Between jobs...

I have a month now until I start at a new job.  Lets hope that the SW winds come back and that I can get some sailing in.  In the meantime I think that I will spend some time checking over my kit to make sure everything is as I want it to be.  

I did get out the other night at the local lake for a bit of light wind slalom.  The wind was NW 8 to 14 knots, not the best direction as its rather gusty.  I did get a top speed of just over 25 knots, though I think that I am a bit disappointed with that showing.  However, I am not sure what I should be aiming for in that sort of wind.  I think that with a bit more power I can get close to 30 knots, but not with a 8.0m.  That size just does not feel like it is even being tested in such low wind.  Perhaps I should sort out a bigger sail for those sorts of days.  At least that way I know that the wind will come back!

Bough Beech Thursday Night

Well it looks like Chris' continued absence is ensuring that the wind keeps blowing, if from the North again.  Thursday looks like it could be decently windy with Windguru showing something in the region of 14 to 20 knots.  I hope to see plenty of people out and, as always, I am more than happy to organise a race or two (out-and-back affairs, nothing fancy).  In case you don't know me I will always be on a 8.0m Hot Sails Maui GPS or a 5.9m Spyclone also from Hot Sails.

I look forward to reporting back at the end of the week on some decent sailing action.  Hopefully we will be able to get some photos done.

The beast lives

Well I managed to get 25 knots out of this board the other day. I have now been told that some mad Frenchman has got 35 knots out of it! Well that is a challenge if ever I heard one. This board will not be going on ebay any time soon.

New Select S09 slalom elite fin!

I am looking forward to getting some good speeds out of this!  SO 9 Fin

Thanks to Rik at "Riks Windsurfing" for the fin and helpful advice about fin type and size selection.

Surprise Thursday night speed

There is a phrase "Fail to Prepare:  Prepare to Fail" and this can to mind last night when on slotting in my fin to my Mistral 135L RD Slalom I noticed that I had brought a deep tuttle fin and not a tuttle fine.  This was as I looked out on the water to see a nice Bft 3 to 4.  I then realised that I had left an ancient Starboard Go 170 (85 by 270ish) at the Lake and thinking that it would be better to get out then watch I slotted by HSM GPS 8.0m on that and headed off after fitting the deep tuttle Select Zero Racing Fin - which did not fit the Mistral's box. 

Carrying the board down to the water I was a bit put off by the weight of the Starboard after the Mistral so I had low expectations of even getting going, especially as 8.0 is not really a light wind size for chaps my size.  However, I was very pleasantly surprised that with a little gust it was off and despite the footstraps being too far in-board I managed to get just over 25 knots on it when the wind was no more than a 3 to 4Bft.  At no time did I feel properly powered up, but the board did feel a bit like a run-away bus when moving at speed, though to its credit it gybed really pretty well and fairly tight when needed.  It has got me thinking about how fast I could get the Go going... I wonder if it could do over 30 knots?  Perhaps a bigger sail and a bit more wind would see that or maybe it would top out at 27 knots.  Still it could be fund to try and fun out.

Taking up Racing

I am looking to do some racing this year and the following links have been helpfully suggested to me:


http://www.lwawindsurfing.co.uk/html/starting_racing.html

http://www.lwawindsurfing.co.uk/html/advice_to_race_officers.html

Look like interesting stuff to me and lots to learn!

Thursday 10 June

As most of you will probably know Chris will be trying to enjoy himself at Club Vass this Thursday so we have been left to organise ourselves...


The plan is to get down to the Lake as soon as we can after work (aim for 6:30 to 7pm) and rig up straight away.  I think that we should then have a quick chat to decide what people want to do.  If there are people who would like to do some racing then I will organise that (I expect it to be something simple) or if people would like to just do some freesailing then that would be great too.  We could even organise a freestyle event if there was demand - we do need to practice our moves for when Chris comes back from teaching Andy "Bubble" Chambers how proper freestyle is done.


It looks like there could be some wind (though I said that last week) according to Windguru - BBSC

 By the way, if anyone is a bit of a photographer it would be great if you could get some shots and I will add them to my blog.

Look forward to seeing you there - if I am held up at work then just get out on the water as quick as you can!


Andy

Thursday Night is Race Night

Lovely sun and blue sky, shame the wind was not so good.

Thursday Night is Race Night

Last night was the first of the fun evening races at BBSC.  The idea is to encourage everyone to add a little bit of competition into their sailing.  The format was a simple out-and-back one.  This meant that there was only one mark and so it was easy and quick to set up.

Several people turned up on all sorts of boards, from full-on retro longboard racing kit to 130 L freeride boards. This did make it hard to figure out a fair approach, but it was decided to ignore the differences and simple race for the fun of racing against one another.  With a "one, two, three, GO!" the first race started and it was soon clear that the retro longboard still stood head and shoulders above the newer kit in the very light winds, but even so it was good to see the youngest sailor, Dominic, first to the mark (with only the smallest of head starts).  I was not far behind, but managed to fall in as the dodgy sliding mast track and grip-less board conspired to undo by cat like balance (these old race boards are tippier than I remember).  This allowed Nick (on full course racing gear) to sneak past me and Dominic and hold off Chris for the first victory (although will be disqualified by the Race Officer for having raced in the past and also having more skill than is allowed under the Rules).

As the first race ended the wind become even lighter and more flakey so most sailors spent the rest of the evening free-sailing practising lightwind freestyle (I will claim the world's slowest duck gybe).

All in all it was good to simply be out on the water.  Next week we may see if we can organise a one-design race on Starboard Rios and 5.5m sails.  More in the next report.