3days of fun - total 1075nmi

Saturday 16th July -  44nmi sailed. Today was frustrating, it was a bad day on the water. Every time I went out with what I thought was the correct kit the wind changed. I had a rest in the afternoon and went out in the early evening and had a much better time. In the morning I was over finned at one point and my ankle clicked causing a bit of pain after tail walking the board through chop while going for a nautical mile. Later on I had to ditch a run due to a kite surfer gybing right in front of me and dropping his kite, again something clicked in my ankle.

 Sunday I woke in a bit of pain due to my ankle, but it was all up to my knee. I took the abuse from my team mates for not getting out early, rigged up and hobbled out. My first run was fast, then the second even faster then I could barely stand on the board so did a walk of shame in neck deep water to keep the weight off it.

Only 5nmi sailed today.

Monday and my ankle felt a lot better, after a day at work nothing would keep me off the water, even some of the heaviest rain we have had for a while. I went out with the intention of getting my alpha above 20knots. An alpha is 500m with a gybe where you must end within 50m of the start. I did one just over 20 but not within the limits, every session now I am getting 19's!

20nmi sailed today, giving a total of 69 for the 3 days and 1075nmi overall for the year. Not much wind forecast for the next week, fingers crossed that the low pressure that is overhead brings us some.

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.

Epic Saturday, 84nmi sailed, 934nmi total.....nearly there

Woke up in the van at 5.30am, got up, went outside the van and decided it was cold so got back in bed. About 10minutes later Swagger (Portland Pirates Team Cap'n) rolled up alongside so I felt obliged to get up then. I was glad he did.

I rigged my 7m Tushingham X15 and my Mistral Slalom 95l. The wind was around 20knots and low tide so I didn't want a big fin. We played around on the Harbour with no one else out, it was brilliant fun. Then Camel (B-team Cap'n ;-) ) turned up with his Gopro camera and proceeded to do some of the best gybes, slam gybes, and tricks there are no name for. 

Swags and Camel rode half the length of the harbour with Camel sat on the front of Swags board, they even overtook another sailor while doing it. It was great fun for a few hours. But they deserted me at about 9-10am. I stayed on the water  until 11ish and went in for a break. 

I want to write some congratulations to Marcus for joining the 30club finally, he did it good and proper today with some excellent runs about 100-110 degrees off the wind so that is good strong consistent sailing, on old kit as well! He beat my top speed by 0.2knots which is a first when we have both been going for top speeds and means I must up my game, I did beat him with the 5x10 sec average by 0.24knots though and I did that at low tide compared to his flat water high tide speeds ;-) I knew I shouldn't have sat watching while the best wind went through at high tide, but I had already sailed for a good 4.5hours and covered 68nmi.

I went back out at about 2pm, after using some of Kats handcream to try to stop the stinging from the hardskin. My hands are nearly like leather now but after a session the callouses are quite painful, like pins sticking in my hands. I couldnt hold the boom, my hands were too greasy and I didnt have much grip left as my forearms were a bit tired. Once they warmed up they were fine though. I did about another hour and was dropping gybes all the time so decided to call it a day. There were no other team members out to get distance today as the forecast was for wind in the morning and that was all. 84nmi sailed in total for the day, giving me a grand total of 934nmi.

Practice on the Slalom Board, 29nmi sailed, 824nmi total.

Nice after work session today. Really starting to gybe the smaller board well, its such a great feeling coming out of the turn so fast. I tried a bigger fin and think it was noticeably slower than the Select Caspar Speed 31cm that I have recently used with my 7m Tushingham X15. I was very close to 30knots on several runs but didnt quite make it. The tide was low and I did not want to go too far inshore and risk grounding the fin like I have done so many times in the past.

824nmi Total, hopefully I will get to 900 before the end of the month, and 1000 before I finish work for the summer.

Couple of great after work sessions, only 31nmi logged though

Tuesday 7th June was the day I closed the gap and realised how much good the 100+nmi had done for my sailing. I was only a few knots off the best by the end of the session. I used my trusty Tushingham X15 7m that had been repaired, after a bit of grumbling the sail woke up again and delivered like it used to, by staying stable in big gusts and light and effortless in the lulls. I used it on my Mistral RD slalom board with a small fin - Select Caspar elite 31cm.

I was being taunted by Pete who had decided to shower me with every head on run, and when we were on the same tack he teased me and stole my wind so I bore off. Then he followed, I bore off some more, he followed and pushed me even further until we were at least 140degrees off the wind. This was a big learning point for me as it allowed me to see his technique, cheers Pete! I then saw what I was doing wrong, I was trying to keep the gap closed as I bore off which I never used to do. So I opened up my sail and carried on accelerating..........

It took me about half an hour to get back upwind though! Once there with a rising tide and a small fin I could get reasonably close to the shore and did some speed runs, getting regularly over 30 and close to 31. I told Pete I had 31 (rounded up) and he said thats not 31 then! So the next run I really went for it and got 31.88, close to my personal best in a lot less wind! It was a great session with a good 31nm clocked giving me a new total of 650nm.

On Wednesday it was windier and the tide was even better with it being neaps. I rigged a smaller sail and tuned it perfectly with an even smaller fin and the same board. Went to turn on my GPS and it wouldnt work so I assumed I had left it on somehow overnight and it had discharged. I put it on charge in the van and went to get a coffee thinking I would save my energy while the tide rose. Within 10 minutes I was impatient so went to check it, unplugged it and it turned off again. Something was wrong. I tried and tried to turn it on but it wouldnt unless it was plugged in to charge.

I went out without the GPS and did some of my best ever gybes, planing round my old flatmate (an ambition of mine for quite a while) at full speed. I had some really good runs but no GPS to prove it. Still it was good practice and a new one hopefully will be delivered tomorrow thanks to RIKS online shop. I will try to get the old one repaired as a spare, I have tried allsorts myself but cannot get it to work. I will have covered at least 20nmi but will not include it in my challenge as I have no proof..........but if we get a bad wind drought I may have to call on it along with my SUP sessions I have hidden away for backup.

Today (Thursday) there was wind but it was not forecast, I had all my kit apart from my fin quiver and full wetsuit. There is a shorty in the van for emergency which I could have used along with a 42cm fin, but I decided to save my energy for the next long session with a GPS.

Total 650nmi.

Tushingham X15 7.6 2010 Review

This sail was bought to replace a North XType 7.8m which was my most used sail, taking me from barely planing through to getting into the harness and footstraps and dry gybes. After buying a Tushingham X15 7m and using that a lot more last autumn and winter I went back on the North which had no cams. It felt awful in gusty winds in when compared to cammed sails so I knew that I must upgrade. I was slightly hesitant to get them in  such small increments as the size is very similar, but the range of the 7m meant it was a no brainer really. The sail is to be used as the biggest on my Mistral RD SL95 which is bigger than should be used with the board but for speed it is ideal, and also as the biggest on my Starboard Kode 112l in marginal winds. I can step down from the 7.6 to a 6.3 as the wind increases from marginal to 25+knots, and likewise drop from the 7m to a 5.8m in more wind.

For the first few weeks I had the sail the conditions were really marginal but the sail performed well. At first I thought I could have got going better with the North, so I had a go and it was only my imagination. For a 4 cammed sail it is very light and easy to use in transitions, this was my only worry changing my biggest 'cruising' sail for a more dedicated slalom/speed sail. 

In the photo above I was using the sail for my marathon 200km at the end of May as part of the GPS Team Challenge for the Portland Pirates. As you can see from the white horses it was windy, gusting above 30knots at points but staying mainly in the 20-25knot range. In the gusts the sail did lift me a lot but was very controllable and it allowed my to complete the first 120+km with relative ease considering the conditions. I usually would have changed down but this in itself would waste time and energy so I kept going with the bigger board and sail.

I rig it with a Tushingham Ultimate Pro 460 mast from 2009, it rotates fine when powered up and just needs a little encouragement in less powered conditions. Now my gybes are faster I am having less problems rotating the cammed sails and a good pump knocks the cams round on the other tack. It rigs with ease, and required very little batten adjustment from new. The cams go on the mast easily, simply slide the mast in above the cams, pull on some downhaul to allow easy access for the boom clamp, put on boom and fully outhaul, let off a little downhaul and pop on the cams, then put the downhaul back on fully and tune the outhaul. More recently I have used it with adjustable outhaul and this has extended the sails range even further.

In the future I would like the bigger version to use with a bigger board in lighter winds, but my lottery numbers still have not come up so I will have to wait for that.

The Portland Pirates, a thank you to the team

If it wasn't for the support from the team, especially Mr Motivator - Pete, I would not have made it to an official distance of 201.44km or 108.76nautical miles on Saturday 28th May 2011.

I sent an email the night before saying I wanted to get to 100nm, for a result to score on the GPS Team Challenge it must be the average of 2 sailors results, so I needed someone else out doing distance to back me up. Swagger (Mark) was up for the job even though he had a hole in his arm from a knife wound a few days earlier. Swags is our chief and captain, if we don't follow instructions he can have us on deck scrubbing duties, or some say offered insertion of a mast extension, and his is the longer SDM chinook version. 

On the day The Matrix (Pete) was going for an average Nautical Mile of 30knots, to put this in perspective my top 2 second speed is only 0.4 knots faster than his average over a whole 1852metres. He was being supported by Camel (Steve) who does like to show off amazing gybes in front of the car park rather than go for the distance. They both delivered the goods which opened up a gap between us and the Pit Crew - an Australian Team who used to be top dogs on the challenge. They were only one point behind at the start of the day. Swags and I made the gap even wider giving us a whole 12 points lead over them. 

There are 54 teams in total from all over the world and it adds so much more to a windsurfing session. Windsurfing is quite a selfish sport, you are only reliant on yourself unless you suffer kit breakage and often just blast around or try different tricks and moves. With the  challenge you have an objective or a reason to be out on the water, especially on days like Saturday with it being the end of the month and the need to secure more points. 

The Portland Pirates are currently 5th overall for the year, with a few good months in the bag if we suffer a real wind drought. Many of the southern hemisphere teams are now entering their winter and will not score as well as the start of the year so this stands us in good stead for the rest of the year. The teams we will struggle to beat are the Dutch ones, who are full of professional sailors that often can get out when the rest of us are working. They also have more flat water options than most other accessible places in the world. Portland Harbour was the home of speed sailing in the 80's but now there are many other places that have been found to have better conditions. Portland though is good for the range of disciplines we need, and with skill and good winds we can stay in the top rankings in the world.

I was a competitive swimmer in my youth so never really participated in team sports at school, only basketball which from memory was just a bunch of ego's all trying for a glory shot and not really a team. As I was approaching 80odd nautical miles it was the team that kept me out there sailing even though holding the boom was painful and carving upwind with my toes was agony in my shins. Thanks again to the rest of the team and well done to all, they were tricky conditions and often a game of dodge the tourist for most of the day.

100+Nautical Miles in a Day!!! New total of 619NM

Awoke to drizzle but did not even notice it.....the goal for today was to get some serious mileage, both for my challenge and the team effort on GPS Team Challenge. This has secured our place as 4th in the world, ahead of all countries apart from the Netherlands who just seem to have too many locations with perfectly flat water and a lot more wind than us!

Mid morning and I was barely holding on to such a big sail.

After about 70nautical miles I had a break and changed kit after warming up for an hour.

All the time now I was really forcing myself not to break out the smaller slalom board, I was tired approaching 100nm but the conditions were perfect for some speed runs, I knew I would not get quite as many miles on the smaller board though so kept at it with the bigger one.

The wind was perfect for me to cruise close in to shore at high tide, meaning no hard work getting upwind in the chop further out.

I learnt a lot today, was planing out of some gybes and now understand more what I need to do to get this consistent. I also proved a few things to myself that I had the determination to go on, even after a bit of chest pain. I knew the pain was more in my head than physical though and would not let it beat me. I will expand on this post further in the week. 

GPSTC reads 201.44km or 109NM at the end of the session, which is less than the sportstracklive data but more accurate. This makes my total now 619NM.

Fingers Crossed for some Personal Bests

Now I have made it half way for my distance I can relax for a while and enjoy my sailing a bit more with shorter faster runs hopefully. Instead of going another 100-200m each run I can get my gybe practice in each session and hopefully there is plenty of wind over the next few days to do this.

With my 7.0 Tushingham X15 on the sail repairers floor, hopefully to be ready for the weekend, and the batten in the Simmer 6.3 SCR Race repaired I should be set again for all conditions. After a few hard days sailing I feel good having a break today. I have a bit of a cold coming on like it usually does at the end of term, hopefully the salt water will get rid of it tomorrow. I can hear the wind hitting the window already.........33knots here I come.

Tushingham 7.6 X15 does its job. 2 more sessions 33NM total now 320NM

 I had to repair the third batten on my 7m Tushingham X15 and tried to use it on Tuesday, the repair did not work and the batten shortened itself again when under tension. This caused me to overtension the batten below it and I damage the sail a little. It now has been taped up and the batten repaired with epoxy and bound with nylon thread to stop it slipping. This meant I had a short session and only clocked around 10NM. It was a nice little after work session but I went home a bit annoyed with myself for damaging the sail, my most used sail!

Wednesday I used my new 7.6m Tushingham X15 and it was great. Not overpowered at all in the gusty easterly winds. 

Local legend Pete gave me a few lessons, I tried to follow him a few times but when he bears off there is no stopping him. It is almost like the water flattens itself in front of him, where I am busy trying to wrestle control from the board he just accelerates away.

Upwind I caught up with him and he would not let me past, he showed me a few tricks I cannot wait to use against my work colleague who keeps trying to pass me downwind while I am cranking upwind. 

I was quite surprised at 23NM today, it really did not feel like I was on the water that long. The wind died a little so I came in, perhaps I could have stayed out a bit longer though. Next time I have made a promise to myself to stay until the light or wind completely fades.

Its now time for some south west winds and the flat water that comes with them. The past few sessions I have developed my board control and even managed some good speeds and gybes over very rough water.

Tushingham X15 7.6m first impressions

This is the replacement sail for my freeride North Xtype 7.8. When I got the Tushingham X15 7.0m I stopped using the Xtype and found that it would get me going in virtually the same wind strengths. So I chose to go for the X15 7.6m to complement it and go out in slightly less winds.

On initial rigging it shows a good profile and feels like it will be easy to pump onto the plane in light winds like the smaller model is. It rigged with the same settings as printed on the sail which is a rare thing. The luff is 495cm with a boom length of 211cm. I will be using it with a 460 Tushingham ultimate pro mast until I can afford the Speed Pro in that size for more overpowered sailing. If it is similar to the 7m then I would expect to still be holding it down in gusts up to 28/30knots but this is not really what I have bought it for.

My most used sail was my 7.8 due to the nature of conditions at Portland Harbour. This time of year the 'sea-breeze' usually starts, when the wind swings to the south west at midday it usually builds up to readings of 16-20knots on the harbour wall which equates to 12-15 at the shore. More often than not we get a good hour or so of stronger winds with marginal either side, I am hoping this will be the perfect sail for those conditions.

I cant wait to get it wet and let it 'bed' in, now where is the wind?

Review of Tushingham X15 7.0m Speed/Slalom Sail

Now I have a bit more experience with this side of the sport I thought I would start doing some reviews of the kit I use. My first cammed sail was an old Arrows Tommahawk that I bought for a bargain (I thought) off e-bay. It got used once, but I did get the money back in terms of trade in for this Tushingham X15. The X15's are Tushinghams 4cam speed sails in the smaller sizes and slalom/race sails in the larger sizes. The 7.0m is about the crossover point between the two, getting a little too big to be an all out speed sail and small in the range of slalom sails.

I bought the Tushingham X15 7.0m as a light wind cruising sail to introduce me to the speed sailing scene. It was to be used as the larger sail on a Starboard Kode 112l. The first session was great, I made my first gybe on it with ease. Loads of people told me cammed sails are a lot harder to gybe, but this is a light sail and it rotated easily. Other brand cammed sails I have used I find a lot more difficult to gybe, largely due to the swing weight and my developing technique. I have also used the sail with a Mistral 95 SLRD, and a Fanatic Falcon 105l, on all boards it was a pleasure to sail.

The reason I chose Tushingham was due to the fact I had a Tushingham mast (460 75% carbon from 2007), I found that the second cam would not rotate without some encouragement and I found this a little disheartening as I cannot afford lots of new kit. After contacting Tushingham they sent me two masts to try on it, one of the newer Speed Pro masts (these flex a little more in the top 25% to allow for more control off the wind with big gusts), and a 2009 100% Ultimate Pro mast. I tried them both, but the wind was not strong enough to feel much difference. There was a little bit of visible difference, the speed top gave a fuller profile at the boom, but only marginally. In the end I chose the 2009 mast to match the year of the sail as this is the mast the sail was designed for. The customer service was second to none, I have to thank Paul and Dave at Tushingham HQ for sorting this out for me.

The wind through September was good when it came through but this was not very often, into October and the first half of November it improved. I got lots of sessions with the sail and really got used to the benefits of having the cams. It was a great introduction to speed sailing. The 7.0m X15 planes as easily as my 7.8m North Xtype, which I found surprising, it also keeps going through the lulls where the Xtype will slow down, due to having no cams on it. It has made the Xtype redundant now, previously this was my most used sail. I have used the Tushingham X15 7.0m 18times since I bought it, it still looks like new (apart from the damn hole where I recently put the harness through it - repaired with mylar tape) and has had about 40-50hours use on the water now. 

This sail has given me my fastest nautical mile, longest distance session, fastest average 10s, fastest 2s and top speed. The alpha speed I achieved on my first session with it I am yet to beat!!! Last weekend (Jan 15th/16th) it really came into its own. The wind was very gusty from 15-25knots approximately, but the sail was easy to get going and very easy to hold down, especially when moving off the wind to keep accelerating.

If you are looking to try Speed or Slalom sailing then I would recommend this above others I have used, both due to its ease of use and for making the transition from rotational sails effortless. For those more experienced at this side of the sport then you probably know that Tushingham speed sails hold their own against the other brands and have clocked over 40knots on many occasions. Also for those in the UK I think the benefits of the customer service and support that you recieve make it a no brainer.

I would like to partner this sail with an 8.3m X15 but would then need to change my Starboard Kode to a dedicated slalom board of about the same size. The Kode 112l (a freestyle wave board) really starts to struggle with bigger sails due to its lack of length and relatively short mast track, placed further back than you would want for slalom. I have a Starboard Carve 133l that would go nicely with a bigger sail but the benefits of the speed design would be cancelled out by the easy-going freeride nature of the board. Maybe I will win the lottery and this will no longer be a problem.

Great session to wind down after a hard week at work.

Managed to get on the water by about 3.45pm, rigged the 7.0m Tushingham X15 which was perhaps a little big but I did not trust the wind. Also took out a bigger board instead of the slalom board. The sail is now brilliant thanks to Dave and Paul at Tushingham HQ who have sorted me out with a matching mast. They sent two masts, the speed - flex top, and last years 100% pro carbon models. I tried the speed mast today knowing the sail would be over-powered so was a perfect opportunity to try it. It rigged with a huge belly around the boom unlike on its old mast. It rotated a lot better, not perfect but that was probably more due to me rushing onto the water.

Once out on the water it was totally flat and a mid to high tide meaning lots of flat runs. The wind was direct off shore which meant that I had to sail parallel to the shore to about mid harbour, then bear off with the wind. It was good practice. I went for a couple of mile runs but span the fin out each time once out in the chop so gave up with that. I then sailed non stop for an hour and beat my hour personal best speed. The gybes seemed to come more naturally today, I hardly dropped one until dark set in. Once the sun had set it was a bit dangerous as there were a few freestylers out and they were all just sitting ducks when approaching at 25-28knots and as I didn't want to decapitate someone with the fin I headed to shore.

Great session to end a hard week, I just hope there is a bit of wind this weekend or what will I do? Oh if this bruise above my eye gets worse by the morning I will post a picture, the mast hit me just on hte edge of my eye socket!

Kit Reviews

Hot Sails GPS intro review.

Hot Sails Maui are my new sponsors for sails. Over time there will be comprehensive reviews of their range, starting with the GPS -Grand Prix Slalom. This is my weapon of choice for the BSA Slalom 2012, to be paired with Exocet RS Slalom and SL Sport boards and Black Project fins (in my opinion THE only fins to use now).

Hot Sails GPS First Impressions

click the headings for the full reviews

Exocet RS4, First impressions

Following the reviews below I was over the moon to accept sponsorship from Exocet, and now ride for the UK Team 'Exo Warriors' under the management and guidance of the UK Exocet agent Ian Kraft. Over time I will do a series of reviews on the RS series, I currently now own the RS4(69cm), long with the SL Sport 78 (see reviews below). In the long term I will also get the RS2 and RS1 (59cm, 54cm)

Exocet SL Sport and XO Silverline, with Black Project Fins Sails Full Team Review

This section is where the real reviews are, using  a team of sailors of varying abilities over a period of time to give full feedback on the kit. This is a different type of review, pitting the abilities, weights and styles of sailor against one  board range rather than brand against brand. It is going to be a series of reviews.

Part 1 - Initial Impressions While Rigging

This first introduction to the kit looks at some of the extra features  and the standard parts such as footstraps and the extras on the sail. The sail is rigged a few times to see how easy it is with it being a cammed sail with thin luff tube.

Part 2 - First Impressions in light winds on the water.

Here I talk about a very light wind session with use of both boards, the 7.8 silver sail and a couple of Black Project fins. The outcome was good despite marginal dropping winds.

Part 3 - Good winds and good speeds.

Getting to know the Exocet 66 SL Sport, Silverline 7.8m sail
 and Black Project Typr R 37.5cm fin

Here the kit is tested in force 4, gusting to 5.

I rarely top 30knots in these conditions with a 7.8m sail but manage it with this kit.

The Black Project fin does a fantastic job.

Part 4 - Final thoughts and details.

The sails and boards are discussed in detail.

Positive and negative thoughts are highlighted.

Overall opinion and would I buy one?

All the reviews below this point were part of my learning process while I completed the 1000nmi challenge, and no where near as rigorous as the 'true' reviews above. They will give you an idea of some kit that I could not find anything for on the internet review wise.

Mistral SL 95 RD (2009)

The Mistral Slalom 'Red-Dot' is a full carbon construction, feather light speed demon, read the review here. It took me a while to tame the board.

Starboard Kode 112l (2009)
For a long time this was my favourite board. It is such an easy board to sail that it almost makes me look like I know what I am doing. It is still my weapon of choice in the winter when I do not want to get wet.

Tushingham X15 7.0m (2009)

This was my first speed sail and started me on this quest. I guess if I had not bought this then this whole website may not exist. For the time it lasted it was a great platform to learn on due to being light yet powerful.

Tushingham X15 7.6m (2010)

This is my lightwind sail, and will be for some considerable  time. It gets going very quickly considering the 4 cams and deep profile. First impressions are here.

Simmer Slalom fin 34cm

My first 'true' fin purchase that did not come from the bargain box. It was worth it.









My Personal Kit List.

Here I have a list of my kit, more to keep a track of it myself than anything else. I have also included links to my preferred shops as they are always a pleasure to deal with.http://www.redsurfbus.com/2011/10/exocet-free-slalom-tests-first.html