A few of us went for a light wind sesh at Elwood on Sunday. Great day out, bit of fun in the light wind, some lessons to friends, and one of the guys brought out his 11m sail on his formula board. This 11m sail had us planning in hardly any wind at all....... you can actually get some good speeds on it. Here's some pics so I don't get banned.
So next time you are sitting there, thinking it would be nice to be out on the water, think big gear 
What time were you there K Dog? We must have only just missed you. Looks good though but not sure I'd like to be using gear quite so big. Still, I was struggling to plane in the 13 ish knots we had in the afternoon and was thinking bigger board and sail would be nice :)
I was there, sitting on the beach watching with envy... I could barely get moving on a 7.5 :(
Pretty remarkable how little wind you can get planning in.
It,s always baffled me why people seem to be scared off by bigger gear. You don't neccessarily need a Formula board and an 11.0 meter sail to plane in light winds, there are some great freeride/freerace options around now for light wind planning. Starboard/Jp now doing specialist lightwind boards and the big slalom boards are great, plane in almost as little wind as a Formula board and much easier to blast around on. I have an F2 SX 82 and matched to a 9.5 Koncept I am planing in 10-11 knots. It,s easy as pie to sail and man does it shift!!!!!
There is something really cool about blasting around at over double the wind speed when there are no whitecaps.
Totally agree Mr Love....Modern bigger sails in the 7.5+ sizes have such a wide wind range, largely due to all the R&D and improvements made at World Cup level. If a 7m is your biggest sail, you weigh 75kg and use a 110-125 litre board you'll probably need around 15 knots to get planing. By going up to say a 8.2 twin cam, you should be planing in around 12 knots and enjoying the relatively smooth water. My favourite combination in 12-15knots is a NP H2 8.2 on the JP Superlight Wind 154 litre with a 56cm fin. It allows me to plane easily without having to pump too much and allows much greater upwind and downwind sailing angles.
Cheers,
Luke
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I'm sure we'll be revisiting this later into autumn 
i liked planing on Sat whilst all kites were waiting on the beach,
but hoping for something better this eve @GP
Although the Formula gear can be challenging (Downwind in 25knts to just terrifying!) it's actually not as bad as everyone makes out. In winds from 8 - 15knts it's awesome and feels like you could sail for ever. I used to use it for cruising around the islands in Auckland, it's awesome!
I'm sure I'll see some more envious looks on the beach during the autumn doldrums......
Agree with Mr Love though, some of the lightwind gear coming out from the manufacturers is awesome.
For me it's just about maximizing your time on the water, if you limit yourself to small gear you miss out on some awesome sessions when the suns shining and the chicks are out.......
It would be nice to have something in the 8m range and a big light wide board for the days when there is just not that muh wind about.
The sup in light wind is fun, but nothing beats the feeling of planning.
I'd rather race a longboard to be honest.
Longboard sailing is fitness, tactics and skill. Big kit blasting is just proper windsurfing slowed down.
Mmmm, real windsurfing slowed down , right.
Thommen 84 wide slalom board, 50cm fin, KA Koncept 8.5, 15 knots of wind max on Lake Wellington. 28.5 knots on the GPS. Doesn't seem slowed down to me!!!!!
When was the last time you did 28 knots on your Wave board in 30knots of wind???
But the moral of the story really is that I was out there blasting around and having a ball while the small board purests would have been sitting on the beach grumbling about what a crap summer for wind it has been.
Big gear rocks!!!!
Have updated my "to purchase for 2012" list..... 155 ltr Formula board.... maybe if there is enough of them we can start racing in light winds
Agree Martin - for me its about time on the water.
)... perhaps my techique could improve, but the formula board seems to work for me for some reason... maybe more forgiving.... Do you allow the formulas to race at Parkdale? I noticed Flip is in your race list, does he race his formula in it?
)... perhaps my techique could improve, but the formula board seems to work for me for some reason... maybe more forgiving.... Do you allow the formulas to race at Parkdale? I noticed Flip is in your race list, does he race his formula in it?
Didn't realise that the formula gear was welcome at the longboard races..... If it's a lightwind day I'll try and join in next time.
Both are fun.
Both are better than sitting on the beach but who is going to get better faster? Who can lend their kit to a beginner? Who can sell their kit to a beginner? Who spent most?
