.10:00am...7 knots SSW. Not expecting any breeze till this afternoon.(according to Marine weather services)
update. 11:35am. 10 knots SE. ("it's getting better")
update 1:00pm....12 knots SE.....
update 1:45pm 14knots SE. Heading over now.
wind came up. i reckon it was 14-18kts. I was overpowered on the 8m2. nice day, sunny and windy.
Not long after it came up ,it went back down again.6m was good for a while but was a bit dodgey after that. You were doing some big down winders there Steve. On that big stuff too !
Hi Richie. Yes, I was on the formula board and big sail. Bit hairy downwind. I was Worn out after an hour and half. Formula not what I'd call recreational sailing.
When I rigged the wind meter said 12kts. When I finished and was packing up the wind meter said 12kts? But it must have been 15+ for most of the time I was on the water. I was fully powered up and you looked the same. One of those days.
See you soon richie.
Was good fun yesterday, water was nice and flat over at Wello, had some good upwind and downwind runs fully powered out of the chop. Your right about those downwind runs Steve, they get the heart rate up and my arms are feeling it today.
Cammd, yes on the downwind runs I was lengthening my harness lines to get the rig away from me, and found that my arms were doing most of the work anyway? The harness wasn't carrying much load, and unhooked sometimes? Is that correct technique for formula downwind? That was only my 3rd proper session on the formula gear. About 15kts of wind u reckon? Gusts maybe 18? Steve
something doesn't sound right.
sailing formula lit up off the wind you should be feeling all of the rig in the harness and driving off the back leg with the sail sheeted in. not saying it is the right technique but I used to swing my body out as far as possible and drive the fin with everything I had. completely locked in. as the gusts came in I'd bear off. as the wind eased I'd head up slightly. bearing off on formula gear saves you from getting smashed. you need to be fully committed though as it can lead to catapults.
by bearing off you are oversheeting the sail and dumping some of the power. in 20knots it is amazing just how deep a formula setup will go.
at 20 knots in the bay my skill set hit the wall. 12-18 seemed to be the most fun.
I sit deep in the harness and as Gestalt said going deeper downwind is the only way to ease power, you need to outrun the wind to depower so going deep is the only way. Its the same as when you gybe a slalom board the sail depowers as you head downwind half way through the gybe. The most important thing to remember is to ease the outhaul, the sail can be touching from the back of the boom to in front of the harness lines.
