Sport Today

I bought a GO when they first came available here last year, because it
was described as an ideal first-planing board and had respectable
performance at sub-plane speed. (and is great quality for the price)

I do love the thing- it's light, easy to sail... I'm now planing, and
starting to master it in higher winds. The problem is that sub-planing
it really does not go upwind too well, compared to something with a
centerboard, and I've been downwinded a few times on light days. So, it
doesn't seem to be the single "do-all" board I was hoping to find.

My conditions - I sail in Southern Ontario, and the summer conditions
are most often light. Spring and fall are breezier. I'm a perpetual
intermediate, and not likely to have a quiver of tiny boards in this
lifetime. I'm getting a kick out of planing, but resigned to the fact
that I must also sail and enjoy sub-planing conditions. I have modern
7.9 and 6.5 sails.

So, I'm wondering if there exists a board in the 150 L to 180 L range
with a retractable centerboard that is fun to plane in 10+ knots, but
also respctable for light days... the ultimate single inland "summer"
board? Like for example the Phoenix 320 or one of the Veloce's? Or
should I hang onto the GO and  look for a used Mistral Superlite?

Last word... In Cabarete this spring, I sailed almost the whole week on
a HiFly Maxx... and I enjoyed it a heck of a lot more than I thought I
would. It was, for me, a blast to plane on.

Thanks for any comments or advice.

--
______________________________________________________________________
Jeremy Goslin    tel: + 41 22 705 9107 fax: + 41 22 705 9159
Laboratoire de Psycholinguistique Experimentale,Universite de Geneve,
http://www.unige.ch/fapse/PSY/persons/frauenfelder/goslin

- Get a bigger sail (I use a 9.5 Retro on it and have been able to get it
planing in 7-8 knots). If the wind is not high enough to plane on the Go,
you really need a longboard (racing, like an Equipe) to have fun on the water.
These boards are becoming really cheap due to the widestyle craze (Equipe
II XR for sale here in Ottawa for $795 CDN ($530 US) a great board at a
fractionof the price).

- Get a "transition" board; Phoenix 320 looks like a really good choice;
however, there will be quite a bit of overlap between the two boards,
which would then cause you problems trying to decide which one to use; its
blowing but the wind might die down; do you take the GO, or the Phoenix ??
The transition board will not be able to point upwind very well (compared
to a longboard) and will not be as fast in extremely light wind.

I would vote for the bigger sail option; if you like to go out on
extremely low winds (less than 5 knots) get a racing longboard!

Steve.

--
 "The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is
that it has never tried to contact us" (Bill Watterson)                    

Nicer colour than the Phoenix as well + you can usually get a good deal with
a sail included if you wanted to expand your quiver at the same time.

Check out the board reviews on the www.boards.co.uk website as well.

Lastly can't you get "Starbilisers" for the GO to give better non-planing
performance?  Much cheaper than another board.

Mark

B

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Thanks to all so far who have replied to my question.

I see two problems here with you folks not being able to get
the Starboard Go upwind in very lite (i.e.< 8 knots) winds.
The first problem is that you don't seem to have large enough
sails to get any kind of performance out of the GO in less than
12 knots of wind.
If you were to purchase a really powerful lite air sail like
the Sailworks Retro, in at least an 8.5 m2 (9.0 or 9.5 would be
much better, but will require you to also purchase a long mast
(490 cm min.; a 60cm carbon mast extension; and a large
(220-268cm) boom for the 9.5 at least.The mast and boom would not
have to be new, but good quality high carbon content used will
do fine.
What would you get with a 9.0 or 9.5 Retro? You would be able
to plane upwind on the GO in down to 8 knots of wind.
And if the wind goes lower, you will still have the power in the
rig to slog back upwind using the upwind rail.
Small sails simply don't make enough power (even for a long board
as Steve suggests) to give good upwind performance in <7 knots
windspeed.
So, that leads us to the 2nd part of this.
The GO will go upwind pretty well in as little as 5 knots of wind
if you learn the techniques necessary to get this kind of lite
wind/upwind performance.
You need to kinda sail off center on the board so the upwind rail
bites into the water and use the rockerline in the board to bring
you back upwind. All shortboards will do this, and it's about
the only way to get a round railed small finned wave board
upwind, even when they are planing.
But when you use the upwind rail to get upwind, you need some
power, hence the larger sail.
I do not think the Starbilizers would be a good way to solve your
problems.They are designed to be used at the very earliest stages
of a GO sailors career, are never supposed to be used in planing
conditions, or with large sails.
I find that my GO students learn to get back upwind just fine
without the Starbilizers on about their 2nd or 3rd lesson.
Also, Starbilizers are not available right now as the fire this
year at the Cobra plant in Thailand apparently destroyed the
production and warehousing facilities for the Starbilizers, as
well as a significant portion of this years Starbilizer
production. If you know a shop that has them in stock,
please let me know. I have several people who would love get a
set.
Also, I've come up with a new way to pump the wide boards
upwind, in <5 knots of wind. You just kinda "shake" the sail
so the leech flaps, and you can "motor" almost straight upwind
in zero- 5knots, if you keep some upwind rail in the water,
and just keep "working" the rig and fin.
I get about 3-4 knots of straight upwind speed, with the 10.7
XT2 in zero windspeed.Try it, it works.
later, Roger

b

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I think I must be your twin. I am a perpetual intermediate, living in
Toronto.  I owned a Veloce 328 for the last 5 years.  I just bought a GO
board.  I love the thing when it planes.  I find it frustrating to go
upwind in very light non-planing conditions.  I might look for those
Starbilizers if they are cheap for light days.  I wonder if I can keep
them in a *** pack and put them on the water if the wind is light.

My brother-in-law and I usually sail together. He has a Veloce 328.  He
made fun of my new purchase the first few days when the wind was light
and I had trouble getting back.  My revenge came the first windy day,
when I left him like he was standing still.
Stan

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Wow, Thanks all for the information, everyone.

A point of clarification - for best upwind angle in light sub-planing
wind, sink the WINDWARD rail of the GO?  Please confirm this. I was once
advised to sink the LEEWARD rail, but this might have been in reference
to boards with a centerboard.

The 7.9 (HOT Sails Sonic - 3 cams) and a 55% carbon mast (490) were my
permitted purchases this year. I will either have to pull some overtime,
or ask Santa about a 9m Retro for next year.

ken

Steady on,

Jeff

If you are sailing a shortboard with soft rails, sink the windward

If you are sailing a shortboard with very sharp, thick rails, sinking the
leeward rail is slightly better in many cases (personal experience on a
Hypertech Boss 2 hours ago!).

With a "long shortboard" (like a 310?) I am not too sure which would work
better, since the long waterline might make the leeward rail work better.

The GO definitely falls into the sink the windward rail category (soft
rails, short waterline).

 Steve.
--
 "The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is
that it has never tried to contact us" (Bill Watterson)                    

-Chris Sutton

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