A magic afternoon on the big gear

I felt like sharing this one as it was such a great day. The 12 metre felt perfect and the breeze was nice and even and the water flat. I was still buzzing the next day after this session it was one of those rare perfect days. The camera mount was making some noise it was quite annoying doing the edit so I muted it and added some cruisey music for a cruisey day. Cockle bay is usually a bitch in a westerly but on this day it turned on one of those rare afternoon north westerlies that can be great light to medium wind cruising if you are lucky enough to catch one.

Formula sailing is awesome when it all comes together. Any comments on the fanatic?

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Dezza said..
Looks great, and in shorts and rashie, not bad for June!

I must confess I left my wettie at home and cbf going home to get it. The water has cooled off but isn't icey yet thank god. Formula sailing is usually pretty dry the most common form of swim at marmong is in backwards in a lull.

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Sunnyboy said..
Formula sailing is awesome when it all comes together. Any comments on the fanatic?

Seeing as how you asked, it's bloody awesome. I set a new PB for formula gear today, first time over 27 knots I was stoked. www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/sailor_session/show?date=2015-06-08&team=9

Dimensions wise and in shape, the fanatic is very similar in outline to the patrik II. I know this as I have measured both. That's where the similarity ends though. Underneath they are a different board. both the Patrik and the fanatic are very powerful boards upwind, the Patrik due to its powerful outline and wings and the fanatic due to it's powerful outline as well but where the fanatic has a slight edge is it's boxy rails that carry a few inches further back than the Patrik due to the way the cutouts are shaped. This gives that little bit of extra drive off the rail that really gets the fanatic motoring upwind. The Patrik II can tolerate a phenomenal amount of drive off the back foot upwind and the wings certainly make this possible but I found its those few extra inches of rail at the back of the fanatic that send it over the top in the upwind grunt department. The fanatic is actually only 86 cm wide at the one foot off mark but come out to the front strap area and its a massive 98 cm wide. It has a very straight outline in the middle.

It sounds weird but I actually find these wider style boards (Fanatic and Patrik II both) easier to rail up downwind. The straighter outline seems to make it easier to keep tracking while railing up offwind, compared to curvier outlines like my old exocet that I found difficult to control when trying to rail up offwind. I believe these wider style boards with straight outlines that cut in at the tail have a definite advantage over older curvier outlines, upwind and down.

Sam at wind surf and snow was kind enough to spend a lot of time with me discussing the board and he advised me that due to the flatter bottom shape of the Fanatic it doesn't rail up as much upwind. I found this to be right on the money and you will notice in the vid that I am sailing quite flat upwind. I found that just enough rail to keep the windward rail clear and drive really hard off that big chunky outline and the thing motored upwind. Railing it up to far just seems to slow it down.

The other point of interest on the Fanatic is the slight single concave under the footstrap area. I was scratching my head about this until I sailed it. Despite it's powerful shape I found the fanatic easier to keep locked down even when I wuss out and sheet out a bit when powered up offwind. I dunno what it is exactly but I can definitely drive this thing harder downwind before I reach my limit and start blowing up.

final say on the Fanatic, awesomely powerful upwind but still manages a great top end speed and comfy downwind due to some very clever design. without doubt the quickest formula board I've ridden.

I've only been sailing formula gear for 2 years so my expertise is quite limited but in my own experience the type of fin I'm running has had some drastic effects on my upwind ability. Specifically, the amount of rake, less rake gives me more height but a bit less speed downwind and the surface area of the fin also makes a difference .Also wider tailed boards seem to go a bit better uphill. The HWR are a pretty good board all round but the flatter rocker and wider tail of the fanatics and patriks have the advantage in the light to medium stuff. Above 15 knots might be a different story!

The only fault I have found with the fanatic so far is the mast track is a bit to far forward. Even with the 12 metre I was running it a long way back and the next day with my 10.7 it felt like it needed to go a bit further back. The board is nice and balanced so it's not really a problem.

2010. Probably not that fast in a development class.

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Harrow said..
How much wind? Water looked almost flat, but you were cranking. Looks great!

Top end of the 12 metre in the last two thirds of the video definitely. You may notice me sheet out a couple of times upwind. It started out light then died for a while and then settled in perfectly to be really powered up with the 12. In the video I do a bit of a downwinder and then beat back up to speers point where the flat water is. After that it's all upwind on starboard tack and broad reaching down to where the flat water is on port tack. There was a bit more north in it than usual for a north westerly which makes the water flatter where I was broad reaching and also makes the wind more constant. At cockle bay/speers point in a westerly the more north there is in it the more constant the breeze is. Unfortunately this direction is fairly rare. Also the starboard tack upwind legs I was doing were catching the persistent lift that is always there on starboard tack in a westerly which is part of the reason the board is romping upwind, beside the fact it's just a bloody fast board. The great thing about this is it works the opposite way going downwind, the lift becomes a long gentle knock that lets you keep pulling away in a long gentle bear away arc and keep accelerating. I look reasonably comfortable downind but I was actually working hard at times. Because I'm not the strongest sailor around it's hard to tell when I'm pushing it and when I'm not lol.

My best guess Sue about 10 to 12 knots with gusts of about 15. I can't hold a 12 in to much wind so I figure about 15 max and that was in the flat water at the bottom of the reaching leg.

Great video Cluffy
As an owner of a JP Slw I would be interested in how you choose which board to go out in these conditions?

I have the larger SLW and wonder what a formula board brings to the quiver ?

Advantages either way?

Cheers Jeff

Hi Cluffy.
Some very interesting insights r.e. the board & a great vid with the body pole. I've used the demo board Sam has a couple of times when my JP was out of action and I'd tend to agree; a very powerful board and feels fast! I didn't know that about the concave under the straps, but good to know.
I do hope we'll be seeing you on the race track this year mate? The season coming is action packed, with lots to choose from, not the least being the re installment of a wk end State Titles event for Formula in Feb down at Jarvis Bay.
Check out the draft calender as it stands to date:

NSW Formula Series - Stormriders Windsurfing Club Dates

Heat 1 - 3rd & 4th October 2015 (2 day event) at Hawks Nest, Jimmy’s Beach - TBC
Heat 2 - 31st October or 1st of November (1 day event) at GRSC/Botany
Heat 3 - 28 or 29th November (1 day event) at GRSC/Botany
Heat 4 - 12 or 13th December (1 day event) at GRSC/Botany
Heat 5 - 9th or 10th January event(1 day event) on Lake Macquarie

Formula National Titles (Down Under Pro 2016) End of January.(3 day event, 4th as a spare day) at GRSC/Botany - TBC
NSW Formula State Titles - Feb 13 & 14 (2 day event) Husskison, Jervis Bay.

See you at Marmong for a sail one wk end over Winter.

looks great fun in light wind, nice Gopro mount, and good technique in the gybes to get under it !

Really nice footage...