2006_12_20

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Today was our first easterly at Sandy Point since I developed the V6. Andrew Daff came down to join me but there were no other serious speed sailors on the course today which was a surprise.

The wind was very good when I first arrived, showing a very steady 24-29 knots on the wind meter. While I was watching it briefly kicked to 30 knots for a second or two then back to averaging around 27 knots again. This was very good wind.

I took the Missile and the Stealth 5.5. I was not so keen to burn myself out on the little TimeMachine board and figured if ever there was a chance to go fast on the Missile, this was it. I was also interested to see how the change of foot strap location affected the control of the board. 

The first few runs were pretty good as I got some confidence in the whole kit. The turn into the course is pretty hairy as you turn off the wind over the back of the large chop just prior to running into the flat water. But the fin never looked like spinning out and after a couple of runs in the 41-42 range I caught a good gust and managed to sheet out to briefly take the load off the fin, but still produce enough power to accelerate. This got the fin into the drag bucket and everything went very slippery, the board rocketing to a GPS max of 44.8 (peak of 45+) and I quickly ran out of space, hammering into the chop zone at the other end trying desperately to slow down. This was not the first time I have felt the fin "hit overdrive" but it was bit more obvious this time in such consistent winds. I just needed to get to around the 40-41 mark and then if I am able to stand up and sheet out a little with enough wind, the fin drops into the drag bucket and the rest is history.

I am very sure the board is the only limiting factor now. Not that it is slow, far from it! But it is difficult to control when it is going that fast and gets a bit flighty. The changes to the back strap certainly helped and I think a change of front strap will also help avoid that high speed flutter that it gets when running across the chop at very high speeds.

This is also the first time I've had a good go of the 5.5 and I am very impressed. It seems to have all the qualities I need including being very slippery in strong winds and the ability to sheet out in a gust without losing shape or control. 

The conditions deteriorated soon after my best run. It swung to the north and got much gustier. I think the angle was the biggest problem as the short patch of smooth water was just a bit too tight for fast times, and I couldn't find any water where I could let it go.

I briefly chatted to Andrew and he wanted to try a different V6 of mine, so we went back to the car park. While Andrew fit the new fin I checked the wind meter and reset it. The readings were average of 23.2 and peak of 34.6. The average was very telling of how the conditions had changed.  To get an average of 23 it had to do a fair bit of wind less than 23. While I watched it was hovering around 18-20 then gusted to 28 very briefly. I reset the meter and went back out sailing.

The second session the wind direction never improved and felt like it had eased off a little. There were periods where the gusts were just as good as before but the holes got bigger. I managed a couple of 42's before quitting for the day. I checked the meter again. The average was 22.7 and the max gust was 30.8.

Here are the results using RealSpeed from the NAVI and the Foretrex (you can figure out which is which...). It is interesting to see how much detail is missing from the foretrex and clearly the results are not correct.

And here are the graphs of the best runs:

 

Trackpoints at Mals_tracks/mal wright 20061220 navi.gpx

 

 

 
 
 
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Last modified: December 21, 2006