chicken strap

this weekend was the ronstan bay challenge. on sat was the long distance race from the golden gate to berkeley and back. it's reportedly a 33 mile race (though if you are a kiter, you can log even more miles during a flood). the wind was moderate by bay standards. half went with 10m sails and half with 9m (with big ben bamer on an 11m). after the windward mark near the gate, it was a sprint downwind towards marin. i had an ok start and was ahead of quite a few people at the windward mark. on my way downwind i was trying to stay out of the chicken strap (middle of the back straps) as much as possible and push it for speed. the race happened to pass right through a large flock of cormerants birds. the leader, seth besse, actually got pooped on a few times. i've never seen so many birds like this on the bay and was happy to not hit any.



above picture from paul beulow of www.ooto.com
http://www.ooto.com

i was feeling great but hit some chop wrong and flew over the handle bars (got launched over the nose of my board). i do this fairly often and you can see the nose of my board has been patched multiple times due to the damage the boom makes as it slams into the deck. as i was flying over the handle bars, i was pretty relaxed. pretty much nothing you can do if you freak out so might as well take her easy as you fly into the water. when i got back up, i decided to gybe out of the 'slot' and get some wind relief towards the city (the slot is the channel of high wind from the gate and through alcatraz and point blunt). since flying over the handle bars is not fast, i decided to notch it down a bit and chicken strap it.

note to self: practice going down wind without resorting to the chicken strap.

as i was passing alcatraz, i noticed my harness lines were too far back (due to normally riding bigger sails with that boom). so much so that i could place both hands in front of the harness lines (instead of having them centered). this was making my front arm very tired since i was not able to take the load off the booms with my harness.

note to self: adjust harness lines BEFORE racing not during.

with staying in the chicken strap so much and poor harness line placement, i lot a lot of time compared to the others. even though i swim 3000 yards 3 times a week, i was still pooped from going down wind and keeping everything under control. there was definitely some nice wind relief by the city. i was able to gybe back and forth from cranking wind to lighter wind to keep things pretty relaxed.

for me, this race is a lot like the ironman...i'm stoked just to finish. on the way back upwind, i hit the city again for the same wind relief (i think most people were going back up the slot). the breeze was freshening (gusting close to 30 per iwindsurf data (full charts with results here: http://www.calcupevents.com/Results/2007/07RonstanChallenge.shtml )) and i was very happy to be on my 9.0.

http://www.calcupevents.com/Results/2007/07RonstanChallenge.shtml

i had some cuts on my feet that i bandaged with a bandaid and then wrapped my whole foot in a ring of duct tape to keep the band aid on. the ring was too tight and my left foot was pounding with pain due to the circulation being cut off. a quick dip in the bay to tear off the bandage (and stuff the litter in my jersey) made my foot feel MUCH better.



photo from http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com
www.blueandgoldfleet.com


the red & white fleet as well as the blue & gold fleet are notorious for getting in racers way during events. bill wier, st. fyc formula club champion, says he always keeps an eye out for the ferries since they absolutely play a tactical role in one's race. i don't know how bill has the composure to keep everything going close to the speed of light AND keep a lookout for the ferries. i have a hard enough time keeping track of just me and any other sailors. i've been screwed over a number of times by the ferries. on one tack from the city front towards alcatraz, a ferry pulled out right in front of me. speed and smarts says if you can aviod getting gassed by a boat ahead of you, there is actually a slight lift you can ride if you are in a perfect position. turns out this ferry was in exactly the right position to give me a lift.

imagine that, a blue & gold actually helping you race rather than screw you over...that is some good mojo!

so the ferry pulled out well ahead of me but i was leeward enough to get a lift instead of getting gassed (if i got gassed, i'd be forced to tack away due to his bad air). the lift was making me get to alcatraz a lot faster than normal. the ferry's speed is pretty good and can be hard to outrun. i was actually getting lifted right into the ferry. since i had better speed, i was able to pass him and then pinch off to windward (which was a tad dicey since if i fell as i was right in front of him i'd probably make for some good prop fodder (and when you are close enough to hear these guys talk, they brag to the passengers about what a pain in the arse it is to pick windsurfers out of their props or they've never lost a fight with a windsurfer vs their prop or the BIG rule of the bay (which is whoever has the BIGGER boat, rules the bay))).

while my results over all where not the best, i was stoked to have finished within the time limit. i was also pleased to not have had a single kiter pass me either (though anthony chavez (the kite leader) got pretty close).

one of the interesting guys in the race was former runner up us windsurfing champion, chip wasson. chip was on a carbon foiling kite board. that thing looked rad!



above picture from paul beulow of www.ooto.com
http://www.ooto.com

carve

monday night slalom started promptly at 5. 3 races, 3 clean starts, 0 wipeouts and 3 bullets. a good day. c-rad showed up after the racing to check it out but split. thanks c-rad for coming!

before racing, i always get nervous that there may be too much wind for my 12.5 (which, per neil pryde, tops out at 18). once i get on the water, there is NEVER too much breeze. need to ignore my fear, rig big and go for it.

i think the key to winning each race tonight was the start. each start i was able to get clear air, launch into first and never look back. 5 laps for everyone and 7 for me. the last race i caught a couple stragglers and lapped them...that was fun.

today was the first day on the new neil pryde 12.5 that micah sent me. it's AMAZING. definitely my favorite BIG sail. the reason i liked it so much is the way it handled the puffs...VERY controllable. the boom length on this sail is giganto. thus the power is down low and controllable. tons of power to get planing. a lots of control in the puffs.

the races were done at 5:21. i sailed till seven to work out and train for the big weekend coming up (sf classic on sat and course racing on sun...wahoo!). i could gybe twice in one minute (short lake). so i did about 200 gybes. felt good. the 12.5 is a beast to gybe and i was winded for each slalom race. after the racing i relaxed a bit. it was still a beast to gybe though.

below is a picture of ted huang, my son emmett and mike gebhardt from the 2006 rs:x pcc's from last july.



teddy is an amazing windsurfer. one of the best slalom sailors in the world. i asked him how he gybes so well. he said he simply focuses on the turn and everything else falls into place. today, i think i got a little bit of that. when it was puffy, i was turning through the gybe so much that by the time i flipped the sail, it was a handful to get going again. i backed off on the carve a bit so the sail was more downwind and i could speed away from the gybe a lot faster. i found the faster i got in the foot straps on the new gybe, the faster i could be on my way....just focus on the carve.