WindDoll » Tuning the Windsurf Kit

Windsurfing Berkeley mid Season August 7 to 10 2008

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:49:31 +0000

I’m back in my windsurfing harness after eight days of family duty. Wahoo!
Ah! The lucky 8’s. Great day, August 8.
Back to Point Isabel for August 9. The rrd 85 needs to be set up slightly differently from the rrd 94. Mast forward 1/2 inch for the 85 and footstraps back one placement. Interesting!

Windsurfing Berkeley mid Season July 21 to 24 2008

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:33:28 +0000

My windsurfing kit was set up perfectly today and it was all an accident! I was perfectly tuned after I moved my harness lines back 1/4″ and the booms slid a cm or so and landed at 48″ (bottom of base extension to middle of clamp) which is lower than I intended to set it. I could do my very favorite thing—drop the sail to leeward, sink the rear lee rail, and ride upwind easy as pie. Hum, have I been rigging my booms too high? I think so!
Last night I dreamed I was about to give a windsurfing clinic—a group of happy and eager faces looking up at me—and I looked out over the ocean with its nice even crumbling waves and I was happy.
The Goya doesn’t seem to want the mast back as far as the rrd wants it. The Goya is tres loose.
I tried the new Hansen H-Wave and the V-Wave on the Hansen mast. The H-Wave is smooth and powerful and the V-Wave is EXCELLENT for tricking. I want one!

Windsurfing Bay Area mid Season July 2008

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:20:01 +0000

Windsurfing equipment is SO important! Today I was cold and my sail felt like a bag. Sometimes all you have to do is move your harness lines! If your sail feels like a bag, move them back an inch. If you feel pretty good, but you’re going a little sideways, a 1/4″ will do.
Always write down your rigging specifications—I write down where to set the mast base extension and how close the tack pulley should come to the base pully. I keep a cheat sheet. I don’t write it on the sail because I change my mind and I change my masts. Different masts need different amounts of downhaul.
On Saturday, I drove to the delta and bought a Goya 105. I demoed it on the river and it was surprisingly OK in that short chop. I bought it for light days at Berkeley.
On the way home, I looked at Isabel, and wow did it seem great, but I had so much crap in the car, that I continued on the Berkeley. It was so easy to tack the Goya on the river with the 5.1 rigged on an RDM. In Berkeley I couldn’t tack for shit with my 5.6 and standard diameter mast. It’s just one mistake after the next.
The biggest kit I keep in my car is the rrd 85 and a 5.1 Bash. It was barely making it Sunday at Point Isabel. I need a bigger fin in my car kit—the True Ames Teardrop 11 was horrible with the 5.1 underpowered.

Windsurfing Berkeley mid Season July 14 to 17 2008

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:23:08 +0000

I’m experimenting with slightly less downhaul (about 1/4 inch) and it’s working nicely. I re-tied my adjustable outhaul strap with a rolling clove hitch. Unfortunately, I didn’t set the knot on the port boom to be underneath and it was right where my hand goes for jibing. I couldn’t jibe port to starboard! PAY ATTENTION when you rig and if something’s not right, STOP AND FIX IT.

I worked on planing 360’s and realized that I’ve been manhandling the sail on entry, instead of entering like a normal jibe. (Manhandling the sail entering a jibe is an old and bad habit that ruins speed.)

I was WOUND today. My clew wasn’t tight enough, but I was having too much fun to stop and fix it.

The 5.6 was too small and the rrd 94 not lively enough for this wimpy wind. My arm has still not recovered from falling on my mast and it’s nearly a month later as I post this!

Working my tricks. I am getting better, although much of the time it doesn’t seem like it.

Windsurfing Berkeley: Random Notes for Smooth Sailing

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:57:34 +0000

I wasn’t very happy windsurfing today. Even with my 6.2 and 14.4″ fin, I couldn’t get upwind. I spent most of my time with my back foot out of the strap trying not to spin out. When I got in, my buddies Maurice and Gordon worked on my sail, adjusting batten tension and experimenting with downhaul. I think I need a different mast! Another note: The 14.4″ fin is the size I used to use with a 5.0. Maybe a bigger fin is in order. Maybe I need a slalom board.

Astrid says she can’t tack the rrd 90 liter twintip, her new, awesome board, because the nose is so short. I’ve seen her tack since then. She figured it out. (No surprise that she figured it out. If I’ve tacked my 78 liter board, she can tack a 90 even if it is short.)

Sofy came back from winning 2nd in masters at the George Games. He said he learned not to bother to look at the water for a good ramp to do the trick. JUST GO.