast broke. The only thing he didn't change :-) He managed to wade/swim in and join the race on a smaller sail, fitting in a hot 6 laps.

Lachlin and Gareth continued their rivalry, which I think included a mid-race sail change for Gareth.
Some big improvements from Lachlin, who has increased his lap count with each outing and set a PB 10 laps.

PJ, Juan and Tim all level pegged on 14 laps. Good speed from Juan on a non-cammed sail, and I think I saw him throw a duck gybe at one of the buoys. Style.

Mark I think pulled in for a sail change, and Rob put in a very solid first race, adapting quickly to the conditions.

Your humble correspondent put in PB as well. A new training regimen consisting of a honey log at the Strath Bakery on the way through seemed to pay off. Rigged with the boom a bit higher, sail a bit flatter which paid off when the wind kicked up a notch.


I thought I saw speedsters Sam and Carl running the course at some point too. I should join you guys at the top of the lake when I get a proper GPS.


Sail sizes were 6.5 for some folks, 7.5 here and there and the guys with big sails 8.5 etc all had to change down. Boards were a mix of old and new - freestyle, heritage slalom, some with centreboard, some modern. To everyones credit, most peoples max speed seemed similar, but the challenge as always was to keep the throttle on 100% of the time.

Gybing was very hard again, with a lot of chop at both buoys. Had my share of "mishaps" at the roundings, but I love the challenge of trying to pull off a good fast gybe in atrocious conditions.

Post race bump and jump was fun (breakout the 5.3's and 5.4's), but energy levels were low by then.

Thanks as always to Michele for the record keeping.


Name Laps Running total
Richard Upton 16 44
Richard Bradshaw Scott 6 36
Lachlin Miller 10 22
Gareth 11 23
Peter (PJ) 14 42
Juan 14 34
Tim 14 36
Mark 9 33
Rob 12 12


Once race to go. See you in March! Be good to see you there S018.

Yes it would be good
but that was a whipper Snapper using my computer
didn't think to log out and log in as himself !!!!!!!

Hey, Dave if you have lent him your computer you may as well lend him your boards and sails too :-)