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Been a while since I've posted; but I've enjoyed plenty of regatta's & solo sails in between; and a bit of knee surgery.
Had another nice outing on Sunday 14 April approx 14:30 to 16:30 on the RB with 9.5m2
Approx path and time - and yes I need to get myself a GPS logger.
Saturday Seabreeze forecast - morning to about 3pm - looking ok for a BYRA - Lion Is marathon practice - SSW 15kt to S 10kt. Hopefully some WindsurferLT, Raceboard, D2 & foilers might be keen to join in
Saturday 27 April, 0945 to 1300 Raceboard with 9.5m2 approx track
Scotland Is knots
Scotland Is wind direction
It felt pretty good most of the time. A bit hairy downwind steering amongst and over the lumpy bits. Fluffed at least 2 gybes inside Pittwater. Was extra hairy running down the SEast swells on the downwind approach to the north side of the Lion; leaning back in the back straps to avoid burying the nose in the bottom of the troughs.Lost at least 10 minutes flopping around in the Lee of the island; falling & uphauling 3 times; took the opportunity to downhaul the luff and outhaul the clew in preparation for a fight back upwind.
A really good workout for next Sunday's Peter Loft marathon from BYRA - I hope many other sailboarders will be amongst the action.
On the upwind track past Palm beach I dropped into Sand Point to visit Palm Beach SC and discussion with Commodore Richard Lacey to confirm my membership ambition. And yes, they're keen for sailboarders to boost their falling membership! Normal annual fee is approx 300 for the cat sailors. Sailboarders will probably be about half that - $ tbc. Membership includes parking permit. There may be room within the PBSC 2019-2020 program for hosting a Raceboard event early December 2019.
So of course i'm keen for other Raceboarders, Windsurfer LT's, and perhaps even Formula & foilers, will be interested to join PBSC and enjoy the clean waters of Pittwater.
Hi Steve, Have you got any more details on the Peter Loft Marathon? What time is the start and can we enter on the day?
[Will report on the BYRA marathon when i can get a copy of the 'fish-oil' results]
Had a good sail on Saturday 13:30 to 16:00 approx. Hooked-up with Beachstart on his foiler launching from Taylors Pt. Sailed mostly the area from Taylor's up to vicinity of RMYC. I was overpowered with the 9.5m on the RB in most of the gusts, suffering several back slams; and Beachstart was way underpowered in the lulls; but in between was reasonably consistant and enjoyable (fortunately in my flash-bomb steamer).
Had my first attempt at a foiler when we swapped gear in the shallows of Salt Pan Pt. What a buzz - although a bit like riding (I imagine) a bucking bronco. Got maybe 5 seconds of almost controlled flight when I fluked the sweet spot of pressure balance between the front and back foot. Yep - will have to save up the 10c stubby deposits & get into flying on foils.
Scotland Island knots 2019-06-01:
Scotland Island direction:
Above graph extracts from www.pittwaterweather.com which provides reliable 'real time' data from a number of
weather devices around Pittwater.
Sydney, North Shore / Northern Beaches sailboarders:
Palm Beach Sailing Club, based at Sand Pt (at what was in the 90's the home of the original Stormriders club, is encouraging sailboarders to join PBSC with a very reasonable membership fee.
www.pbsc.org.au/Membership.aspx
The main objective is to have upwind-downwind racing on Windsurfer LT's and other competitive classes eg Raceboards, Formula, D11 etc
Hope to enjoy racing with you very soon!
Windsurfers back at PBSC is a good thing I think, and not a bad deal by the look of it.
Not that I'm a member or anything but does the Australian Windsurfing Association insurance meet the $10M requirement?
Jethro, I believe the AWA insurance does meet that requirement - but it would be good if the AWA could provide some sort of document to confirm each members cover.
I'm going for a practice sail today on the RB with 8.5 sail approx 1300 to 1600. Beautiful weather North to Noreast 10 to 20kt!
I'm hoping others will join in. Might make it to the Lion.
Perfect Pittwater Sunday arvo. Departed SaltPanPt at 1415, up and around the Lion, returning at 1545.
Fully powered upwind 80%, underpowered 10%, maxed out upwind10%; maxed out downwind 40% ; on the Raceboard with 8.5m
Two falls : one when I tacked between the headlands, and one in the lee of the Lion.
The downwind run from west of SandPt towards TaylorsPt was maxed out most of the time; awesome fun.
Stokes Pt
Scotland Is
Scotland Is
Correction to approx sailed course (two more tacks were required)
and yes who wants to sell me a 'surplus to requirements' GT31 ??
Hi All Pittwater Longboards - Palm beach Sailing Club are starting racing this Saturday 31st August 1230pm . get there before 12 as we can discuss courses x 4
Rig at sand point we have a parking overflow area for those without northern beaches permits and having difficulty parking. Insurance = Palm Beach Sailing Club has completed their Windsurfing association Affiliation paperwork so that provided you are a member of Windsurfing NSW you will have public liability Insurance ( 20million Indemnity). We will be having a BBQ after the race and all are welcome to Come along!
Cheers Richard
Sat 31 Aug - 1st day of sailboard racing at Palm Beach SC - was a well organised season start, despite the low participant numbers due to the rain & overcast sky.
2 x Windsurfer LT's ; 2 x Raceboards ; 4 x Hobie 16' cats.
With a bit more practice the RB's may be able to give the Hobie's a reasonable contest.
The BBQ & refreshments encouraged a warm 'meet & greet' of the friendly Hobie fleet.
Racing against experienced Hobie 16 sailors, a class with a reliable Yardstick (Australian Sailing Hobie 16 - Yardstick 80.5), and with the finish boat recording our times, may provide reliable data for establishing a reliable yardstick for the modern Raceboard with 9.5 & 8.5 rigs & pumping, and the Windsurfer LT's with downwind pumping.
Hopefully a few more sailboarders will join in the fun very soon.
Marathon at PBSC today. Sailed to Sand Pt with the RB & 9.5m2. Managed to put a vertical split in the main mylar panel when preparing for the beach start - but fortunately repaired with gaffer tape from one of the Hobie16 fleet. Start at approx 13;30 and managed to stay with the Hobie16's for only the first km; but despite 2 falls (when gusts died too quickly) I wasn't falling too far behind. At the finish south of SandPt I was approx 12min behind the first Hobie16.
Three Windsurfer LT's also completed a lap to Scotland Is & return
I guess I should chime in here as I'm becoming a more regular Pittwater Longboarder, can't leave Ayreforce carrying all the load 
I had two good sessions this weekend on the new LT.
Saturday I caught the tail of the Southerly and had a good hour or so of nicely powered up sailing followed by another hour with the breeze gradually fading out.
Sunday was a light affair, again venturing out just after lunch and expecting a building Nor'easter only to find a sick easterly. I sailed down to the Towlers Bay area looking for better breeze before heading back to the Bayview channel and sailing in an 8 to 10 knot Sou'easter.
Both days were good learning days for me, being able to change the setup a bit and just experimenting with sail settings.
Well I got in a couple of hours training sail on the LT before the States next weekend in an Easterly that was trying REAL hard be become a Nor'easter but ultimately failed. I saw AyreForce leave Salt Pan up ahead of me, but him with his fly-weight and 9.5 race sail meant there was no way I was going to catch him with my 5.7.
Anyway it was an interesting day. I'd stuck telltales all over the sail to try and figure out how the sail works but because I was in bucket mode looking for power they really didn't tell me much. Hopefully out again tomorrow in a proper Nor'easter.
See Y'all at the States next weekend...
Great to have you onboard Jethro.
I've hired an LT for this wkend at Balmoral; and will have a practice with it Friday arvo/evening against Team RPA.
I've enjoyed quite a few raceboard & Windsurfer sessions over the last couple of months - of course some more than others.
Sat 7th I recall seeing a yellow Windsurfer sail towards Bayview South of Scotland Is as I departed Salt Pan - but i was pushing to get north and join the PBSC fleet racing. The 8.5 sail was good for a while in the fresh easterly gusts but the breeze had faded by the time I got past Sand Pt - so it was a slow pump home.
Had a fairly reasonable result at the 'Windsurfer LT' NSW Championship regatta, run out of the Balmoral Sailing Club Sat 14th & Sun 15th.
Sailed notably fast & high upwind in the light to medium wind strengths on the Saturday, and the morning races on Sunday, but kept losing places downwind.
Really bombed out on Sunday arvo as the wind freshened to 15 gusting 18 to 20kt. Didn't adjust the rig appropriately to the conditions, which with fresh wind against tidal current (plus sizeable power cruiser wash) became very lumpy. Struggled upwind fighting the rig, and suffered a few falls in both races.
The graph does not look as tough as the conditions encountered. Maybe there was a funnelling effect down between Dobroyd Hd /Grotto Pt /Middle Hd (and for the outgoing current as well) - but then that's from the perspective of one of the lightest in the fleet.
The Total Fleet results (as copied below), ie the over the line results, are not the 'Official Division Results' as utilised by the class to determine the division places.
However they do serve to show how well particular Medium Weights & Heavy Weights performed in the lighter conditions; and also the same for the top Light Weight in the tough conditions on Sunday afternoon.
But AyreForce, you also forgot to mention you were the first Legend! Congrats mate, you were on fire!
I had fun too, even if I only did the Saturday races. Running 4th in SHW after the first day, so all in all not too bad, but still room for improvement...
Some great photos here, robertowe-young.smugmug.com/NSW-2019-Windsurfer-States-?
Jethro you'd have enjoyed the last 3 races on Sunday in progressively stronger breeze; you could have put those SHW kilos to good effect.
Well I managed to start 2020 the way I hope it continues, with a very pleasant afternoon windsurfer LT session today, 01-01-20.
I'm not sure of the breeze strength, maybe 12 knots. Enough to be mainly planning while reaching downwind rather than sailing square. I sailed with the centerboard all the way up today and didn't crash so it must be better. I've never been comfortable doing this and usually have it half down as a minimum.
I was pretty pressured up going upwind as the breeze was a bit stronger than I expected and I was on my light air settings, but I handled it OK. This would indicate to me I've been depowering too early.
I sailed about the equivalent of 1.5 class races doing 3 works and runs from RMYC to Scotland Island. I guess I'll have to start wearing the GPS like Aryeforce but I'll be a bit embarrassed to see how far he sails in a session compared to me.
I'm still on holidays this week. Anyone up for an LT session? Maybe meet in the big pond sometime tomorrow?
I'm heading out now, but will probably come in when the 5.5's get towed back, to partake of a quiet beverage or two. Looks like a light Nor'Wester at the moment, not real exciting...
I realised today a positive factor of the increased in number and size of the yellow jellyfish on Pittwater, they're great for starting practice!
Just pick one and keep the nose of your board above it for 30 seconds, then pump like crazy for 30 seconds.
Stop, relax, reset, go again!
While Ayreforce is coming back from Raceboard duties, I'm keeping a longboard presence on Pittwater
After a fairly light sail on Saturday, I went out from Newport today in what you could only describe a perfect conditions for the LT. It was a southerly at maybe 12 knots and slowly built to maybe 15k. I was mostly planning downwind and fully in the harness upwind to start and as the breeze increased I felt progressively more powered up. A perfect way to get more comfortable with sailing over-powered. I was using my normal light wind setting so maybe I could have flattened the gear out but, as I said, it was good practice to sail like that.
I sailed down to the southern police mooring off BYRA then ran square from it down to near Church Point, then using that point as my bottom mark I sailed half a dozen upwind downwind laps between there and the police mooring.
Anyway, after such a good session I'm keen for a sail tomorrow evening after work and looking forward to when the Friday LT twilights start up again.
