Great wind in the morning; Bob and Sherry were the early birds, ripping it up, then Barbara and Josh, Tony and Margie, Dave and Renee, Constance. I was beaching with Ben and didn't get sailing until the afternoon when the wind had dropped off, more non-planing freestyle. The wind picked up towards the end of the day but we had 2 tons of equipment to carry up and derig before catching the ferry so I only squeezed in a few planing runs. Tony and Margie rode it right up to the bitter end. Good for them!Picture; Barbara blasting at Andy's Way.
Boat-Surfing; O.K. here's a light wind alternative. In the afternoon, Josh, Ben and I took turns riding the Acid94 behind the inflatable like we were waterskiing. I bought a tow rope with a handle last year with hopes that this would work. It was fun! That little 8 horsepower motor was enough to get the boat and towee on plane. After a while, we were able to get up and stand on the board, at least until we fell.
Tug Boat; While we were boat-surfing we got flagged down from a much bigger boat with motor trouble. They asked us to tow them to their mooring at Andy's Way. It must have looked funny to see this large boat, full of people, being pulled by our tiny inflatable, like a massive barge being pulled by a mini tug. It worked surprisingly well and I think we built some good will for all crazed water sports enthusiasts.
Saw your conversation on iWindsurf re fins. A fin company used to have the advertising slogan that each board needs three fins...one for light wind conditions to get you planing, one for comfortably powered, and one to calm the board down when overpowered. I've always thought that was good advice (I own about a dozen fins). Certainly a fin 1" to 1.5" smaller than your main fin will make a difference sailing overpowered, both straight line and in particular in jibes, when small fins rule!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback! Yeah, I think it’s probably worth trying a smaller fin. Years ago I used to experiment more with changing fins for different conditions but, over time, I usually found what I thought was the best fin for the board and left it in. Then I would just change down to a smaller board when the wind picked up. The problem is, now that our kids are windsurfing more, we are having sharing problems. It’s hard to have enough boards and rigs for 4, so we have to really stretch the stuff we do have. If a smaller fin allows the board to comfortably carry 1 meter smaller rig with the accompanying higher wind and bigger chop then it’s probably worth it for us.
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