Slaughtering the Slalom with Sam Latham - K15

I first saw Sam windsurf at the 2011 Portland Harbour dash, and one thing stood out, he is fast off the mark. It is a beach start for the race and he was off like a shot, up and planing before others had their toes wet. At that point I knew he would be one to watch in the future. Sam is currently studying Industrial Design at Bournemouth Uni and windsurfs whenever he can around his studies.

Recently he contacted me to let me know about his new website and help him promote it; www.k-15.co.uk, please visit to show your support, he also has a page on stalkerbook.

As many of the regular readers will know I am trying to get perspectives from the younger sailors among us, so asked Sam if he would like to write a bit about training and starting slalom, which to be honest I am now s#!tt!ng myself about. The first round of the BSA Slalom series is at Hayling Island in 3 weeks and I have no idea what to do. So over to Sam for some advice.

Exocet and Hot Sails tuning in low winds

It was light winds on Saturday, so I rigged the biggest sail I currently have. The 8.0m Hot Sails GPS will become my second biggest in my quiver by the end of the month but currently it is my only option when the wind is light. I rigged it with the downhaul on the lowest setting at 28cm extension, a couple of people even commented that it didn't appear to have much downhaul on. It still exhausted the gusts (when I could find one) without problem and I never felt like I was being lifted  up like often happens with minimal downhaul.

Jon White on the Hot Sails GPS 7.3m rigged for light winds on minimum downhaul

I paired it at first with the Exocet SL Sport 78cm, my biggest slalom board, and a Black Project Type R 45cm fin. This was great for half an hour and allowed me to get used to the new Chinook Pro1 180-246 carbon boom and the outhaul settings for the sail. I came in and added a couple of cm of downhaul. I felt this did give me an extra knot peak speed but the wind had picked up ever so slightly so its hard to judge if it was the extra rope through the cleat that caused it. The GPS track confirms this increase as well.

How to start Speedsurfing - Part 1

If you are able to windsurf already then you can speedsurf. The only real requirement is a GPS to be able to compare your speeds, GPS choice is discussed *here(not written yet)*. Once you are able to windsurf in a straight line, in the footstraps with a harness, you just watch for gusts and keep the sail sheeted in which will make you go faster. Of course you can try this without a harness and footstraps, but you must be very brave or mad which most of us who speedsurf are anyway (mad, not necessarily brave).

This is part of a series of articles, the rest can be found here.

50knot Barrier Destroyed by more than 1

The view from Portland Bill across Weymouth Bay

So far this seems to be a great year for windsurfing, with sessions every day so far for many. It was only the brave who dared get wet today though, with violent winds hitting the UK from Cornwall up to Northern Scotland.

For a few days previous it looked like West Kirby would fire up again, and this time it did not look too broad. In fact the forecast was promising an almost perfect direction.

It came! The Dutch also came to give us another lesson in speedsurfing!

Carve Gybe Consistency Improving

Last Saturday I did more good gybes to earn my Alpha scores than ever before, each session my times are improving. An Alpha is sailing 500m with a gybe, the end has to be within 50m of the start. Last year I was getting the odd 16knot alpha. As we have progressed though this year they have slowly increased, but my gybes have got a lot better. I just need to make the turn tighter for more of the planing ones to count. In April my fastest was still low 18knots, now I am getting a few a session faster than that, and most of them around the 17knot mark.

The good sailors get 20knots, the excellent sailors get 22knots+. It is now my goal to get a 20knot Alpha in the next few sessions. My primary distance goal is complete nearly so I can turn more and go on shorter reaches to practice them until I hit the goal.

Unhooking and bending the knees ready to power further downwind

Need to get front arm straighter and knees more bent in the above picture, this will power the sail up more and allow me to absorb more chop.

Again knees should bend more

Saturday I started to practice my hand positions more, rather than grasping for the mast to pull the sail into the wind I was going for Boom to Boom gybes, by the end of the day I was doing them every time and they are faster. Some gybes I can pull the boom head into the wind a let go while the sail rotates, these feel really natural and fast.

My exits are getting better, I can see by the photos that I am driving the board through the mastfoot rather than weighting the tail and slowing down.

Perfect afternoon cruise and fame comes knocking. 30nmi sailed, 690nmi total

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/9078926.Weymouth_teacher_windsurfs_1_000_miles_for_charity/

Saturday 11th June 2011 I was in the newspaper for the first time in my life.

On to the windsurfing though, Kat came and took photos allowing me to analyse my technique a bit. I am nearly there with my full planing gybes, only dropping off now for a second or so. On entering here I can see I am letting the nose raise up too much so must put more weight through the boom and just carve with my back foot rather than put weight through it.

Need to get my front arm straight here, other than the the carve is good and the arc is constant.

I have let the nose raise up too much here again with too much weight on my back foot, must get my whole body weight forward more. From the video the rig flip on port to starboard is now good but the other way need some work.

There was not much wind to keep me planing today so each error was magnified, I think here my front arm is too close to the mast and needs to be further back to sheet in well.

It was a good session all in all, and nearly got my best hour speed, only a knot off it, not bad considering the wind was quite marginal at times.
30nmi sailed, new total of 690nmi.

To end the day we tried to catch a few fish, all we got was some seaweed. Nice Saturday though, waking up on Sunday it was totally different with much stronger wind and horrible horizontal rain. I am currently sat at home waiting for the wind to shift a little more to the west and then I will go back out.

Building Your Quiver - Rigs

Before reading this remember the sport is about having fun, the right choices at the start will help you have more of it! Good choices for me have come from experience, but the experience came from bad choices. Here I will try to help you skip the bad choices.


Like with a game of snooker or chess thinking one move ahead can win the game, so bear this in mind when you make your first few purchases. Armed with a little knowledge it will help you plan a good quiver for plenty of time on the water.
 

The rig includes the Mast, Boom and Sail. Extensions and mast feet are personal preference, you can buy cheap ones to start with, often if you buy a full rig as a novice you will get these thrown in for free. If I was to start again I would spend an extra £20-£40 to get these two bits of kit upgraded away from the cheap end of the market. They are the bits that connect the board to the rig so could be considered as important as any other bit of kit, if not more so.

Your first sail

When you make your first sail purchase keep in mind what will come next. A good decision here will last you a few years and make other future choices easier. This part really depends on your weight, and the conditions you will sail in. If you live in a place graced with good winds every day then go smaller, if you rarely get a force 5 then you need to go bigger. You sail will become part of a quiver of sails in the future should you get bitten by the bug. 

Your first sail should be rotational, which means the mast fits in the luff tube like a leg in a trouser leg. Cammed sails should be avoided at this stage as they have additional mechanical components  (cams) within the luff tube that clip onto the mast to keep the shape of the sail for slalom and speed sailing when you hit gusts and lulls. 

The chart below can be used as a guide to help you build your quiver of rotational sails. For the wind strengths in knots or mph use this wiki article for a good description of the Beaufort Scale.

Your first sail choice should be in the green to amber range in the chart above, dependant upon the conditions you intend to go out in. This is where your local shop will be invaluable for their advice. Notice how the gaps between the sizes get closer as the sail gets smaller, keeping this in mind is one of the key points I want to put across here. The chart would give you an ideal sail for each of the conditions in a freeride  spot, it does not mean you need 6 sails!  This chart has some 'cross over' between each sail, meaning that a larger sail could be used with more downhaul or the next size down with less. Downhaul will be explained in another article.

Plenty of people get away with 2 or 3, some choosing to go 7m²-5.8m²-5.0m² for a wide range of freeride conditions, some will go much smaller 5.7m²-5m²-4.5m² which is a 'light-medium wind' wave riders type of quiver. I could easily use a 7m² and have my next size down as a 5.3/5.5m² with no other sails and get just as much time on the water, but have taken a while to build a range of sails for different disciplines. If I understood more at the start I think I would have saved £500-£1000 in purchases!

This is only to be used as a guide, no sailor is the same and all have different styles. Personally I prefer a slightly bigger sail to others I see that are a similar weight to me, which is probably why I have ended up speedsailing. Some sailors may choose smaller than this range, especially if doing freestyle or wave sailing. It does take a more refined technique to use a smaller sail in the same wind strength. 

Mast

Unless you are wealthy and have money to spare then a good choice here will allow you to extend your quiver sooner rather than later. If you sail at a windy spot and plan on getting a smaller sail next then I would go for a mast of the size 430 (4.3m). For example, you buy a 6.2m² sail and a 430 mast, then get a 5.5m² to allow for sailing in a higher wind strength.

If you sail at a less windy spot then a 460 may be the best choice, again it will probably fit the 6.2m² (mast stiffness will be discussed in another post) and you will want a bigger sail next, perhaps a 7.0m² to allow for more time on the water.

There are a lot of choices of mast. The best thing you can do here is get the recommended mast for the sail and keep with the same brand. Each brand has a different philosophy in their design, some liking to design sails with a vast wind range, others searching for perfection in a smaller wind range for a given size. This is reflected in their mast design, some are more flexible at the top, some are stiffer. It is not very often that a mast and sail are completely incompatible but you will get benefits from getting the mast designed for the sail, especially in the long run.

Modern masts go from 40% carbon content up to 100%. At this stage the lower carbon content is perfectly fine, although with a bigger mast (460) you may feel some benefit with 60-75% due to the 'swing weight' while learning to gybe, tack and waterstart.

SDM, RDM, Skinny, Standard??? Which is which, what is better for me?

• SDM - Standard diameter
• RDM - Reduced diameter or 'Skinny'.

At this stage it does not really matter. With 5.5m² or less when wavesailing or freestyle then a RDM will give you benefits, both being slightly stronger for crashes in the shore break and easier to grip in transitions. Some sails are designed for RDM masts so a standard will not fit up the luff tube. Some sails are designed with SDM and do not work well with skinny masts. Your shop will advise you, but keep in mind what  sail size you are likely to buy next - as there are not so many 460RDM masts around, and most bigger sails are designed for SDM.

Boom

These sizes are a rough guide, different manufacturers again have different styles for their design. Some have tall/thin sails, others short/wide, even though the area is the same the boom length can be vastly different.

• 150-200cm Fit sails from 4m² to 6.5m²
• 175-225cm Fit sails from 5m² to 8m²
• 200-250cm Fit sails from 6m² to 9.5m² 

It is preferred to use a boom with minimum extension, as the greater the extension the weaker it becomes. The best size here for a beginner is the middle one (often now 180-230cm). But again dependent on the conditions and the future planned quiver, if you are unlikely to sail bigger than 6m² then a smaller boom will be fine. It is unlikely you will require the bigger boom as your first purchase, as this will not fit smaller sails and it will not allow you to truly appreciate the sport in conditions above a force 5.

Carbon or Alloy/aluminium?

Every sailor loves their carbon boom. They are works of art, often hand crafted. and should be cared for lovingly like all of your kit. They are also an unnecessary cost for a beginner. The newer alloy/aluminium booms are very stiff and more than good enough for someone in the first few years of sailing. The way to test a boom for stiffness is to put on half extension, place the middle of one arm between your foot and the floor and pull the other arm upwards. This simulates the the effect a gust will have on the boom when you eventually get hooked into the harness. Try this with full extension and it will flex a lot more.

To reiterate the point at the start. The sport is about having fun, it seems the more experienced people get the more bogged down they often get in terms of their kit choices. Most windsurfers will help a beginner make the right choices, a lot will let you have a go on their kit to see if it will be right for you before you make expensive decisions. Many manufacturers do demo days, and here at Portland Harbour we have the OTC (Official Test Centre) that stocks most brands that you can try for a small fee. Most shops will have sails you can demo. 

Good luck and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Building Your Quiver - Boards

The first couple of years windsurfing can really be make or break for you in terms of how long you keep it up for. A lot of the reason behind this is due to buying the wrong kit, not suited for learning easily and progressing well.

I will split the advice here into two sections, beginners and intermediate. Once you hit a good intermediate level you will know enough yourself. Within each core section I will split the weight categories into three. Less than 80kg, 80-100kg, and greater than 100kg.

The literage of a board is easy to understand, a 1kg weight will float on a bouyancy aid of 1litre. So a 100kg sailor needs 100l to simply float, this does not include the weight of the rig (mast, sail, boom, extension, mastfoot, and foam padding you buy for the mast/boom - which you dont need!) or the weight of the wet footstraps, and any water on the board (which probably comes to at least one litre). If you look at your weight in kgs and add 10-15 then this is the minimum literage you need to float, any less and the board will sink when stationary.

Beginners.

• Your first few sessions should be on a big board. Most brands provide a good learners board, often with foam covered decks and plenty of footstrap options. If you are less than 80kg then a board around 150l should be ample to provide both a stable platform to learn and last you a while to progress on. These are usually 80+cm wide.

• If you are 80-100kg then look for 160-180l board around 85-90cm wide.

• 100kg or more and 180l upwards and 90+cm wide.

These boards keep their price well, especially in the summer. If you are buying then often cheaper ones can be found in the colder months when novices do not tend to go windsurfing. 

An alternative is to use a stand up paddle board (SUP) with a dagger board and mast track. I think the dagger board helps a lot due to the long length of this type of board. With a dedicated windsurf board I found a dagger board unnecessary, a big fin (that came with the board) was all that was needed to easily get upwind. An SUP comes with a small fin usually, and the board itself is considerably longer so a dagger board really helps to get back upwind when learning.

I personally got a lesson on a big 180l board and then bought at 150l. This was ample in size for me at 85kgs as I used to surf a bit and skateboard years ago and have good balance. A 150l board is a good 'keeper' for the light wind breezes we get on summer afternoons, they are also better for longer term progression in my opinion.

Do not move down a size too quickly, especially if you only have the one board.  I traded mine in after about 20 light wind sessions for a 130l - 68cm wide, and it made me a lot more hesitant to go out as it was a lot harder to uphaul and a faster. I suspect a few people do this and it puts them off the sport, the board gathers dust in the garage while you wait for the ideal conditions for it. Ideal conditions only happen a few times per year!

To progress from beginner stage to intermediate you should be using a harness and getting your feet into both straps (keep them 'inboard' - this will be discussed in a future article). 

Intermediate

Here choice is as dependent on your ability/speed of progression as it is on your weight. I will still spilt this into three categories through. 

• Those of you less than 80kgs can look at boards less than 120l, about 65-70cm wide. 

• From 80-100kgs then between 120 and 130l around 70-75cm wide. 

• Greater than 100kgs get a board bigger than 130l, 75-80cm wide.

• If you are a quick learner and get a lot of time on the water then drop 10litres off the board size.

For intermediates there is a much wider choice of boards, which will be covered in detail in a future article. The main choices are as follows.

• Freeride
• Freestlye 
• Freestyle wave (FSW)
• Wave
• Slalom

In the larger sizes most boards are in the 'Freeride' category, although some Slalom boards go up to 150l. Modern freeride boards are often excellent 'do-it-all' boards, allowing for easy cruising on most water states. When the water gets choppy in higher winds they are not much fun to be on, but this is when you start using smaller boards. For ease of use a Freeride board is the best choice by far, as Slalom usually have limited footstrap options, and very sharp rails making a board faster but a lot more difficult to control.

If you make a good choice of board at this stage in your windsurfing career it will last you for years. As I mentioned, I bought a Starboard Carve 133 too soon, but persevered and forced myself out on it until I got used to it. It could have been more fun on a bigger board, but 4 years down the line I now have fun on it in light winds with a big sail. I would like a faster board of the same size but cannot justify £1000+ for and extra knot in speed when we are only talking 25-28knots anyway. To me now this board feels like I am sailing a boat, I can run around on it without it becoming unsettled. It is hard to believe that in my first session on it I could not uphaul

In terms of progression I found that I can progress a lot more from one week of sailing every day than I can from 6 months of sailing twice a month. So this bit of advice is very important, if you are a weekend warrior and only get out a few times a year then go big and stay big with your boards. If you sit watching the windy tree every day and are constantly trying to dry your wetsuit then you will get out a lot more often and smaller  boards will give you more fun in the long run.