Just for general info, this is where we are at as we move into the back half of the season we have had 7 starts , 5 successful events and combined sailed well over 1,000km's and with over 30 different competitors.
Having 'flexible' dates and locations based on the wind not the calendar also has worked a treat, we probably have an average wind speed of +20knots over all the events, 3 Big Blow days and 2 lighter days.
Best hour has been +25knts by WR 1Hr holder and current series leader Brad Anderson on Fanatic/Maui Sails/BP Fins.
He is holding off local power sailor Rob Humphries, Dave Sandos with NZL numbers on his sail WT? probably would have banned him if we'd known that
...and some Shmuck that reckons Ezzy Sails are pretty good,
Kellie Tusler KA72
is going super well also.
The concept is new, pretty much a world first to run such a series like this, and has been challenging to work through the logistics and systems but we have it pretty wired now, thanks largely to Dylan at KA72.com, you can check out some pics on our gallery here... http://www.freeracequeensland.com/about-dates.html and you can also see some of the races replayed in super speed GPS computer game style!
The one thing that everyone agrees is when you get a big blow, its a pretty awesome challenge to push yourself hard for the entire hour, not just little squirts here and there but flat out in often less than ideal speed conditions, we have had high wind tight messy lake chop, ocean swells, and smooth to flat conditions..no major injuries, no horrific wipeouts, just sore bodies and bruised ego's!
Great work guys. It takes a lot of effort behind the scenes to run a series like this. The GPS animations are excellent too!
Awesome work guys. Sounds like a solid comp.
Can you talk a bit about how the rules work (couldn't find it on your site, might be I'm domestically blind)? I've been involved in GPS races that were well intentioned, but not properly thought through, and the resulting cluster pretty much sunk the whole thing. So, what're your lessons learned?
this is just awesome stuff !!!!
congrats Dylan for the you tube videos !!!
Question : is it the same one hour for everyone (at the same time) or one hour sailing during the assigned period ?
It's a great format. I'm not very competitive and just out there for some fun and improve on the last race. Have really enjoyed the events I could make it to. Looking forward to the next freerace 
It really is a great way to race.
The main tactic is to simply keep going and do very little dredging out of the turns.
I simply sail in the area and watch when everyone else goes in to download the file. No watches for the start. Slalom is basically won on the start line. Not so in the GPS one hour.
In a one hour GPS there is good chance to catch up lost ground from a mistake or poor decisions and you have many mini duels. You also look ahead to see what is happening to other sailors. If they are not planing out of the gybes turn early.
In the last race I had a few really good runs beside Rob. We traded spots a couple of time in one run and Gybe.
Best of all is you can use any equipment and still be in the running. ( well the race kits still have the advantage on lakes )
So I don't blab on too much...best first to check this page out and read the philosophy, http://www.freeracequeensland.com/about-dates.html
As for the running of it..the lakes are easy as we have a 'natural boundary' so anywhere on the lake is fair game...the lakes require strategy also as they have their 'windier spots' and also 'smoother and or choppier spots'
Strategy wise you need to decide am I going to average a better speed on longer runs and plough through the slow chop, or do I stay in the smooth water and gybe more..what I if blow my gybes.....
What has worked for us is 'flexibility' we don't live in a super windy place..the first events were picked to try and make the most of our Spring NE sea breeze season then after Xmas when the SE trades start we have picked sites to suit. The dates are generally 1st Sunday of the month, SAT if that looks way better than the Sunday...if the wind fails..then its just postponed to the next weekend.
If a location that was suited to a NE didn't work because it blew SE we just changed the site to a SE suitable site.
We kind of have a 'get ready' update (seabreeze and Facebook) if it looks good during the week, if it looks great on the Friday or the Saturday we call game on...ideally we would prefer to call that as late as the Sunday morning..but we need a 'text alert system' to do that and we ran out of time for that...maybe next year...we just don't want people making big efforts to get to events to be skanked by no wind, so we try to ensure its going to be windy...the results speak for themselves now...its worked, we got skanked twice..both on the Seabreeze not filling in, we have a strategy to avoid that nest time.
Sign on/ Briefing/Turn your GPS GT31 ON!
We have worked out a 'flag' system. GREEN/WHITE + a HORN 15 minutes to start time (so this means we are getting average 15knots on the course, or very close to). most people are on the water by now testing gear etc
Generally this is done on the 1/4 Hr..so say 1.15...Green/White Flag means 1.30 start-2.30 finish.
Then Green flag only means game on time has started...when the it changes to white its time to come in the Hr is up.
RED flag means everyone back immediately this is a safety flag, **** has gone down
White flag during the hour..everyone back..wind has died gong to do a restart when conditions permit.
Dylan KA72 Sets up the program to map the entire lake area and record everyone in that area for that time slot.
OPEN WATER
As above but we set up a marker buoy approx. 1 NM out from shore and another off to an angle to kind of form a box... you need to sail INSIDE that box..if you sail outside of that box your speed is recorded as 0 until you get back inside the box!
Importantly: everyone sails at the same time, its the same 1hr, it the same place, same wind, same water conditions, no bad starts because of dirty air, no waiting for the pro's to get off the line before you can get going, blown gybes falls not an issue just get back up and continue, sail whatever angles you feel suit you best,, no difficult off the wind or upwind markers that you have to make,, you can do downwind runs (but eventually you will run out of room, so you cant do that all the time) broad reaches,, upwind , whatever suits you best.
Once everyone is in the SD cards from your GT31 are handed in/sign off and Dylan processes in 'poindextor' the Freerace computer!
The program instantly ranks everyone and shows your average speed/Km's for the Hour.
Of course competitors can still upload their data into any other competitions they may enter.
We are trying to ensure we get some 'different conditions' and locations also, the idea is to test everyone in a variety of conditions, we sailed of Bribie Island that was pretty full on, and were aiming for Mooloolaba but the winds have changed that might not eventuate.
Logistically its heaps easy to do on the lakes, especially regarding permits/safety etc but its also a bit one dimensional, so we will hit some other spots to come, including Burrum heads at the Windfest (high tide nice and bumpy!)
Think I've covered most of the 'how to run a FR event' , as you can see if you do stick to a 15knot wind minimum most people and places will only require 1 board 2 sails tops...and they wont be on the large side..which means if you wanted to get serious about this and have events that require travel, (eg Green Island Cairns!) you only need to take say a 100-110lt board. maybe a 6ish 7ish sail and that's it...pretty low gear requirement, low cost, makes you milk the most out of your gear..and its an amount of gear that most airlines will accept. 
Great part also is you don't need to be a gun to compete, after all you are can just do it to test yourself and see how you go, its a workout especially in big winds...but if you do want to be competitive its all played out on the table flesh and guts for all to see ..the GPS doesn't lie! Also if you do crash, need to stop and fix something, take a breather whatever...that's cool too, it doesn't matter it will effect you time sure, but who's to say the leader just didn't wipe out at that same time?...
We have 2 discards of results that may go to 3 pending how many races we get in, as we know sometimes people cant make it , work commitments, sick what ever..or you might break some gear on the day and have a dud day...no problems, just drop that score.
Hope that helps.. It is still work in progress, but we are getting there and hopefully growing support, our aim is to make this an ongoing series and bigger and better, the entire concept is about bringing a bunch of windsurfers together at the one event, to not only compete but have fun, share ideas/ learn support and to the wider public show that windsurfing is very much alive..and to do that you need events with larger participation to attract non windsurfing public interest. Some GPS sailors say 'well I already do 1hrs etc so why bother?'...well um no, you actually may do a one hour...but your one hour is different to everyone else's because everyone's conditions will be different...someone sailing in 30knots at Sandy point is always going to be faster than someone sailing for 1 hr at say Bribie Island who might only average 18knots because that's what the conditions dictate.
World 1Hr record holder (at around 30knots I believe) Brad Anderson recently did +25knots at Lake Cootharaba...he will tell you that 25knts was his hardest hour ever, because of the conditions...he still smoked most of us...I'm sure on the same day others in other places that had far smoother conditions went faster...but no one went faster than he in those same conditions.
At this time, have to say this event wouldn't be possible without our sponsors (we have also given out some cracker random prize draws throughout also!!) 
Sunshine Coast Sailboards - Board Crazy Brisbane - Goodtime Wooloongabba - Surf Connect Brisbane - Serverne Sails- Black Project Fins - Seabreeze.com.au - Ezzy Sails/SurfSail Australia - Caloundra Wind&Surf/Simmer Sails - Windsurfing Sails/Loft - Flying Objects - Bribie Island Surf Club- Windwanders.org.au -KA72.com -
Select to expand quoteFreeraceQLD said..
Here's how Australia Day Rolled!
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Peter looked like his sail was similar to mine last freerace..
Select to expand quotesboardcrazy said..FreeraceQLD said..
Here's how Australia Day Rolled!
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Peter looked like his sail was similar to mine last freerace..
The great thing about Freerace is that you can come back at any time during the race, a fall blown gybe isn't the end...evidence...watch Jonesy in Purple in the above...claims he was fixing a busted clew rope at the start...probably just sleeping really...but wasn't even moving for ages, like a couple of minutes or so...then got to going, came back to finished 5th, you just need to keep plugging away and at the end of the hour you never know where you will end up...
And this was our most recent run, with some additional video footage in the middle, this was a light wind day, the Australia day race was +25knts a lot of the time.
