Steve Allen (AUS-0) and Sean O'Brien (AUS-120) holding up the Aussie flag.
www.formulawindsurfing.org
Clip from Day2 below
miamiwindsurfer.blogspot.com/2011/07/second-day-of-fw-worlds.html
thanks for the summary sean - what a great looking website
here is a quick summary
boards crashing left right and centre
even top riders falling in on tacks and taking others with them
massive start line bias forcing fleet on to 1 tack
boards being spilt down the middle by other boards
fear of death
riders going to hospital
to win you have to use between 11.0 and 12.0 in 27 knots (thats when i am nicely powered on a 4.7 and thinking about a 4.2 )
10 m2 still not competitive in 10-14 knots
free beers !
Albeau untouchable
Nice video, I will get into formula but not racing just sailing around looks fun!
Seriously though, I do have to agree with Reflex somewhat - is publicising crash's and "unruly" behaviour the way we want to show our sport?
I would prefer more detail on the racing then the crash's but...
Even the Americas Cup is heading doen the high speed crash and burn path.
Interesting to see that at the Formula 'WORLDS' that not ever sailor is on the newest gear. I saw a lot of older model NP race sails there.....
Wouldn't be too many other 'world' championships where people aren't using the latest gear.
Certainly looking like AA will win another FW title.
You are right about the extremes, but being the Worlds, there will always be extremes, especially when the venue is high wind, with a world class fleet. (Basically all Pro's).
That said Port starts are high risk at the best of times, but when half the fleet are starting on port it has to be straight out dangerous.
Surely it is common sense that the RO should make the boat end more favorite,
and port offenders should be bumped once and potentially tossed if repeat offenders?
Since most starts are filmed these days, maybe port/starboard incidences could become a race committee based automatic DSQ, instead of the painful protest method?
The equipment has stabilized over the last years, so using old gear is definitely not a disadvantage. NP RS6, RS Racing, Starboard 161, 160, F2's etc are all over the beach. Pretty cool really.
Brett and I have both been at previous FW World or FW Europeans in the last few years, and I'm sure he'll agree, start lines at this level require you to have nerves of steel. Fleets of 50 -80 boards converging on opposing tacks at 30 knots closure on a start is a recipe for carnage. It's actually surpising there hasn't been more serious injuries before this regatta.
Having said that, it's a great experience, and I hope more of our locals get to experience it(again).
There's not many sports where your weekend racer, would have the opportunity to compete against all the top professionals in their chosen sport.
Seany, Nice fall at the bottom mark 
Who's that guy with my 10.7? It seems to be missing out of my garage..... 
Only watched the clip from day 2 (miamiwindsurfer.blogspot.com/2011/07/second-day-of-fw-worlds.html). None of that was shot in 30kt winds. Typically, sea water begins to white-cap in 14kts of breeze, and there were barely any white-caps on day 2. The squall mentioned may have been a different story though.
However, they sure do get along well in 15(ish)kts, don't they.
I was debating mentioning Sean's fall at the bottom mark...
Maybe he could use it as a training clip on how to drop 15 places in 5 seconds.
I think Day 1 was 25+ knots, Day 2 was 12-20knots, Day 3 was Zero.
Not sure of day 4 expectations.
A bit off the topic, but huge swells developing.
Bells Beach is expecting huge ride-able waves tomorrow morning, Bondi on Monday, 40foot in NZ etc.....
Reflex, I dont know why your mother lets you out of the house, you might fall over and hurt yourself.
I liked the Reflex summary, I didn't have time to follow any links and it gave me a clear picture of what was happening as the OP didn't have any info..
Why are you formula guys so damn touchy??.. Funny, my only memory of racing formula was being sworn at while trying to work out when to cross the start line. Seems like nothings changed.. Bunch of sooks..
?
I liked the Reflex summary too. Except we have already established in a different thread that he is anti-Formula sailing and his appraisal is just a teenie tiny bit prejudiced.
I have not yet seen a thread where a Formula sailor has jumped in thrashing any other aspect of the sport. But it seems fair game to knock Formula racing (usually by people who have never sailed Formula, but who insist that the big rigs are impossible to manage, and the boards are uncontrollable).
If you had a bad experience racing Formula then that is not good at all. In the majority Formula sailors are welcoming to newcomers in the fleet, many going way out of their way to loan sails and boards to people wanting to try racing.
JB
maybe you should have worn a watch......are you Reflex's mummy ?
Jeez...
Reflex + barn hanging out in a formula thread
=
Lotofwind + Waveslave hanging out in a windsurfing forum.
It's like TV fellas, if you don't like the channel, switch over...
I'm off for a sail
What happened to
play the ball not the man ?
(Remember the golden rule- NEVER go the FULL retard )
Funnily enough this and the original thread have thrown up some lively debate with massive participation/ viewership.
I used to race a lot - start biases, knocks, lifts , shifts and lay lines - its lots of fun !
I also remember the total whinge fest that would go on after a race from everyone but the winner - and lots of aggro back in the day. Some serious dills in the sport - but i have seen some serious Dills out wavesailing too - so maybe its universal.
- its one of the reasons i drifted away from a successful racing stint - the culture was horrible - i hope thats changed - but from the standard of SOME (not all) of the debate here i suspect elements of it still exist.
The Ledge to lanno rocks and i do that every year - still a bit of a whingefest afterwards though...
nowadays i generally prefer this kind of sailing
funny you should mention that - i find wavesailing over mast high completely boring to watch. (and a bit boring to do)
At the point where nobody is hitting the lip , going for airs, threeos etc or going square off the bottom it just gets boring.
The jaws sessions are basically slalom sailing on wave gear - with the occasional cheeky dip of the rail into the lip. (although there was one vert bit int the latest Jaws session from JP - but it was 2 seconds of action in hours of "wave racing"
I'd rather watch logo high performance sailing- or the jumping guys at Pozo
so i guess there is a parallel there
seriously - if you were at a Formula event would you rather they ran an extra 2 races in 25 knots plus - or just 7 races in 7 - 20 knots ?
... so,
It looks like Antoine won, Arnon second, and Gabriel Browne third, with Steve sixth and Sean twenty second (www.formulawindsurfing.org/ for full results).
