One of the four things that I need to do before I get married in October is to windsurf at 40 knots*

I know I'm only 33, but I've bought speed gear to achieve this aim. (Thinking about this, I should probably be nice to speed people because I'm going to need lots of advice on how to tune it and sail it)

Any way, I now have (all second hand), and courtesy of Luke at SHQ who did remind me that life does exist after marriage when I told him the big plan,

2011 JP 49 speed board - The standard fin which is a 27cm
RSX 6 (or something like that) 5.4m sail - it's got lots of battens, funny plastic things in the luff tube (about as wide as my entire 3.7m wavesail) and apparently it will need more downhaul than my Gaastra Poisions
A X9 mast (made of carbon and for the sail - but a fat one like people used to use in the old days, apparently this is needed for the plastic bits in the luff tube)

Plus I also had to get cos apparently it's required

A seat harness - to help me get low
28-34" lines
A smaller select fin 23cm

I already have a helmet and a Garmin Foretrex 301 etc.

The current 10 step plan, which may need some elaboration, is

1 Rig the stuff in the garden
2 Wait till a 30knots SW forecast at Sandy Point at a weekend
3 Drive down to Sandy
4 Rig up and put on seat harness while responding to abuse from people who notice that I'm wearing a seat harness
5 Sail up and a down a few times with the small fin
6 Look at GPS (observe that I have indeed broken 40 knots)
7 De rig speed gear
8 Put speed gear back in van
9 Go windsurfing
10 Get back to Melbourne and sell speed gear (unless I really liked in, in which case I'm expecting a lot of banter from existing mates but also something to talk about with new mates)

Point 5 and point 6 are probably the areas that will require a bit more thinking.

*The others are land four loops, do a sub 4 hour marathon and do 10km on a rower in under 40 minutes (done this one before)

Wake up GP your dreaming!

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ginger pom said...

The current 10 step plan, which may need some elaboration, is

1 Rig the stuff in the garden
2 Wait till a 30knots SW forecast at Sandy Point at a weekend
3 Drive down to Sandy
4 Rig up and put on seat harness while responding to abuse from people who notice that I'm wearing a seat harness
5 Sail up and a down a few times with the small fin
6 Look at GPS (observe that I have indeed broken 40 knots)
7 De rig speed gear
8 Put speed gear back in van
9 Go windsurfing
10 Get back to Melbourne and sell speed gear (unless I really liked in, in which case I'm expecting a lot of banter from existing mates but also something to talk about with new mates)

Point 5 and point 6 are probably the areas that will require a bit more thinking.

*The others are land four loops, do a sub 4 hour marathon and do 10km on a rower in under 40 minutes (done this one before)

i think you need to add in points
11. drink lots of tea waiting for an exact window of wind and exact wind angle while others sail all day
12. find a new house with your new friends who will understand your new language 13. sit in armchair and grow old Mr GOMS
14. at least when you get the van bogged you will have alias on all sides of the spectrum (i think his is really the reason why)
15. run fast after you explain to your new friends what the acronym that you made up stands for.

at least your qualified for drinking tea- after-all you are English

I would have rather hear that you made call to make loop before you marry but we will still talk to you!! After all sailing is sailing.

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Rosobot said...

Wake up GP your dreaming!

I really did. It's all in the garage at the moment. Not sure why I did it - other than the pre wedding crisis goals.

The board is seriously small and light (like 4 kilos or something - I suppose it is 63 litres)

I imagine it would sink if you rested your gut on it.

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ginger pom said...

One of the four things that I need to do before I get married in October is to windsurf at 40 knots*

I know I'm only 33, but I've bought speed gear to achieve this aim. (Thinking about this, I should probably be nice to speed people because I'm going to need lots of advice on how to tune it and sail it)

Any way, I now have (all second hand), and courtesy of Luke at SHQ who did remind me that life does exist after marriage when I told him the big plan,

2011 JP 49 speed board - The standard fin which is a 27cm
RSX 6 (or something like that) 5.4m sail - it's got lots of battens, funny plastic things in the luff tube (about as wide as my entire 3.7m wavesail) and apparently it will need more downhaul than my Gaastra Poisions
A X9 mast (made of carbon and for the sail - but a fat one like people used to use in the old days, apparently this is needed for the plastic bits in the luff tube)

Plus I also had to get cos apparently it's required

A seat harness - to help me get low
28-34" lines
A smaller select fin 23cm

I already have a helmet and a Garmin Foretrex 301 etc.

The current 10 step plan, which may need some elaboration, is

1 Rig the stuff in the garden
2 Wait till a 30knots SW forecast at Sandy Point at a weekend
3 Drive down to Sandy
4 Rig up and put on seat harness while responding to abuse from people who notice that I'm wearing a seat harness
5 Sail up and a down a few times with the small fin
6 Look at GPS (observe that I have indeed broken 40 knots)
7 De rig speed gear
8 Put speed gear back in van
9 Go windsurfing
10 Get back to Melbourne and sell speed gear (unless I really liked in, in which case I'm expecting a lot of banter from existing mates but also something to talk about with new mates)

Point 5 and point 6 are probably the areas that will require a bit more thinking.

*The others are land four loops, do a sub 4 hour marathon and do 10km on a rower in under 40 minutes (done this one before)

16. And spend the next week trying to hide the simile and the shakes from your mates cos you were going so fast that you were scared s@#tlest and you want to do it all again next week.

The best thing is now you can do both.

Hope your first time goes better than mine! I had much the same plan. Rocked up down there with a Missile S, 5.8 Koncept and 23cm C3 fin. Went home with a very sore knee, broken mast and a hole in the bottom of the board. And 39.94 on the GPS

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Squid Lips said...

Hope your first time goes better than mine! I had much the same plan. Rocked up down there with a Missile S, 5.8 Koncept and 23cm C3 fin. Went home with a very sore knee, broken mast and a hole in the bottom of the board. And 39.94 on the GPS

how much wind was that in? I'm doing some internet research on tuning and **** at the moment but keep getting distracted by playing angry birds. So far I have learnt,

high boom
long harness lines
mast foot position matters too?

That was in about 30 - 35 knots, a few weeks ago. One thing to make sure you have at Sandy when it's that windy is something to keep the sand out of your eyes, like some motocross/ ski goggles or a full face visor on your helmet.

Kato's not joking when he says it's scary. You can't just pull over to the bank when you want to stop as you're doing 75 - 80km/h. It's a very different feeling to when you're going fast in open water at maybe 55km/h. After my first experience I'd recommend going there on a 25 knot forecast and get use to the gear first. You'll still go a lot faster than you've been before.

You forgot also to include on your list before getting married to "Achieve a donut in van at low tide at Sandy". This could also fit in at 9.5 on your list. On that, do you need to now buy a new van to fit all this extra stuff in?

The other thing about sandy is that its a commiting place.. youll bear away and go faster than you've ever gone before and if your anxious you can't just head upwind to bleed of speed ( cause you'll hit the sand bar) so you need to try to bear away further which will make you go even faster and the vicious circle continues!!!

My only advice would be same as Squidie.... pick a 20 knots day and go have fun rather thatn listen to the Pit regulars. They only pipe up when the conditions are looking good for there level of speed sailing ( which is very high).. A "nice" day to get used to your gear will make it a lot easier..and less terrifying!

Gee ginger boged in the sand once at the pit and now you are hooked on speed sailing

I've been pretty fast on my wave board before. It made a lot of noise and the background went past a lot quicker than normal. The GPS said it was 34.2 which I think is pretty good.

And this has nothing to do with being bogged. Everyone seems to have very long memories of that.

Argh you'll easily get 40 first go using the Garmin

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sausage said...

Argh you'll easily get 40 first go using the Garmin

wo wo wo wo

Will 40 knots not count on the Garmin?

What sort of GPS' are you using and how much was it if you don't mind me asking?

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ginger pom said...

and a Garmin Foretrex 301

no longer sold

ah sorry didn't see that

no worries - I think the others use a variety of stuff. The GPS forum seems to be where they hang out. I haven't gone that far yet...

I'd suggest using the Select as a door stop.... if you ever do 40 with it, it will probably let go and send you through the sail.

Suggest getting a GT-31.

Suggest that you head to the Pit on Saturday

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kato said...

Suggest that you head to the Pit on Saturday

Not that I'm counting my chickens, (I have no chickens), but we've put in a rental application that involves us moving house on Saturday... so I'll be sailing in the bay at dawn and that's my lot.

That said, if the rental application gets turned down...