by Hey all,
Just thought I would share a bit of a report from this past long
weekend
After spending a lot of time reading over the early planing hooked in /
not hooked in thread from a few days back I got a chance to test out
some early planing techniques. I gotta say that while I am still very
new to the idea of pumping, I can definitly see where it helps.
I was out on a 8 - 14 mph evening, rigging a 10.5 sometimes flying
others slogging. I tried as best I could to pump whenever I felt a
gust coming, and if there was something consistent to pump against, I
usually popped up onto a plane much quicker than I ever have in the
past.
I was able to plane up onto gusts that I would normally have been
watching and hoping on. However, pumping definitly added another
aspect back into sailing. Pumping is work! My legs were feeling the
brunt of the work. My biggest challenge is to make sure I pump the
board "forward" so as not to overpower the fin, and get everything
moving sideways.
Other than that 8-14 night I had a good day of 7.5 sailing on the 1st.
Rigged the 10.5 as it didn't look like much, and quickly got blown back
to the trailer to re - rig. sailed the 7.5 for about 2 hrs. Took a
break for 2 hrs and "taught" some younger cousins of mine how to sail
on my wife's start with a 4.5. They were able to get in short runs in
the gusty sheltered bay we were in, It was too strong out away from the
bay to really sail. Later went back out on the 7.5 and got way over
powered quickly. Apparently the wind had come up. I should have had a
6.0 on a 100 ltr board instead I had a 7.5 on my 155. Yikes! I did
however manage to pull off my first jump which involved clearing the 55
cm fin from the water. yahoo!!! however, the jump was a total
accident. The nose caught a gust and lifted the whole board clear of
the lake. I stayed hooked in, and in the straps, landed, and kept on
going. It may have looked like it was planned, but I had no idea I was
going to do it.
I passed up 2 more decent afternoons of 13 - 17 mph because the lake
was so full of pwc and it was after all a family reunion first, and a
windsurfing weekend second. The stoke from the 1st great day certainly
carried me thru the windy non sailing afternoons.
Hope this coming weekend has wind too!!!
Dave