Gosford/Saratoga Sailboards - (Racing, Freeride & Lessons)

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Heavy1 said..

Sam the windsurfer and Me the drone pilot sill both on Ls but I think we both did a great job on a really nice afternoon.

Nice work Lyndon, your new toy looks good.
Sam is doing well and the conditions were lovely yesterday for a light wind sail.

What a funny/ fun/ exciting race.
Lap one in red saw a massive wind shift at start. The whole fleet stared on port. Really couldn't cross line on starboard. Top mark was a reach and I even had to bear away to make it. See red line. Then the first wing mark became a drifting sub 3 knot work. Fleet bunched and I dropped from very near lead to dead last. Lasers etc all pointing well in 1 or 2 knots. Then it slowly built and went a little more south. Then last part of lap one in red was dead down wind.

Then aqua lap. Wind went south again, but not that strong. So straight down wind for the sausage. Then the last triangle, wind kicked in and I passed everything except sandman. Sandman got a weird break on the fleet making the red lap wing mark with breeze while we all drifted. Last blue broad reach had me gaining really quickly but just not quite enough wind to catch sandman. So I finished close behind sandman but well ahead of the mixed fleet and other Hartleys .

So I saied the large phantom with RSX 9.5 Wind at point clare station mostly averaged 10 to 12 knots, but with gusts over 20, including one at 25, and lots of sub 5 knots to give the 12 knot average. The RSX sail was a joy. so much range with the variable down haul and so comfortable.

The guys at satatoga were all very supportive , and discussed upcoming big windsurfer events. All very positive.

Beaut expedition HV1,
how many kms and duration ?
How was the tidal current?

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AyreForce1 said..
Beaut expedition HV1,
how many kms and duration ?
How was the tidal current?

About 20kms. Tide through the rip bridge favorable but like running the rapids. Quite scary as the boats were hammering to get through and a bit out of control. Wind was terrible, but it was a good way to make the best of it. In middle of big bay there was a stable doldrums zone with an easterly to the east and a southerly to the south and just 0 to 1 knots swirls in the middle. Stuck there for ages. and the system was stable. didn't move on. quite weird.

Hi Heavy1
I am intrigued with your fuselage.
Have you posted information on this elsewhere?
If not would you mind sharing details?

Foiling in a horrible North Wester. 3 to 20plus knots, 7.1 sailworks NX
Hit by a big gust ..... snapped the bolts holding the fuselage to the mast. Fortunately the 84 wide wing floats.

Yes the bolts were tight , I had checked.... maybe metal fatigue. Maybe my setup puts too much torque on the bolts???


I thought the back of the board had snapped off the bang was so loud.

Tried out Kincumber broad water.
I quite like it for a south westerly and Sea Legs seemed to approve as well. lets just say I don't think this opinion was unanimous though.

No real weed, entry to water was good, but chop was pretty big which surprised me. Later with 20cm less tide the chop went away to a large extent, but the water entry was much more of a pain. Still I can put up with that for flatter water. Up wind there are shallows which stop the chop with a lower tide.

Met a fellow windsurfer "A" who came out later as well. Hope you can catch up with us .

Wind was incredibly gusty, plenty of sub 10knot holes, but occasional 30knott plus gusts. Definitely picking up spray and blowing it along.
Must admit I took quite a while to sort everything out but was nice to get going eventually.

Thanks Heavy1
i have snapped the bolts in my Slingshot with the 84 cm wing. I replaced mine with genuine titanium bolts from a racing car Supplies website In the UK from memory. So far it's ok. I had the same back foot heavy issues so had extra holes drilled in the fuselage and that worked until the fuselage snapped. I now have a board with twin tracks and can move the foil mast forward (fanatic stingray 140) Probably less strain on the bolts and fuselage I hope. thank you for replying. I think the longer fuselage is a great solution for stability like you say.

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ashbanks said..
Hey Heavy1

Was great to see some fellow windsurfers on the Broadwater, usually only me and the missus and sometimes a fellow neighbour

Ill keep an eye on out, be good get some pointers as we are just getting into the sport.

Hi Ash,

Heavy1, AUS 814, See Legs, myself and 3 or 4 others sail regularly (almost every weekend of the year) at various locations on the Central Coast, mostly Gosford or Saratoga Sailing clubs, Umina, Budgewoi lake & Canton Beach.

We have a wide range of gear from windsurfer LT's, Raceboards, Div II, Foil Boards and Slalom, both old and new.

You and your wife are more than welcome to join us at any time, if you don't have the right gear for the given conditions we could probably assist you. We're also happy to share our knowledge to assist your skills development and enjoyment of the sport.

I'm hoping to sail this Saturday and Sunday, so if you're free, feel free to drop by and say hello. I'll try to post on here where we'll be each day so you know where to find us and at what time. Who knows we may even sail at the Broadwater if conditions work out.

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ashbanks said..
Hey Guys

just replied to Heavy 1 and AUS817 messages.

Keen to catch up sometime or always welcome on the Broadwater.

Hi Ash,

Forecast for tomorrow is very light. Heavy1 and I are going to be sailing from Saratoga Sailing Club from about 11am. You're most welcome to join us if you wish or even stop by to say hello.
John

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AUS126 said..
Marginal SW winds and southerly swell forecasted for this week, so I'm keen for a couple of wind sup sessions on the LT if anyone is interested?

Possible Tuesday or Thursday Arvo if you mean umina.
I will give you my mobile via seabreeze mail.

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Heavy1 said..

Who said you need at least 8 Knots to have fun?

Nice, thanks for posting.

Am interested to know the difference in speed between the Div2 hull and raceboard like a SB Phantom, in this wind with same sail, rider weight etc. Have you guys done any speed comparisons upwind and downwind?

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azuli said..

Heavy1 said..

Who said you need at least 8 Knots to have fun?

Nice, thanks for posting.

Am interested to know the difference in speed between the Div2 hull and raceboard like a SB Phantom, in this wind with same sail, rider weight etc. Have you guys done any speed comparisons upwind and downwind?

The Div 2 boards rule, certainly up to 8 knots and maybe to 10 or 12 for a heavy weight. I have a tiga race and a lechner 390, and the lechner is faster all round than the tiga (the tiga being quite a bit older design). But Id back the tiga over a phantom for me as a heavy weight at least to 10 knots, and of course the lechner faster again. I also have a starboard serenity that may have a tiny tiny advantage upwind in sub 6 knots but downwind the serenity it a real handful and so much less versatile than the d2 boards. Over 12 knots its incredibly challenging to go down wind at all on the serenity. (but gosh its slick in the super light stuff.)

Upwind it would be hard to estimate the point where a phantom would start to overtake a D2. It may be more just difficulty of control that is the split. (no beating straps on D2) but once the phantom was able to plane down wind, track back, it would be faster and sail deeper, and be much less technical especially in gybes , than the d2. So id estimate maybe 12 to 14 would be where the phantom would start to rule over the D2 (still weight and skill dependent) (need to be more skilled to get speed down wind on lechner than on phantom.)

So how much faster is the lechner than a phantom in 6 to 8 knots? Id estimate as much as 20% quicker around a course. Especially if the lechner gets enough to start railing. And it will do that considerably earlier than a phantom.

So why isnt there more interest in Div2 .

Well they are fantastic fun, but they don't really have the "hey wow look at me" value of a planning hull. They are pretty heavy, hardish to store due to a bit longer, and a hard to get or would be very expensive if you could buy one.

We love the D2 s because they feel great, and get us on the water with bugger all wind.

John and Pete, please alter anything you think is inaccurate. You guys are more practiced than me.

Oh and I also have an Exocet RSd2 which to be honest is 80% race board and maybe 1% D2 and maybe 19% something else. The wave piercing nose is mesmerizing but it certainly doesn't match a lechner in light breeze. Perhaps a touch faster than the phantom in the 6 to 8 knot zone, but actually perhaps not.

Thanks for sharing a windsurfer LT arvo at umina aus126. I sailed LT with a 5,9 wave sail. Pretty powered in gusts, but some big holes too. Mostly big wind chop but some swells were quite ridable. AUS126 made his LT rip, catching some good waves and powering up wind, all with an LT rig. PS why does your sail and avitar not match ??? 106 ? 126 ? Im so confused....