I recently scored my fastest ever run on my raceboard - 28.36 knots over 2 seconds. I've reproduced my post from www.lbws.com here:
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I sailed at Kyeemagh in Botany Bay in Sydney, Australia, which is Sydney's best and most popular flat water windsurfing spot. The adjacent airport runway has a NNW-SSE orientation that effectively reduces the chop on the water for port tack downwind runs in the prevailing NE breeze. The airport is, of course, flat and offers minimal disruption to wind flow. It is a fun speed course, but won't create a world record.
The wind was a 'black' NE seabreeze. The gradient wind was 10 to 15 knots in the morning from the N (slightly offshore) and a large high pressure system centred in the tasman sea - the perfect conditions for a strong seabreeze in Sydney. The seabreeze kicked in late morning, building from 15 to 20 up to nearly 30 to 35 knots by late afternoon (after I'd left).
I used my Mistral Pan-Am with a 7.2 metre Neil Pryde V8 and the stock fin. I sailed parallel to the runway, upwind on starboard and downwind speed runs on port. My best runs were during winds between 25 and 30 knots. The results were:
? 2 second run - 28.36 knots
? 10 second run - 26.62 knots
? 60 second run - 23.22 knots
? 500 metre run - 23.26 knots
? 1000 metre run - 22.43 knots
I happy that I'm coming close to the 30 knot mark. However, I can't imagine where I'll find the conditions to equal some of the other feats mentioned on this thread. Probably the most important way to improve these results is to sail in flatter water. Also, if the wind had been 30 to 35 knots, rather than 25 to 30 knots, I might have reached the 30 knot mark. Maybe I need to do a trip to Sandy Point.
The board handled the conditions well - I felt like I could have pushed it harder. My only problem was that the centerboard occasionally fell down from its retracted position when the board bounced over big waves (my gasket is not tight fitting - the previous owner widened the slot with a knife - roughly). It's difficult to handle when the centerboard goes from retracted to 45 degrees at 25 knots!
There were a lot of short boarders sailing today. The best sailors were on slalom kit with 5 to 6 metre sails - these guys were faster than me, but not by much. I was the only longboard.
I had a lot of curious looks and fielded some questions about sailing raceboards. I think that the majority of (shortboard) windsurfers don't understand a longboard/raceboard's capabilities. The Sydney fleet of longboard/raceboarders tends to sail in the inner harbour, which is removed from the mainstream of Sydney windsurfing. To gain momentum for the longboard revival, I think we longboarders should show the potential of longboards at popular shortboarding locations.
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The link below has the full description of the session:http://www.lbwindsurfing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=286
Does anyone know of speedsailing records using raceboards?
Both Katapult and I were out on Sunday afternoon on FOrmula boards. We are alittle different in size ;-), he was on 9.8, I was on 11.6
We sailed a few runs down the "snake' and our speeds were quite similar (only about 0.2Kts diff, max speed reading about 23.5).
On GPSSS the top Formula results are around 32Kts, while there is a large group of speeds around the 24-28Kt mark. I think the drag of the 70cm fin makes it very difficult to go any faster. Raceboards with smaller fins have a greater chance of being a lot quicker.
Anyhoo, shoot me your gpx file if you geta chance, I would love to check it out. If you are out on Sunday we might get the chance to compare notes.
JB
Having sailed that run hundreds of times on a slalom board with 28cm fin, I can't imagine why you'd bother with a race/formula board if speed's your thang. Anyway I enjoyed reading your post and you must love that race board heaps. I would guess (because we had no GPS back then) and based on recent speeds that one should be able to touch 35-36 knots with a small slalom board and 27-28cm fin, 5.5-6.0m race sail in 30knots of wind. I found that my slalom setup peaked at about 36-37 knots - it hit a wall.
Just as a point of reference, I weight 76kg and have recently propelled my Carbon Art SP40 and 5.7 RAF sail to 36knots in 20 knots of wind at Sandy Point. So my final point about speed windsurfing longboards is that yes it could be fun, but crikey things have moved and grooved since the days.
Maybe you could start a longboarder's speed table! Happy sailing.
I think the point is that speed isnt necessarily our thing, but rather racing.
BUT it is nice to watch the speeds anyway. On GPSSS there is a formula division already. Maybe the raceboarders should have their own ladder so apples can be compared.
JB
Yagon, good to see others pushing themselves and their equipment whatever it may consist of big, small, awkward, to the limit.
I tend to think though in strong wind if your bigger/heavier, the possibility of taking larger gear to its limit is more likely. I want to speedsail a SUP at Sandy Pt in 30 knots plus one day to see what happens.
Maybe not so big at 117ltrs but still fast with a 28 fin...
Date Friday, October 27, 2006
Spot Sandy Point, Victoria, Australia
Board Starboard Aero 117
Sail KA Sails Koncept 5.0
Fin F2 missile s (design kai hopf) 28
GPS type Garmin Foretrex 201
Average speed 40.56 knots ( 41.14 40.86 40.67 40.36 39.77 )
Max. GPS (display) 42.8 knots
Max. 2 sec. (software) 42.98 knots
100 m run 41.44 knots
250 m run 40.76 knots
500 m run 39.06 knots
