Trying a bit too hard
By Tom
I missed another good speed session yesterday due to a prior commitment. So today I made sure I hit the water down at the Poo plant at 1pm.
After a bit of indecision I rigged my 6.6 - it was a lot less windy than than Tuesday when I could have been on a 6.0. Unfortunately I could comfortably sail around on the 6.6 a sure sign I had not rigged big enough. If I'm not struggling to hold things down going up wind then for sure I don't have enough power to go deep downwind.
Sure enough the wind was not north enough and I struggled to go deep between the waves but I did manage to put in a couple of decent runs with a peak of 37.7 knots in the first half hour. To maintain power I had to find lines that crossed 3 or more waves. It proved very difficult to sail these lines as of course waves move and the line you thought was there in the beginning evaporates as you hurtle down it.
Still I was logging a bunch of 35+ knot 10 second runs and was looking like a good average. Some quick math told me I was short of my PB 35.64. I needed a couple more 35.5+ or a single 36. Unfortunately the wind seemed to be easing too. Not to be deterred I sailed for another hour without finding a good line that coincided with a gust. I just needed that one good run.
I was going out heading upwind and I thought I saw a really good line with only one small wave between me and it. I was powering up nicely and wanted to stay full on the throttle as I negotiated the wave. Well that's when it all went wrong. As I landed the rail caught and the whole board buried itself. I had an Oh S**t! moment as I new what was coming. There was an almighty crash as I got slammed into the water. I came up and was surprised to have survived mostly unscathed. The gear was not so lucky! I had managed to simultaneously break my UJ tendon, boom (yes another one!) and destroy the nose of my board with my mast. The good news was that the Hot Rod mast and my sail were completely unscathed! Any SDM mast would have been in at least 3 or 4 pieces.
The safety leash had of course failed on the UJ but after a good washing in the surf for 5 minutes I managed to tie my downhaul line to the UJ and very cautiously sail in by doing an extended waterstart with my front foot on the board dragging the other leg.
When the results came in I had averaged 35.55 knots less than a tenth of a knot slower than my PB!
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=59023&uid=2626
If only I had got one more run in!
Starting to Feel a bit sore now. Might need some muscle relaxant! Cheers!
I missed another good speed session yesterday due to a prior commitment. So today I made sure I hit the water down at the Poo plant at 1pm.
After a bit of indecision I rigged my 6.6 - it was a lot less windy than than Tuesday when I could have been on a 6.0. Unfortunately I could comfortably sail around on the 6.6 a sure sign I had not rigged big enough. If I'm not struggling to hold things down going up wind then for sure I don't have enough power to go deep downwind.
Sure enough the wind was not north enough and I struggled to go deep between the waves but I did manage to put in a couple of decent runs with a peak of 37.7 knots in the first half hour. To maintain power I had to find lines that crossed 3 or more waves. It proved very difficult to sail these lines as of course waves move and the line you thought was there in the beginning evaporates as you hurtle down it.
Still I was logging a bunch of 35+ knot 10 second runs and was looking like a good average. Some quick math told me I was short of my PB 35.64. I needed a couple more 35.5+ or a single 36. Unfortunately the wind seemed to be easing too. Not to be deterred I sailed for another hour without finding a good line that coincided with a gust. I just needed that one good run.
I was going out heading upwind and I thought I saw a really good line with only one small wave between me and it. I was powering up nicely and wanted to stay full on the throttle as I negotiated the wave. Well that's when it all went wrong. As I landed the rail caught and the whole board buried itself. I had an Oh S**t! moment as I new what was coming. There was an almighty crash as I got slammed into the water. I came up and was surprised to have survived mostly unscathed. The gear was not so lucky! I had managed to simultaneously break my UJ tendon, boom (yes another one!) and destroy the nose of my board with my mast. The good news was that the Hot Rod mast and my sail were completely unscathed! Any SDM mast would have been in at least 3 or 4 pieces.
The safety leash had of course failed on the UJ but after a good washing in the surf for 5 minutes I managed to tie my downhaul line to the UJ and very cautiously sail in by doing an extended waterstart with my front foot on the board dragging the other leg.
When the results came in I had averaged 35.55 knots less than a tenth of a knot slower than my PB!
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=59023&uid=2626
If only I had got one more run in!
Starting to Feel a bit sore now. Might need some muscle relaxant! Cheers!
posted by Jeffrey, Glenn and Tom at
4/21/2010 05:41:00 PM
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