trip report & question

From: Martin Frankel (mdf@sgi.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Tue Aug 11 1998 - 22:13:29 PDT


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To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
From: Martin Frankel <mdf@sgi.com-DeleteThis>
Subject: trip report & question
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 98 22:13:29 -0700
Sender: mdf@bluedini.engr.sgi.com-DeleteThis


So Darin and I just got back from a long weekend in the Gorge, 4 good
sailing days, 1800 road miles, total exhaustion. I think the verdict
was we'd do it again but next time stay for a whole week!

We sailed Friday, Sunday, and Monday at the Hood River Marina in 4.2
to 4.7 winds for me, 3.2 to 3.7 for Darin. Saturday was lighter and
Viento seemed to be the only place with wind (6.6 / 5.2).

Man, I thought the Bay Area was nuts about windsurfing. Hood River is
like the windsurfing Jerusalem. It's really something else. It felt
like a pilgrimage and a rite of passage all at the same time.

I rented a Gorge Animal 8'3 on Sunday -- wow!!! what an I've never
sailed anything shorter than 9 feet before and it was amazing. So now
I've gotta buy a smaller board.

That's where the question comes in. I'm 170lbs, and I have a Screamer
(103l) which till now was my small board but suddenly seems awful big.
So I'm looking for a board to use with sails in the 4's and low 5's.
I just demoed some gear in the Gorge, but conditions are very
different here. So my question is, what do you look for in a board
for Peninsula sailing?

For instance, how small can you go and still be safe? Do many people
take the risk of sailing a board they can't slog in, or is that
foolish?

How about board weight? I know light weight is very important for the
course race crowd, but for recreational bump&jump, does it really
matter very much? Why?

What aspects of rocker, vee, outline, rails, etc make a good Bay
board? I assume somewhere between a good wave board and a good slalom
board. Are there unique design elements that make a good "bump&jump"
board or is it just a compromise between wave & slalom?

I'm sure everyone has a different opinion, I'd like to hear them all. :)

Thanks!

--
Martin Frankel     ||||     mdf@sgi.com-DeleteThis     ||||     (650)933-6191

P.S. If anyone's curious here are my "reviews" of the boards I demoed. Both were in similar wind & water conditions with a 4.7 Combat Wave.

The Gorge Animal Bonzer was sweet but I don't think it would work too well in average Bay conditions. It needed lots -- LOTS -- of power to get on a plane, and it deplaned quickly in a lull. The Bonzer was remarkably well mannered when slogging but that's like saying a Corvette drives well in reverse. When consistantly powered it was a dream, stuck to the water, almost impossible to spin out even for me, when it did spin out it recovered almost by itself. It absolutely rocketed upwind despite the slotted wave fin, I sailed from the Marina to the Event Site in one easy reach. I couldn't jibe it because it always stalled and sunk before I even got to 6 o'clock. My jibes have gotten better but clearly not good enough.

I also rented a Hi Tech Blaster 8'9 which is a bit floatier, but it was at least 5 lbs lighter, planed easily, kept going in the lulls, pretty easy to jibe even for me, but didn't go upwind nearly as well as the Bonzer and was much more difficult for me to control in chop & overpowered. The footstraps didn't feel like they were in the quite the right place and I didn't see any inserts, which is pretty weird, who would buy a board where you couldn't move the footstraps?



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