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.

slalom racing on a 12.5m sail on a formula board and 70cm fin

i'm competing in the south bay cup and having a blast. races are on shoreline lake and the winds are rarely over 20...usually more in the 10-15 range...

and the breeze 'breathes'...honest...it puffs to 15, then drops to less than 10, then puffs, then drops...stuart walker probably has a technical name for this but i don't know it off the top of my head.

anyway, the conditions are perfect for a LARGE sail. lately i've been racing on percey's old 12.5m windwing with a 560 lightstick. that sail was almost untouchable with devon beating almost everyone on the formula circuit in europe. it's working brilliantly for me too.



the last slalom races had only 4 races. short races going back and forth on the lake only 4 times or so. even with such short courses, i was totally winded in each race. by the fourth race, my forearms felt like linguini. great work out with the 12.5m. the 70cm fin makes the sail feel that much bigger since it has so much lateral resistance. it's fun being totally lit when the breeze is less than 15 :-)

i had the very fortunate opportunity to talk with former world champion micah buzianis about slalom. i asked what he does for forearm conditioning. he told me he works out with dumbells supported on his legs to get a nice burn going in his forearms. he can combine that with a bosu ball or swiss ball to get a core work out too. he just wrote about his second place in korea so it was a blessing to be able to chat with him.


in one of the races i fell down during a gybe since my harness got caught in the harness line right before flipping the sail. i asked micah if this ever happens to him and what he would do to resolve it. i use dakine's formula style harness lines. micah uses fixed length neil pryde lines. he says the fixed length lines are stiffer and won't be as likely to flop back into the harness during a gybe. sounds like i may need to get some new harness lines :-)

for the four races i got a 1, 2, 2, 1.

the first race i led from start to finish. i was excited and nervous. sometimes it's more nerv wracking to be leading than to be on the chase.

second race i could not start. the starts at the event are standing in the water until the race committee says 'ready, set, go' and then everyone stands on their board and goes. most people are on 8m-10m sails with shorter fins than 70cm fins so it's easier to keep the board in shallower water and step onto the board. with a 70cm fin, i need a puff to get me up and onto the board. if the go signal is during a lull, i have the choice to wait a few moments for a puff or go to plan B, drop the sail and then up haul (which is a witch with a B with a 12.5...especially if a puf hits at the wrong time (which can make it virtually impossible to lift the sail)). so the go signal goes, everyone takes off, except me. i'm near the shore waiting for a puff to put me on the board and get me started...the puff does not come as i'm drifing down the beach trying to water start...i finally decide to up haul and chase everyone down except bruce during the race. this was a harder race, physically, than the first.

third race i get an ok start, pass everyone and am leading. then my harness line gets stuck in my harness right before i flip the sail and i go down. i try to uphaul but there is too much breeze and i can't lift the sail. so i jump back in and water start going the wrong way. back in the race i again reel everyone in accept bruce. so bruce is 3, 1, 1 and i'm 1, 2, 2...tied...and if we broke the tie there, bruce would win since he beat me more times than i beat him (he also has more bullets). thank goodness there is another race.

i start poorly and spend the whole race playing catch up. barely get kevin but i do and get the bullet. bruce has a bad one and is 4th or 5th.

note to self: learn how to start from shore in zero wind.

thanks to emmett mcdonald for the nice photos

team race rules question on rule 28

a team race occured where a boat capsized after the windward mark but before the offset mark. by the time the boat was righted, the competitor simply sailed to finish without complying with rule 28 (his team had one the race with a 1,2).

there is a provision in appendix D that says "When all boats on one team have finished, retired or failed to start, the
race committee may stop the race. The other team’s boats racing at that time shall be scored the points they would have received had they finished."

the other team had finished and the RC simply scored the final boat as a 6.

can the other team protest this boat for a breach of rule 28 and prevail?

emmett's big hit

emmett is playing aa little league. this is the first time that the kids are pitching (boys and girls) to each other. there is a rule that says if a pitcher throws 4 balls, then the coach takes over and finishes up the pitching. some of the coaches are awesome picthers (who could easily strike out little leagers) so a coach from the same team pitches to the players.

emmett's team is called the nationals. the manager (head coach) is coach joey. coach mark and bryan are assistant coaches. so far this season, the nationals have played three games. coach joey and coach mark have done a fine job of pitching when the time came to fill in for the pitchers who were pitching too many balls.

during the last game, when emmett was up to bat, he had 4 balls pitched to him. coach joey gave me the nod and said that I was up to pitch. as a pitcher, you never want to have a coach come in to sub for you. they are under a lot of pressure to pitch for their team so i acknowledged the other side's attempt at pitching and gave the little man a high five and told him he did a great job. baseball at this age is all about having fun and encouraging players to fall in love with the game.

it's an interesting feeling pitching to your own son. of course you want him to do well but there are nerves in your stomach thinking about the possiblity of striking your little guy out (or, heaven forbid, throwing more balls). as i approached the mound i told emmett that my first pitch may be a bad one and if it is, don't swing. my first pitch was miserable...a grounder that rolled by emmett's feet...oh oh. one thing we say to pitchers when they are struggling is to simply pretend they are playing catch with the catcher. my second pitch to emmett was fine and emmett smacked the heck out of it. emmett has always been a big boy. he towers over the rest of his team. the sound the bat made when he crushed the ball was a high fidelity mixture of aluminum and baseball. the ball soared to the outfield. it could have been a double but we were being conservative on base running (to be polite) and ended up being a single.

there are not many times that a pitcher high fives a batter for hitting a good hit but i gave emmett a huge high five for his awesome hit.

breakfast with grandma

emmett, bryanna and i visited grandma this morning. we had an awesome time. emmett shared some of his music knowledge with grandma. he showed how he could read music, identify a treble clef, the difference between a half note, whole note and quarter note. he showed her what a measure was and the notation to end a song. he solo'd "hot cross buns" to us. he got in a little argument as to what the proper notation was for an A. mom said he was point to a B but emmett insisted it was an A. she looked at me and said emmett really should not be questioning her ability to identify one musical note from another. i agreed and told emmett that mom was right and he should listen to her. we found the note in a book and it turned out emmett was wrong.

bryanna showed grandma some of her favorite pictures that she used to create a story book at school. she gave a lovely slide show and wonderful story of each picture to grandma. grandma loved listening to bryanna.

bryanna also showed grandma a lovely video of emmett and me competing in a speed sailing event in sf bay:
http://homepage.mac.com/sailing/sfspeed.htm
emmett was so proud to share what a talented (and record holding) sailor he is. we set the rave class record for the event. he also loved hangin' with the photographers and race committee for the event. he even told the driver when one of the photographers fell out of the boat (that the driver did not notice).

throw like a girl

i'm a coach for my kid's little league. bryanna is in coach pitch and emmett is in aa. emmett is going to pitch for the first time in his next game. he has a great arm and should do fine.

he's got some pretty big pitching shoes to fill if he's so inclined. his uncle yager was a pitcher. his uncle bobby was a pitcher for the team that won the pennet, was voted MVP and also held the home run record for richardson park in rancho santa fe. his uncle rickey was a pitcher, another MVP for his team and stole more bases than anyone.

today i told emmett i wanted him to throw like a girl...that's because his 13 year old cousin nat (aka peanut) is an all pitcher and was going to give him some tips today. we went to rancho school to throw some balls. emmett's catching was a bit off the pace but i'm glad he got the practice today. nat was awesome. after warming up a bit she was playing catch with him. they were pitching to each other and playing a game to see who could throw more strikes. i think it was good for emmett to see a real pitcher pitching good pitches over and over again. it was also good to see that she too was not perfect and threw balls too. after a solid hour of different drills, emmett was getting pretty bushed. i was really proud of how he did and nat said he had a great arm.