Post by mikeyz on Aug 18, 2008 9:15:18 GMT -5
Hey Guys, so this has been a bit of a windsurfing weekend for me. Saturday I got out on my 8.5 at Durand. It was very very light but I was out for maybe 2 hours or so. I got to tryout my “new” fin. Way back when I bought most of my gear (about two years ago) I was offered a really nice carbon racing fin that had never been used for something like 40 bucks. So I bought it and tucked it away in my closet for the day that I was sure I wouldn’t do anything dumb like run into a sandbar and scratch it all up. That day has come and I took it out. This fin is about 4 cm longer than the stock fin I have and I was kind of surprised to find the board behaving differently. I got up wind a bit better and planed a little earlier. I now understand why people choose different fins and what they mean by lift. So that was a pretty good day.
Yesterday was an interesting day. I drove over to Hamburg and found Mark, Kinger, and Joe. Later on Teddy and Rick Griffin showed up. I initially went out on a 5.0. I was underpowered and something didn’t feel right. The sail bag says to use a 430cm mast. The luff is 434cm so I figured I would use a 400cm mast (I don’t have a 430cm). I had to downhaul and outhaul the crap out of the sail to get the battens to sit in the right spot. I’ll have to think about what went wrong. I went out and back one time and I was pretty darn tired trying to balance and sail out of the harness underpowered.
Next I rigged up my 6.0. I had more luck with that but I was a bit over powered in the gusts. I found my board to be bobbing (or porpoising) up and down a bit too which made me want to go slow. I headed for the beach and Joe came in shortly thereafter. I explained my problem. He asked “is your mast base far enough forward?” and “Is your boom high enough?”. I was thinking I sailed on this set up two weeks ago and had better performance of course my set up is ok. It must be. The problem must be in my form or something else I am just doing wrong, maybe my board is too big?
We kept sailing. There were some big fat waves there. They were beautiful! A little unnerving too. At one point I tried to gybe down a wave. I wiped out and the board went flying about 40 feet in front of me. I doggie paddled over to it and by the time I got there I was exhausted. I kept trying to water start and for some reason I kept having a hard time. I was getting really tired. Rick pulled up to check on me (thanks Rick!) and he made some great joke about the best windsurfing move ever is to windsurf without a board or sail. I bet he can do it. After a long while I got back up, back up wind, and onto the beach for a rest. Joe came in again and we had another talk. He let me know all the guys had their eye on me. That was great cause those waves were getting kind of big down by the pier and I was really hoping somebody knew where I was. Thanks guys!
We went back out. Sailed. Everybody came in. We chatted. I was pretty tired but Rick was going back out and I drove all the way to Hamburg and I thought I better sail until I was done. Spelt D-O-N-E. I headed back out only this time with my mast base a bit further forward. I had a bit more luck. The wind had lightened up a tad, similar to my first day at Hamburg. My board wasn’t porpoising so badly, I felt a bit better going fast. It was ok. We were out for another 30 minutes. I was spent. Tired. I couldn’t carry my board and sail in one piece to the car.
Rick and I began having the same conversation that Joe and I had earlier. He asked the same thing and he made me stand the sail up to look at my boom height. I am a dumbasssssssss. My boom was too low! From now on whenever you pro guys give me advice I am not going to think about it once or twice, I am going to be sure everything is correct. Back when Joe asked me if my boom was high enough, “shoulder high mike?” I should have made sure it was shoulder high instead of saying “I’m pretty sure it is shoulder high”.
Joe had some great advice that I plan on really improving on. “Wave sailing is not about blasting around”, he continued on talking about using the waves, watching the waves, and finding a smooth line. I need practice practice practice and more time on the water.
Ok, well it wasn’t the best day, but any day out on the water is a good day. It was my second time out on a smaller board in bigger water and it went ok. I sailed the whole day. I learned a huge amount. I am sore now. It looks like the wind is coming up at Long Pond. I am thinking about going out.
Yesterday was an interesting day. I drove over to Hamburg and found Mark, Kinger, and Joe. Later on Teddy and Rick Griffin showed up. I initially went out on a 5.0. I was underpowered and something didn’t feel right. The sail bag says to use a 430cm mast. The luff is 434cm so I figured I would use a 400cm mast (I don’t have a 430cm). I had to downhaul and outhaul the crap out of the sail to get the battens to sit in the right spot. I’ll have to think about what went wrong. I went out and back one time and I was pretty darn tired trying to balance and sail out of the harness underpowered.
Next I rigged up my 6.0. I had more luck with that but I was a bit over powered in the gusts. I found my board to be bobbing (or porpoising) up and down a bit too which made me want to go slow. I headed for the beach and Joe came in shortly thereafter. I explained my problem. He asked “is your mast base far enough forward?” and “Is your boom high enough?”. I was thinking I sailed on this set up two weeks ago and had better performance of course my set up is ok. It must be. The problem must be in my form or something else I am just doing wrong, maybe my board is too big?
We kept sailing. There were some big fat waves there. They were beautiful! A little unnerving too. At one point I tried to gybe down a wave. I wiped out and the board went flying about 40 feet in front of me. I doggie paddled over to it and by the time I got there I was exhausted. I kept trying to water start and for some reason I kept having a hard time. I was getting really tired. Rick pulled up to check on me (thanks Rick!) and he made some great joke about the best windsurfing move ever is to windsurf without a board or sail. I bet he can do it. After a long while I got back up, back up wind, and onto the beach for a rest. Joe came in again and we had another talk. He let me know all the guys had their eye on me. That was great cause those waves were getting kind of big down by the pier and I was really hoping somebody knew where I was. Thanks guys!
We went back out. Sailed. Everybody came in. We chatted. I was pretty tired but Rick was going back out and I drove all the way to Hamburg and I thought I better sail until I was done. Spelt D-O-N-E. I headed back out only this time with my mast base a bit further forward. I had a bit more luck. The wind had lightened up a tad, similar to my first day at Hamburg. My board wasn’t porpoising so badly, I felt a bit better going fast. It was ok. We were out for another 30 minutes. I was spent. Tired. I couldn’t carry my board and sail in one piece to the car.
Rick and I began having the same conversation that Joe and I had earlier. He asked the same thing and he made me stand the sail up to look at my boom height. I am a dumbasssssssss. My boom was too low! From now on whenever you pro guys give me advice I am not going to think about it once or twice, I am going to be sure everything is correct. Back when Joe asked me if my boom was high enough, “shoulder high mike?” I should have made sure it was shoulder high instead of saying “I’m pretty sure it is shoulder high”.
Joe had some great advice that I plan on really improving on. “Wave sailing is not about blasting around”, he continued on talking about using the waves, watching the waves, and finding a smooth line. I need practice practice practice and more time on the water.
Ok, well it wasn’t the best day, but any day out on the water is a good day. It was my second time out on a smaller board in bigger water and it went ok. I sailed the whole day. I learned a huge amount. I am sore now. It looks like the wind is coming up at Long Pond. I am thinking about going out.