Saturday was very frustrating, marginal winds meant I was slogging most of the time. I covered about 5 nautical miles and have put this behind the clock just in case I need it later in the year along with several other marginal wind sessions over the past couple of weeks.
Sunday was epic, I got there with a team mate very early and was on the water at about 7am. Initially the wind dropped so I went in and rigged a bigger sail. It then picked up, my new Tushingham x15 7.6m stayed stable in the gusts up to 28knots which I hoped it would do as posted previously. It did become a bit too much in the chop but would have been fine on flat water. I went in and rigged smaller. Compared speeds with my work colleague who competes against me, he said 27knots was impossible having only got 26 while I got the GPS out of the pack, it read 27.01!
I went back out with the 7m and slalom board, had a good few runs but then the third batten up was showing a problem so I came in a took it all apart. It was not broken so I was not sure what happened. Since I have had the chance to repair it, the fibreglass rod had become unstuck and moved into the hollow carbon tube so the batten was too short.
I went back out on the bigger sail and then got a 28knot run with a 25knot nautical mile which I am very pleased with. The track is showing 31NM which was poor compared to some other team sailors out today. I was worn out though, should have used a smaller sail for distance but need to practice overpowered sailing.
Bank holiday Monday was also very strong winds early morning. I did not rush down there as early and was told off for being so late and then procrastinating too long in the van.
Eventually I rigged up my 6.3simmer race sail which is a monster, and paired this with my 95l slalom board. It was barely controllable and a closer inspection of my track shows very few straight lines. I am very happy with a top of 28knots though as the water was about as messy as I have ever seen it on the harbour with so many people out.
The track shows 16nm but I think standing around while a storm passed has affected my result so I am only claiming 10NM for today.
Total now sailed in 2011 is 287NM, still behind my upper target but better than the lower one.........need more wind.
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