Windsurfing Speed Record

Hi from a cold, black, wet and stormy Langebaan.  We have enjoyed some fantastic weather lately - clear sun filled days made all the better by the fact that the flowers are out but the last couple of days have been really bleak.  I suppose that this is a small price to pay for all the cloudless, windy days we get between October and March.

Joos told me about Jurjen van der Noord's new speed record adding that Jurjen had used a Severne NCX in his record breaking run.  Just a tip for those of you interested in speed sailing, you can very quickly get all the info you need regarding any of the top speed guys on www.gps-speedsurfing.com.  This site gives you each sailor's registered times and also his boards, sails and fins so you can verify details very quickly and easily.  Jurjen's quiver comprises four Reflex3s and one NCX (6.5m).   Severne's site provides details of the record breaking run accompanied by photo's of Jurjen with his NCX.  I noted from the speedsailing site that Jurjen's boards are all Starboards so I went to the Starboard site where I found a better interview about this particular session.  In this interview it is revealed that the sail used to break the record was in fact Jurjen's Reflex3, 5.6m (on an iSonic speed W44).














Note the distortion on the sail - massive pressures in 50k of wind!

So no record for the camless brigade but it is still significant that one of the top guys includes a camless sail in his quiver.  If this NCX 6.5m is fast enough for Jurjen, believe me it is more than fast enough for you.


As I mentioned briefly in the last post, Gaastra's 2013 wave sails are out as is their new Cross.  A striking sail and I note that they are now recommending their Gold rdm mast for it.  Up to now they have always specified their Silver mast.  The Gold rdm is absolutely the right mast for these sails.  Nice job Gaastra and Peter.
  
Look at the colors on this Cross.  Stunning!

The 7.8m Decision

Hi
In the last post I mentioned that Jeremy was deciding what to replace his 7.5m Gaastra GTX with.  Jeremy is a good sailor who enjoys going fast but is not interested in "balls-to-the-wall" dicing.  He wants his equipment to deliver fun rather than terror.  I on the other hand feel that a bit of terror now and again teaches you to handle overpowered conditions and makes you a better sailor.  Two of our power sailors, Andy and Harry, live in what for me, is the terror zone.  They have developed the skill and power to be able to handle these conditions which is why they are almost impossible to keep up with.

The above comments demonstrate some typical differences between a sample of windsurfers and these differences need to be considered when deciding upon a sail.  Before you run out and buy something, you need to decide exactly what you expect from the equipment.  If you expect ease of use and the ability to cruise in flat 7.5m conditions you will need one type of sail.  If you want to tear the water up with your 7.5 in overpowered conditions you are going to need something different.  Thankfully most of the good sail brands supply sails to meet all of our respective requirements.  My approach is to define 4 categories:

• Cammed performance
• Cammed soft
• Camless performance
• Camless soft  

You will first decide whether you want a cammed or a camless sail.  Then decide whether you want something comfortable and fun or whether you need something a bit harder which will get you away from the start a bit quicker and allow you to plane quicker out of the gybes.  Remember, the harder the sail, the harder it is going to work your body.  A harder sail is harder to sail.

The type of sail you will need if you are keen to maximize speed is the Gaastra Phantom 7.8m, the North Ram 7.8m and Severne's Overdrive 7.5m.  These are all great sails and if rigged properly and married with the right board/fin combo, will enable you to frighten sailors on pure race sails.  They will all allow you to sail well into heavy wind and remain in control.  They are all a little too heavy for my liking but if you are strong and athletic then this will not be an issue for you.  

If you are set on cams but need a softer experience, you should be considering Severne's 7.5m Turbo, North's 7.8m SType and Ezzy's Lion 7.5m.  These are all much softer but are still fast, light and a joy to use.

The camless performance sails to consider will include Gaastra's Savage 7.8, Severne's NCX 7.5, Pryde's Hellcat 7.7, and the Sailworks Retro 7.5.  These can all smoke when rigged properly and will keep up with the hardest of race sails on most sailing angles.

Camless soft sails to consider will be Gaastra's Matrix 7.5, Severne's Gator 7.5, North's XType 7.8, Ezzy's Cheetah 7.5 and the Loft Oxygen 7.4m.  All of these sails will be really nice to use and you will find that when you push them into strong winds, you will almost certainly go faster than you ever thought possible on a big sail.  They are also light, easy to rig, not particularly mast specific and as an extra bonus, are easy to store in a rigged but de-tensioned state.  Most of these sails will switch easily from a slalom to a freeride board (from your 71 Manta to your 115 Rocket Limited for instance).

Jeremy chose the Matrix 7.5m - a perfect solution for his particular requirements.

In closing, I note that Gaastra has put its 2013 wave sails on its website.  Nice looking sails, great graphics!

Talk to you soon        

  

PWA Notes and Some New Equipment Thoughts

Hi

I have been back for a while but needed a break from the blog.  Anyway, I am back now and we have things to consider.  The PWA Sotavento event was held last month and Finian won the slalom racing.  This is good news given his recent spate of bad luck with injuries and equipment breakages.  He says that the design of the Avanti sails helped him in the rough, gusty conditions, allowing him to maintain control.  He adds that the softness of the new sails gave him an advantage.  That is what I keep hammering on about - even superstars need comfort to maximize performance!

The top 6 guys were Finian, Ben, Antoine, Bjorn, Cyril and Julien Quentel.  These guys were all on either RRD X-Fires or Starboard iSonics.  Food for thought.  Ben vd Steen is, as I have said before a force to be reckoned with and on his new equipment combo of Loft and Starboard, is becoming "quite a handful" (to use Johnny's understated turn of phrase).  Cyril is definitely getting to grips with the Reflex3's.  He has been near the top in the last two meetings.  Interesting times.


Here is Ben kicking ass.  Note the Loft sail's dual shaping in action.  The bottom section delivers power while the top section spills wind.  The sections are divided by that black tendon and the use of different materials - nice!

On the new equipment front, some of the brands have their 2013 wave and freeride sails out.  Severne, North and Maui Sails are all showing new lines and there are some nice things.  Severne's Blade looks really cool and is going to perform I'm sure.  North's ID is lighter than equivalent sails from Severne and from Maui Sails (Blade and Ghost xt).  I usually berate North for the heaviness of their sails but not in this case.  Well done guys.

RRD have a new mast which they bill as the lightest rdm on the market.  This has been out for a while but is worth a mention.  They don't give weights on the site unfortunately.
          


It is called the CDM C100 and they claim a new manufacturing technique incorporating "nano carbon fibres".  I'm sure that this is not quite as exciting as it sounds but one thing I have learned about RRD is that they generally do things better than other companies so if you are looking for something special in an rdm mast, give this one some thought.

Our sailing season here is rapidly approaching and most of us are looking at our sail and board quivers and deciding what to replace.  As I have mentioned, I am replacing my beloved North Ram 7.8m with a camless sail.  I am almost decided that this will be a Gaastra Savage and will probably go this way if I can get a good price.  Jeremy, one of my sailing partners has been agonizing over a replacement for his Gaastra GTX 7.5 and is also leaning towards something camless.  In the next post I will let you know what he decided upon and list some of the other options you could consider if you are in a similar position.

Talk to you soon

Going Away

Hi
Just a short note to say that I will be away for a while.  We are going into the mountains and may not have Internet connectivity.  Talk to you when I am back
Good winds

Ideal Sail Quiver - 5

Hi

The last sail to discuss is the smallest one and like the boards, this may be a contentious recommendation.  For this board and sail collection my small sail is going to be a wave sail of 4.7m.  Wave sails are really not that good for day to day blasting but for wickedly overpowered conditions, I find that a small wave sail works well.  This is because you can instantly de-power it and then quickly power up again when required just by sheeting in and out.  This gives control, a degree of comfort and sufficient speed over the chop.  Flat out speed is not really of prime importance in these conditions.  Another advantage is that if you want to have a go in the waves, this is the machine.

 My particular choice for this sail is going to be Severne's Blade 4.7m.  The Blade is both powerful and easy to control.  The strong winds which occur here are sometimes quite gusty and you need a fuller sail to keep you planing in the lulls (you will be on your smallest board remember).  The sail also needs to be able to handle fierce gusts and this is one of the best for that purpose.

I notice that the new 2013 Blades are on the Severne site - check them out.  They now come with "SpiderFibre" which has allowed them to lighten the sail and to spread the forces over the area of the sail more effectively.  I hope this is more than clever marketing - knowing Severne it is probably a real advance.  We shall see when these sails hit the water.   
Beautiful things!


OK so that concludes this series of articles.  I hope they have been of some help.  You may not agree with every one of the board and sail sizes I have suggested and that is not a problem.  We are all different and our sailing conditions too, differ.  The main thing is to have a plan, specify exactly what you are going to need to get the most out of our sport given your specific circumstances and preferences.  You can then set about filling in all the sizes you have specified. This may not happen in one season but over time, as you replace equipment, you can build the optimal sail/board quiver.


Talk to you soon

Ideal Sail Quiver - 4

Hi

Christiaan sent me quite a long e-mail regarding (among a host of other things) how the choice of windsurfing equipment determines who you associate with in your sailing time.  His message got me thinking and I will write an article on the important subject of finding one's tribe in the context of being a windsurfer when the Board/Sail articles are over.  Right now however, we have sails to discuss and the sizes in question (6.5m and 5.5m) are two which cover the high speed blasting section of the spectrum. Fun, fun, fun!

Because these sizes are smaller than 7m, my preference is that they will have no more than 6 battens.  As I mentioned before, fewer battens release the sail to breathe freely in the gusts, allowing the non-racer to keep the board under control in the gusts and over the chop.

The right 6.5m soft sail is totally at ease with the 68 -71cm slalom board loaded with the 39cm fin.  You will find the rig unbelievably light after the performance oriented 7.8m sail, and your transitions through the gybes (step and flip) are so effortless you will find yourself grinning from ear to ear.  The straight line speed on this combination is potentially far faster than you might imagine.  Anyone doubting this should visit us here in Langebaan in November, come to the beach on a windy day with your 6.5m race sail and ask for Andy or Harry.  Once you have located them, your mission (should you accept it), is to keep pace with either of them over the course they are sailing.  We do not expect you to beat either of them, just try to stay in the picture.  Unless you are a national level racer, I am betting that you are going to fail.  The right soft, 6.5m sail on a fast board/fin combo is dynamite and the wonderful thing is that it provides so much control, pleasure and excitement at these speeds.  The other neat thing is that this sail is even better on a small slalom board and the 115l and 95l Rockets as the water state gets rough.  As the conditions intensify, just change down on boards and keep the trusty 6.5 flying.  I would opt for an rdm mast on this sail to keep things soft.  Gaastra's current gold rdms are fantastic and will definitely work with the Cross, Gator and Switch.  I'm not sure about the Oxygen - I would need to try one on a gold before I could comment.    


Here is a list of the recommended models for this size:

• Gaastra Cross 6.4m
• Severne Gator 6.5m
• Loft Oxygen 6.6m
• Maui Sails Switch 6.4m  

   

My personal sail in this size is the Gaastra Cross but any of them will give you fantastic service.  The Severne Gator is popular on our beach and I have never heard anyone say anything bad about a Gator - wonderful sails.

All of the above points go for the 5.5m soft sails as well.  Unfortunately the Oxygen comes in at 5.3 and
5.9m so I would probably confine my selection to the 3 other brands for this size.

Comparing a fast crossover sail to a pure race sail is an interesting exercise.  If you could give each sail an attitude and a voice the race sail would sound something like this:
"We are going to go fast.  Pay attention! If you sheet out I will punish you again and this time I hope you face plant.  If you go into the gybe too slowly I am going to try to rip your arms out.  I'm not rotating properly? Just kick me you idiot and stop whining.  Do you want to win or are you going to cry? Harden up you pussy!

The crossover sail would sound like this:
"What are we doing today boss? Swells? flat water blasting? How can I help? You're worried about sheeting out? - No problem - just sheet in again and we'll catch them before the end of the run.  Lets go and have some fun!"

Talk to you soon.  Only one more sail left.

Ideal Sail Quiver - 3

Hi All
Thank you to everyone who has e-mailed with feedback on this series of articles.  Thanks for your time and attention - much appreciated.

Today I am going to be discussing a hugely important sail in the range - the 7.8m.  The right 7.8m sail can be used in light to medium winds with the big 81cm board.  It can be held as the wind picks up and used with the 68-71cm wide board with a 43cm fin.  It can then be held in quite strong wind on the same board with the 39cm fin.  Downhaul it properly and you will surprise yourself at how deep into the strong wind you can hold it.  Our challenge therefore, is to identify a sail which will enable planing in light winds and still give the control needed to facilitate high wind blasting with optimal comfort and maximum fun.

Up until about a year ago my belief was always that if your sail was bigger than 7.0m, it had to have camber inducers.  This season I am challenging this point of view and will be replacing my North Ram with a camless  7.8m sail.  I'm not sure that this is a wise move but we will see and I will be reporting back to you on its performance compared with similar sized race and freerace sails.  My short list for this sail is as follows:

• Sailworks Retro 7.5
• Severne NCX 7.5
• Gaastra Savage 7.8
• North X Type 7.8

Gaastra's Savage is too heavy at 5.4kg but this is not enough to exclude it from the list.  North's X Type is surprisingly light at 4.8kg (I usually criticize North for the weight of their sails but this one is fine) and the Severne is of course the lightest at 4.6 kg.  Every one of these sails has 7 battens and sets on a 460 mast.  The North may look a bit softer and less performance orientated but don't believe this.  My experience with North sails tells me that this is one special sail - fast, light and easy.  

          



I can't get through to the Gaastra site for the Savage - they must be doing maintenance.


Because our local dealer sells Gaastra and Severne I am probably going to buy a Savage in this size for myself.  I know that one of the other guys is buying the NCX 7.5 and another is considering a Retro so I will have lots to compare with and will keep you informed.  The bottom line is that any of these sails, rigged on the right mast with proper downhaul and outhaul will give you the speed, control and fun we are looking for.    

Before I close on this I would say that if you have never owned a pure race sail and are toying with the idea of getting one, then this is the size to go for.  Unlike the 9.0m race sail, a 7.8m is at least manageable and not too difficult in the gybes.  A pure race model will tie in beautifully with the two bigger slalom boards in the quiver and will be something to hone your racing skills in winds that are not trying to kill you.  So although I do not recommend a race sail anywhere in these articles, if you want one, then this size is the one to flirt with.  Have a look at the new Avanti sails.  With their super light masts they are looking pretty cool to me right now.  Loft's Blade looks great with an RDM mast and Severne's Reflex3 is an engineering masterpiece and potential giant killer.

I'm going to opt for fun and will not be going near any race sail but if you have the strength and ambition to race, go for it.

That's all for now.  All the best and good winds