PWA - Finally Some Wind!

Hi
Today, (day 4 of the first event) the wind finally came through in Reggio at around 16:30.  Mens heats 1 to 13 were successfully staged before the wind finally died cutting heat 14 short.  The surviving sailors who will be in the winner/loser finals are as follows (in no particular order) - Van der Steen, Diethelm, Menegatti, Albeau, Diaz, Volwater, Questel, Costa Hoevel, Dagan, Toselli, Angulo, Dunkerbeck and Quentel.  Micah had a DNF in the first round (big sail too small Micah?) and Cyril also went out (big surprise because he usually shines in light winds)

Steve Allen, Bora Kozanoglu and Taty Frans were all disqualified in the late stages of the racing.  All over early and every one of them on a Starboard ISonic 117 Wide.  This is an interesting board - very thin, very wide for its volume and extremely light.  The acceleration of the board off the mark is explosive and this must make it really difficult to judge one's start when in the company of normal big slalom machines.  Real bad luck for these guys today but a useful demonstration for anyone looking for a light wind rocket ship.  One awesome and special board - thank you Starboard!

Another point of interest is the performance of the Point 7 AC1 Race sail with both Josh Angulo and Pascal Toselli stamping their authority on their respective heats.  I am a little disappointed with the performance of the new Avanti sails but both riders are through to the finals (no mean feat) so let's wait and see.

These are early days in the tour of course and all manner of place changes will occur as the racing continues over the coming months.

   

Speak to you soon

PWA Tour - First Event

Hi
The PWA tour has kicked off in Reggio in Calabria, Italy.  This is the first time that the small town has staged the event and there is much excitement.  They have kicked off with celebrations, dedicated a website for the occasion and have even issued a commemorative postage stamp to honor the event.  The crowds have arrived and an army of windsurfing's best are poised with mountains of kit.

The problem is that the wind has not arrived.  The same wind that blows every year at this time without fail has simply switched off.  This will not surprise any seasoned windsurfer of course.  We've all seen it before - a well planned event squashed by the fickle wind.

There were no heats yesterday and nothing so far today but I am told that the forecast for the rest of the day looks a bit better.  We can only hope because this year promises to be a really fascinating tour and one really hopes for a good first race.  I can't wait and will report back on the various heats should they occur.

Our wind here in Langebaan seems to be in sympathy with the conditions in Reggio.  It is following exactly the same pattern so I can't even go out for a sail.

Talk to you soon  

My Top Sailors For 2012 and Their Equipment Choices

Here are my top sailors for this year's PWA tour.  The table is a bit clumsy because it is copied from an Excel spreadsheet and format, colors, structure etc are lost when you do this.  You can still work your way back and forth.  Use the bar at the foot of the page (if you need to) to get to the sail sizes registered by each sailor.  I have a problem with the sizes registered by Micah Buzianis.  You will note that he has both a 6.6m and a 6.3m sail in his quiver.  This restricts the number of big sails he is able to include.  Compare his quiver to Finian's.  Finian starts at 6.1, goes on to 6.9, 7.7 etc and is able to include a 10m size at the top.  So many sailors drop out of heats in light winds when they fall off the plane at a gybe.  A big sail has to be a good thing to have for light days.

Notice that all of the Tabou sailors have included the new 71/113 Manta as their mid size board.

This section divides the sailors up according to the boards they are on
Sailor	Sail No	Board	Board Volumes and Width				Sail	Sail Sizes Registered for the 2012 Tour
Micah Buzianis	USA-34	JP Slalom 8 12	96      59	108    66	130    78		Maui Sails TR8 12	6.3	6.6	7.0	7.6	8.4	9.2
Ben vd Steen	NED-57	Starboard IS 12	87       57	107    69	127     85		Loft Racing Blade 12	5.6	6.3	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Cyril Moussilmani	F-71	Starboard IS 12	87       57	107    69	127     85		Severne Reflex 3 12	5.6	6.2	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.6
Bjorn Dunkerbeck	SUI-11	Starboard IS 12	87       57	107    69	127     85		Severne Reflex 3 12	5.6	6.2	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.6
Alberto Menegatti	ITA-4	Starboard IS 12	87       57	107    69	127     85		Gaastra Vapor 12	5.7	6.4	7.1	7.9	8.6	9.5
Ludo Jossin	E-12	Patrik SL 12	92       59	115    69	135     83		Loft Racing Blade 12	5.6	6.3	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Ross Williams	GBR-83	Tabou Manta 12	86       59	113    71	134     84		Gaastra Vapor 12	5.4	6.4	7.1	7.9	8.6	9.5
Sylvain Moussilmani	F-7	Tabou Manta 12	95       61	113    71	134     84		Simmer SCR 12	5.5	6.2	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Benoit Moussilmani	F-1	Tabou Manta 12	95       61	113    71	134     84		Simmer SCR 12	5.5	6.2	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Peter Volwater	H-24	Fanatic Falcon 12	89       59	113    69	140     85		Avanti Machine 12	5.5	6.1	6.9	7.7	8.5	9.4
Pierre Mortefon	FRA-14	Fanatic Falcon 12	89       59	113    69	140     85		NS Warp 12	5.7	6.3	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.4
Antoin Albeau	F-192	RRD XFire V4 12	98       62	114    70	129     85		NP RSR Evo4 12	5.8	6.4	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Finian Maynard	KV-11	RRD Xfire V4 12	98       62	114    70	129     85		Avanti Machine 12	6.1	6.9	7.7	8.5	9.4	10.0
Josh Angulo	CV-11	Angulo Magnum 12	92       60	112    71	132    84		Point 7 AC1 12	5.6	6.3	7.2	7.9	8.6	9.3
This section includes exactly the same names as above but divides the sailors up according to the sail brands they use.
Sailor	Sail No	Board	Board Volumes and Width				Sail	Sail Sizes Registered for the 2012 Tour
Micah Buzianis	USA-34	JP Slalom 8 12	96       59	108    66	130     78		Maui Sails TR8 12	6.3	6.6	7.0	7.6	8.4	9.2
Ben vd Steen	NED-57	Starboard IS 12	87       57	107    69	127     85		Loft Racing Blade 12	5.6	6.3	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Ludo Jossin	E-12	Patrik SL 12	92       59	115    69	135     83		Loft Racing Blade 12	5.6	6.3	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Bjorn Dunkerbeck	SUI-11	Starboard IS 12	87       57	107    69	127     85		Severne Reflex 3 12	5.6	6.2	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.6
Cyril Moussilmani	F-71	Starboard IS 12	87       57	107    69	127     85		Severne Reflex 3 12	5.6	6.2	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.6
Alberto Menegatti	ITA-4	Starboard IS 12	87       57	107    69	127     85		Gaastra Vapor 12	5.7	6.4	7.1	7.9	8.6	9.5
Ross Williams	GBR-83	Tabou Manta 12	86       59	113    71	134     84		Gaastra Vapor 12	5.4	6.4	7.1	7.9	8.6	9.5
Sylvain Moussilmani	F-7	Tabou Manta 12	95       61	113    71	134     84		Simmer SCR 12	5.5	6.2	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Benoit Moussilmani	F-1	Tabou Manta 12	95       61	113    71	134     84		Simmer SCR 12	5.5	6.2	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Peter Volwater	H-24	Fanatic Falcon 12	89       59	113    69	140     85		Avanti Machine 12	5.5	6.1	6.9	7.7	8.5	9.4
Finian Maynard	KV-11	RRD Xfire V4 12	98       62	114    70	129     85		Avanti Machine 12	6.1	6.9	7.7	8.5	9.4	10.0
Antoin Albeau	F-192	RRD XFire V4 12	98       62	114    70	129     85		NP RSR Evo4 12	5.8	6.4	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.5
Pierre Mortefon	FRA-14	Fanatic Falcon 12	89       59	113    69	140     85		NS Warp 12	5.7	6.3	7.0	7.8	8.6	9.4
Josh Angulo	CV-11	Angulo Magnum 12	92       60	112    71	132     84		Point 7 AC1 12	5.6	6.3	7.2	7.9	8.6	9.3

Previous Post, New Sail, Gybe Tips and PWA Thoughts

Hi
Andy has corrected me on a statement I made last time regarding him being untouchable on his Reflex2/69 Manta/39 Select S11.  He reminds me that 2 of the other local power sailors are far from easy to keep pace with.  One is Hennie, a world class sailor and the other is Harry, a force of nature.  Both of these guys are extremely strong, very heavy and really talented in wild conditions.  I will re-phrase my comment to "Andy is untouchable by normal human windsurfers"

I purchased a 6.4m Gaastra Cross yesterday as the start of my crusade against cambered sails for recreational sailors like me.  I spent much of the day tuning, tweaking and sailing with different equipment combinations.  This is a fine sail as I knew it would be and I had a lot of fun despite being underpowered at times.  I rigged the sail on a Fiberspar 430 Radius RDM mast which has always worked well on my Remedy 6.0.  I'm not sure whether this is the right mast for the Cross however and will need to do some comparisons with other masts when the wind blows again.  The new sail felt a bit heavy in the hands initially but lightened up with a bit more downhaul.  This removes power of course so my feeling is that it will be a higher wind sail than I initially thought.  In the gusts the sail was really easy and fast so I'm pretty satisfied.

The new Crosses are very cool and actually look better in the flesh than in photos.  Stunning graphics!

I had planned to replace my beloved North Ram 7.8m with a new Gaastra Savage 7.8m to continue the no camber journey but I have chickened out a bit for now.  The Ram is such a fine sail and so easy to use - I don't want to spend a whole lot of money just to be disappointed.  I am still considering the Savage but will need to think a bit.

A group of local windsurfers went out for dinner and drinks the other evening to a nearby game lodge and the conversation turned to matters of a windsurfing nature (surprise).  Grant is busy working on his gybes and mentioned that he has been advised to enter the gybe with his front hand in the palm-down position as opposed to his normal palm up grip.  This is absolutely right and was good advice.  Remember that one of the corner stones of a successful gybe is continuous mast foot pressure and this is achieved by pulling down on the boom with the front hand (elbows down!).  You can't really pull down on the boom with your palm facing up.  Pushing down with the front hand has other benefits as well.  It makes you bring your weight forward - another requirement for a successful planing gybe.  Transform your gybes by rotating your front hand 180 degrees!  Bargain.

On the PWA front I'm noticing some power pairs developing in the various sail and board constructor camps.  You have Bjorn and Cyril on Severne Reflex3's.  An awesome pair.  You have Antoine and Finian on RRD X-Fires.  The new Avanti sail brand has Finian and Peter Volwater.  Fascinating stuff.  The brands who have lost talent are Pryde (Micah joins Maui Sails), JP who lose Antoine and North who lose Cyril and (maybe less significantly) Patrik Diethelm.  Loft have one shining star in Ben van der Steen and I will be watching this guy with interest through the heats.  He is a phenomenal sailor and is currently on some of the best kit out there.  Gaastra seem to have adopted a slightly different approach.  None of their guys are currently top sailors but they are young, really talented and any of them could win any slalom race on the day.  Maybe a longer term approach?  I keep expecting the other two Moussilmani brothers to leave Simmer and join Gaastra but they seem to be hanging in there.  I must say I would miss the two green sails in the heats if they ever left Simmer.

That's all for now.  Our wind is quickly backing off now as winter approaches so any decent breeze is a bonus.    

News and Some Gybing Tips

Hi
Sorry for the break but I have been pre-occupied with other things.  We have had some really good wind for slalom lately which is lucky given that our sailing season is drawing to a close here.  Winter is just round the corner.  The Reflexes have been out in force and giving a good account of themselves (for the most part).  Andy has developed some abnormally fast speeds in overpowered conditions on his Manta 69/110 with Reflex2 7.8 and Select S11 39cm fin.  He has optimized all of the settings for his style and abilities and is currently untouchable in strong wind.  Nice to see.

The three bits of news are as follows:

The new Vmax slalom fins from Select seemed to be priced from 20% to 26% higher than the equivalent S12's.  This is based on a few of the European websites offering Select products.  I can't comment on the performance of the new fins but if I can get my hands on one I will report back.

Josh Angulo has left Gun Sails to join Point-7.  A good move for both Josh and for Point-7 I think.

Patrik Diethelm has joined forces with Loft Sails.

Gybing Tips

We all know how a gybe is meant to work and most of us will have purchased instructional videos to help us with the various steps so I will not restate all of the points.  What I would like to do is to concentrate on two aspects of the gybe which most of us tend to do poorly even though we know about them.  I have made a point lately, of observing closely the gybes of struggling gybers and also paying attention to my own gybes and this brings me to these two points:

We all know that a successful step gybe requires one to enter at speed, commit the inside rail to initiate the turn (bend knees, pull down on the boom to retain mast foot pressure, keep front arm straight etc), switch feet, flip the sail and exit.  What I observe even from some experienced sailors is a failure at the stage of the foot switch and this causes the gybe to break down and stall.  The thing that is often not done properly is the flaring of the sail before the step and flip.  Every one of the instructional videos mention the need to flare the sail as soon as one is moving downwind but somehow most of us don't concentrate on this aspect.  As you get downwind you must swing the rig towards the outside of the turn.  This gives you the space to step and also seems to provide some balance during the transition.

The other aspect is the bending of the knees to initiate and maintain the banking needed to turn smoothly.  I looked at a recent photo of myself gybing and my knees were nowhere near to being properly bent.  I spent some time concentrating on this aspect and the improvement was immediate.

The bending of the knees is self explanatory and just needs you to concentrate on it.  If you need to watch some really good sailors flaring nicely in their gybes go to the Loftsails website and watch the video called "Tarifa March Slalom with the Team".  Turn the backing music track off so that you can concentrate on the moves and watch for the rig flares in the gybes (minutes 1:08, 1:46, 1:57, 2:11 etc)

On the subject of Loft Sails, their 2012 slalom sails look really hot I have to say.  I started paying attention to Loft last year when Ludo Jossin and Antoine Questel started featuring in the heats.  Ben van der Steen had joined Loft at that time and kicked everyone's ass in one of the finals.  The sails had clearly come of age and are now a force on the tour.  The 2012 Racing Blade just looks right to me.  Loft sails are not sold here but if you have never considered the brand and happen to live in a part of the world serviced by them and you are looking for something a bit different then you may want to have a look at these sails.  Monty Spindler is one of the grand masters of windsurfing sail design and knows what he is doing.  I like the fact that all their race sails can be rigged on RDM masts (with the option of rigging on SDM if you prefer).  I don't like the fact that they don't post any weights for their sails, masts or booms in their published spec sheets but this is my only niggle.  Their freeride sail (Oxygen) looks extremely tasty.

Talk to you soon.            

Tabou Speedster 65/100

Hi
As mentioned previously, the Tabou team is here with a selection of their 2013 equipment for testing and photo shoots.  One of the ranges they brought is the new Speedster range.  The Speedster is the new name for the current Manta Free Race and I was given the opportunity to test the 65/100.  The boards will come in two constructions - Standard and Limited.  This particular board was in the standard construction - very heavy for me but really cool looking with the new graphics.  The fin was the T-Lab 38cm fin which comes with the board.

I borrowed a Remedy 6.4m sail from my friend Tim and took to the water.  The board shot onto the plane immediately and accelerated smoothly to a really good speed.  Once under way it seems to shrink and my impression is that it rides like a much smaller board (it is 65cm wide after all but feels more like a 61cm board).  The front and back straps are quite far apart signalling that this is a serious speed machine and the raised foot pads give nice support under the toes - (not quite as good as the JP system but good enough).  The deck has a great selection of fin screw holes so you will be able to get comfortable.  As with most Tabou boards, the chop is dealt with easily and hitting it at speed gives absolutely no concerns.  Keep the hammer down!  Gybing is really easy providing you enter at speed and commit properly.  The board seems to have better directional stability than the equivalent Rocket but this is to be expected given the slalom orientation of the design.

The wind and water states for the first few runs were perfect for easy, comfort zone cruising.  Going as fast as the equipment could go with no worries about the chop.  The stock fin behaved well and the characteristics of the Remedy with its its direct and instant acceleration seem to suit the board perfectly.  The wind then picked up substantially and the state went from comfort zone to red zone - the way we tend to sail here.  This was a much better test for the board and I started blasting.  The board handled the new conditions with ease but the fin  let the side down.  Every time I hit a patch of chop and the board lightened, the fin would spin out and when this fin spins out it does not recover until you slow down completely.  I spent much of the next few runs going sideways which was exhausting and no fun at all in the white knuckle conditions.

The board then, gets a big thumbs up from me.  If you are in the market for one, please factor in a proper fin.  This is a high performance machine and it deserves a high tech foil.  I would think that something like a 37cm (39cm?) Select S12, a 36cm Deboichet SL4 or similar.  If you have access to a selection of fin brands and can try before you buy then you should do so.  Try different lengths in your favourite brands and you may end up with more than one fin for different conditions and sail sizes.  My personal preference for the board would be to get the Limited edition but if a bit of extra weight does not worry you then save some money and go for the standard construction.  The extra weight didn't seem to bother the board I rode at all.  

Talk to you soon        

Tabou Manta 71

Hi
Here are my thoughts and impressions of the 2013 Manta 71/113.

The shape and appearance of the board is exactly as I had envisioned it in my mind.  The bottom shape is flatter than the smaller Mantas and the tail is wide (all to improve early planing and flat water speed).    The wide tail is tempered a bit with two small cut-outs.  I am ambivalent about cut-outs and my feeling is that you need either complicated, highly engineered shapes (Starboard Isonic, RRD X-Fire) or simple discreet shapes (Naish Grand Prix).  Anything in between can have the effect of stalling your board in mid gybe.  Tabou have elected to go for two small, simple cut-outs. Nice!

The graphics on the black carbon deck are really cool.  The board feels a bit heavy in the hand but this is my normal gripe with Tabou.  It is probably more about me and my fetish for lightness than the board being too heavy.

Andy took the board out first with his Severne Reflex 7.8m.  He smoked in the strong wind and was impressed by the performance of the board.  I took it next on a 7.0m slalom sail.  The board pops onto the plane immediately and accelerates smoothly and quickly.  It has an almost hovercraft like quality over the chop which inspires massive confidence allowing you to sail much faster than you would normally sail on a board of this size over rough water.  The float through the gybes is phenomenal and you are carried all the way through and out the other side with no effort.  Really impressive.  I have always regarded the Starboard Isonic 107 as the gold standard when it comes to getting round gybes but this Manta is right up there.  I would have preferred to test the board in slightly less wind with my 7.8m Ram but the fact that I could hold it totally overpowered on a 7.0 is a testament to its attributes

Hennie, our world class power sailor took the Manta after me and did some serious back to back testing using a Fanatic Falcon, 113 and his own JP Slalom V11, 112.  He found the Tabou to be faster and more comfortable than either of these two boards on every tack.  Bear in mind that Hennie is very big, very strong and very skilled and he thrives on being totally overpowered.  A smaller, more normal sailor might have had different conclusions.  

So where does this board fit into your quiver?  It depends very much on your weight, your ability and the other boards you use.  If you are a big power sailor, serious about racing and your big board is a 130l/85ish machine then this is the ideal mid board.  It can perform with a 7m sail in overpowered conditions and will shine with your 7.8 and your 8.6.  Andy and I used a 42cm fin on it but I'm sure it will take fins up to 44/45cm with ease.  I have a floaty, 125l slalom board which takes my 7.8 and 9m sails easily so I would probably prefer the Manta 69/110 as my next board down.  The 69 is slightly more nimble than the 71 and would be happier with a soft 6.4m sail in rough conditions.  If you are a light or mid sized slalom sailor who is not interested in very big wide boards but need something that can take an 8.6m sail for lighter conditions then the 71 has to be on your short list.

All in all the Manta 71 is an extremely impressive board which seems to shine in all conditions.  It is big enough to plane early but then does not punish you when conditions get hectic.  It gybes beautifully and looks extremely cool.  What more could we ask for?