Mardi Gras Lunch Sail

I went out this afternoon from 2:30- 4pm as it was showing a steady 11-14 breeze.

Stats were:
3:20 Winds from SSW - avg 10.1 - high gust of 24mph
3:45 Winds from WSW- avg of 10.0 - high of 25

Fields were still a bit damp from the heavy rains Saturday. Sailed my 7.0 on one of the Outbacks. Still trying to figgure out a way to make Mike I steerable...

In-line Board Trial - Sun - Feb 12 Session

A, K & I took to the IM fields about 2pm yesterday. We stayed about two hours then had to break it up to do some shopping for Valentine's Day. The weather was brisk; windy and damp, temps in mid 30's. The upper fields were damp but puddle free. The lower fields were muddy.

The overall wind stats were: Gust to 36(!) - Avg of 10.4MPH - Direction(S!); All over from N to SW, close to 180 shift and it was not a gradual shift. It was simply random... N, SW,W, NE, SW, arrragh!

It was a very frustrating session for me as I was testing a new "homemade" board. It was made based on this in-line design (a "kite scooter") I saw on the web. Yeah. It's radical looking; two 10" knobby wide wheels, one fore - one aft.

I went to Agri Supply Saturday morning and 24 hours or so later K & A & I had created this monster in our attic workshop. No, this is not the final product- just a prototype at this point. We're calling it Mike 1. Here's a movie showing a few shots of Mike.

I had SOME difficulty in getting a ride. Some of that was the constant wind shifts BUT this thing is going to be a challenge. In two hours I made maybe twenty 10 to 30 foot rides. It is very tippy, left-right and the board is a bit heavy - probably 30 pounds so you have to have a good breeze to move. At this point it seems impossible to turn while underway, so I think we're a good ways from a useful design.

K & A rode the regular Outback board a lot. Both made good progress on jibes. A is learning to lean better opposite the mast tip (to windward) while toe-shifting to start the turn. Once he crosses the windline the has some difficulty with maintaining control in clew-first sailing. I don't think he's turning far enough through the windline so he's "running downwind" and the clew is pointing directly downwind so he can't hang onto the boom.

K made a number of jibes. But her hands are all over the place as she flips the sail. She practiced her footwork and the reach-across exchange action. I convinced her to move her feet early and flip the sail late and she seems to understand. Her goal is now to make two consecutive jibes.

Stay tuned!

Unexpected Session - Th 2/9/2006

Although it wasn't on the "radar screen" the winds kicked up here around 1:45 yesterday. I sat in the office fretting as the tall pines outside swang to and fro. Painful. Finally got out about 4pm.

Here's the wind stats:
4:20 - High of 29mph, Avg of 14.1 from N
4:40 - High of 29mph, Avg of 13.0 from N
5:00 - High of 29mph, Avg of 13.1 from NE
5:20 - High of 29mph, Avg of 12.8 from NE

Concentrated on duck jibes this time. Only made two consecutive - but did so about seven times! Mostly alternated clew first jibe runs with attempts at duck jibe runs. Also tried some duck tacks for the first time. NO success - yet!

SuperBowl Sunday, Feb 5, 2001

...Not a bad day. The fields were still damp from Friday/Saturday rains- but there were only a few boggy places-- and no puddles by Saturday mid-day.
K, A, B & J and I went out at 11am. The winds were a bit variable; NW swinging to SW with an avgerage of 7.2mph over three hours. We had a high gust of 22 during that period.

We rigged three sails: the 7.5 Sailworks and the two new (to us) sails; Calvert 5.8 and F2 5.1. We had problems with each sail! ;-)

The 7.5 has cams on EVERY batten and they were constantly slipping off the mast. After an hour or so I finally understood that increased batten pressure and more outhaul would properly tune this sail. Still, it was difficult to 'pop' the sail. I suspect this is because the sail was a bit too large for the 490 mast. I used the stubby extension during this session I think I need about 4 - 6 more inches of downhaul to solve the problem. It's always interesting getting to know a new sail.
Note to self: I need to use some adhesive on the stubby extension's plug and replace the worn 4mm line.

K sailed the "psycadelic" (sp?) Calvert sail first. We quickly discovered holes on the leading edge of three(!) of the batten pockets. We removed the battens to prevent further damage during this session. The same thing was true on the 5.1 sail. We've got some work ahead to repair these sails. This is to be expected I guess - the sails were only $15 and $25 each.



J started to "get it" during this session. Sailing the 5.1, he began to SIT back and hang on the boom and was able to make a number of runs of 50 yards or so. He still tends to spin out on reaches- but he made a few downwind runs in light winds. He seemed happy about that. He's doing a very good job of handling the rig now.

A and B played with a cute puppy (Courtney's "Bear") and played soccer with an empty soft-drink bottle most of the day. They seemed happy about that! A did sail a little, but I don't remember B sailing at all.

Near the end of the day K sailed the big sail - and almost made a gybe. She was psyched!

Lessons learned:
1. Don't throw away old sails. I sure could use some heavy-duty dacron material for repairing the 5.1 and 5.8 batten pockets!
2. Keep batten material "in stock"- need to buy about 20 feet from West Marine on our next Savannah outing.
3. Use a tripod next time we videotape! - and take some "group" stills!
4. A: Don't throw tools (he tossed the hand-hauler tool to Kristina and it hit her on the noggin)!
5. Buy a couple more hand-hauler tools.

Saturday washout

The winds were right but the rain expected on Friday evening arrived Saturday morning instead. While it was sunny, the fields were soggy with numerous large puddles standing around the compex and on the fields themselves.

Weather Forecast for Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006

It may be SOGGY but the wind will be blowing.

Looks like pretty steady breezes from 12noon till 6pm.