Fibreworks cut&shut 41 / AB 22 assy / RS6-5.4

Very frustrating to be so much slower than I should be when everything feels so perfect. The old AB 22 fin was made 1.5mm thick on the upper vertical section of the trailing edge so I turned it into a concave last 2 cm on the pressure side . Seemed to be able to throw any load at it at any time without any ohshit moments. Didn't make it any faster though.

6 categories

A dawn start at the Pit with Pete and very quickly joined by lot of regulars. Wind took a while to arrive so spent most of the time on the 5.7 untill it turned a bit more south and i couldn,t get over 40. Rigged the 4.4 to have a play and do some tunning as its only had one day out before and i didn,t want to do it in 40+kts. Had a few good runs untill a really good squall hit, with me comming back upwind. Got smashed. Managed to get to the E bank, turned around and pinched upwind as far as i could then let it fly down the course. Wow!!!!! Second fastest run ever ,with the sail feeling rock solid. Where,s the next squall. No more good wind and with the tide barrelling in, time to call it a day. A few kite braved the conditions and one nutter with a SUP and 6.6. Another fun day

Ca 40,Koncept 2012 4.4, Ka/Loc 21

2 categories

What a great way to spend Easter monday!

There were plenty of speedies out at the crack of dawn to get the early wind and tide. The early runs were the best for me with the wind WSW. It turned SW later after 3 runs and the course got too tight. All day though it was a case of being on the run just as a good squall hit and I missed the best ones.

The wind looked like it had eased a bit and with it so south Mat and I decided that there was not much more to be gained for our average so we got out the speed tandem. I had been on a 5m Koncept all morning but I rigged my 5.8m for the back. Mat used my 5m on the front. We had one run with just enough wind to get going and got 30 knots peak. We sailed back and had another go and got a good squall. We were both a bit overpowered on such a square run. Could not really settle the board or rigs and apply the power. Almost go settled and broad enough at the end and managed to pull a 36.467 peak speed, 36.233 2 sec. and 35.492 10 seconds. 500m was 34.297 so not quite as quick as the previous 500m tandem B class record. Very promising though as I felt like the angle was really holding us back. We learnt a lot from this session about set up and trim with those sails and the new Lessacher 25cm Duo Speed rake 30 worked really well! We even sailed back most of the runs upwind quite well! Between our 2nd and 3rd runs the squall of the day come through. Over 40 knots by my estimation. Waay to much for me to be wanting to try a run on the tandem, although Mat kept asking, "Should we go now?" This was when Kato did his scorching run! As soon as the squall eased we jumped on but it was now barely 25 knots and really tight again so although the run felt much better balanced, the top speed was only just over 30 knots. What could have been if I had had my CA40 close by!!!

Had a blast on the SB IS87 slalom with the 5m just before we got chased out by the tide and tried a few alphas. Just as we had finished packing up someone called 'check it out' and there was a 40+ knot squall hammering the course! The wind was coming through in big squalls all afterneen but it was a massive high tide so I didn't bother going back to see if there was a chance late in the day. I very much doubt we would have got back in before dark and the wind was very south.

Gear: Board:CA40, Fin:KA assy 20cm, Sail: KA Koncept 2013 proto 5m.

Congratualtions Kato on your great top speed run!

1 categories

Gave the strappless 12'6" Starboard SUP and 6.6 Koncept a workout peaking at 34.43, 2sec 34.18, 5x10=31.9 alpha and NM as above.   Later on the 6.6 and speed board hooking onto the squall of the day that gusted up to 65 knots at the Prom gave us the 46 peak and a 45 500m.   Forgot to move the boom down on the 6.6 after riding the SUP and still had it right at the top of the cutout, cost us dearly as would of peaked easily at 47 as the water was pretty flat. then again could of been on the 5.8 or 5.0 it was blowing a solid 35-40.    

A classic pit morning with lots of fun runs over 40 and good laughs watching the likes of Spotty monoing down the strip flat out on his sup.

Jp sp44,RSR 5.8,Kassy 21.5

Arrived at 6am with Kato to make the most of the last two hours of outgoing tide. Never overpowered on my 5m Koncept but I did sit out the last big squall which Kato and Spotty hooked into. Good to be on the speed run again after what seems like a long time. Lacking match fitness and I was just keen to maximise time on the board rather than waiting for squalls. Disappointed to still not be cracking 40 again but  great to be at the Pit with a good turnout of familiar crew, including Shelby who I hadn't seen since the day I dinged my nose badly last June.

F2 Missile XS with KA assy 20cm and 5m KA Koncept.