Have been checking out pics of Antoine Albeau and his new speed record, but I am perplexed by the photos of always see of these guys...what is that on their backs. Is it a massive life-vest (and surely there must be smaller more aerodynamic versions) or does part of that speed record include having to take your own provisions for two days?
weight jacket, you would have to be completely insane to wear a life jacket doing those speeds.
Guys like Finian look like they are carrying a bit of weight on them naturally. Would be interesting to see how they go about determining weight carrying loads vs. wind strength. Water starting carrying all that gear and on a board the width of a postage stamp would be interesting.
Its not a very deep canal, so waterstarting is not an option. It'd be interesting to see how they start (run a coupla steps and jump on the board, or normal beach start). Does the average time include the start at rest position? That'd mean they have to do huge peaks of speed to get a good average!!
na it was big back in the 90's racers used them so they could hold down bigger sails, some have a little floatation to float the jacket, these jackets used lead shot, like stuff in shot gun shells, other ones used water as weight and didn't need floatation. not sure about the modern ones, the problem with wearing a life jacket is that it stops when it hits the water and you don't, ouch...
This is how you start on the canal with a 20kg weight vest plus your 95-115kg on a 37cm wide board.
They can carry as much weight as they want too, must just be able to stay afloat with it for min 5 minutes...
Chris Lockwood isnt exactly a big bloke... and i dont notice him wearing much if any weight... so why does he go so damn fast???
and its got a few sailors around the globe asking the same thing as well
...
I was told that AA was weighing around the 120 kg mark with weight and they were having to water start very, very broad on tiny boards. very talented Id say.
I also reckon if Chris was there, him and the big bloke wouldve been battling it out!!
wondering if their feet are in the footstraps while popping out to plane and how would a talented 80kl. rider fare with the heavier and much taller guys
I'm intrigued by the boom height/harness line length. They are standing quite upright on the board, is this to counteract spinout? Generally having your body extended almost parallel to the water is faster, but this does not always apply if you're massively overpowered and need to keep weight on the fin
