Flex (15900km):
440 days ago  Coodanup, WA, AU Fun in the sun with Kevin and Windxtasy testing the fin cams, (this time with seawater in the void to get around angle of refraction problem) with first run of 3D printed own design 16cm 60deg fin. Was expecting it to break immediately so you can imagine my surprise when it not only didn't break but could also point, and could not make it spin out....first bear away got to 26.3kt, gybed fine. Pointing felt a little weird and was fiddling with harness lines and mast track position when I realised it was just the fin flexing a huge amount with the board almost pointing into the wind. Tried like mad to make it spin out but could not until I took it into the chop where managed to spin it out. Got to 13km and stopped to check the fin cams when noticed one stopped..turns out forgot to erase the SD cards. Since the whole point of the fin cams is to capture the moment of failure for mild amusement I decided to change boards/fin. Back to the FF18/iSonic which now felt much better but could still spin out the fin and could not go faster than the 3D printed fin until I went over to pond side where there was stronger wind. Was good test of cheap way of prototyping fin ideas...now need to make it stiffer. butchered iSonic 111, SvT8.6, Flex fin 16V1 then iSonic 117/FF18V4
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Windxtasy (13853km):
439 days ago Coodanup, WA, AU wind 14 kn ave, flattest that I have seen Coodanup for a long time, but very shallow in the glass.
iS111, 7m Koncept, 24FF
Enough wind to be planing all the time but cruisy, no real power. It was fun zooming around in the glass though.
I have been working on alphas a lot lately and I said to Flex yesterday that my technique has improved a lot and if I could just get a bit more wind I could get that 20 knot alpha I have been trying for for so long. Well, not much wind today, but happy with a 28 kn 2 sec, which was twice the windspeed, and a 19 kn alpha, which is my second best EVER, and my best ever at Coodanup. I did two alphas today that would have been second bests. Not bad considering my across wind speed was mostly 19 - 21 kn. Max speed on the inward leg for the 19 kn alpha was 23.4, max speed out 22.5, min speed 7 kn. Helped by improved technique and some really flat water, although the fin did scrape the bottom on most of the corners. This could be the first time ever that I have beaten Flex in the alpha category. Now for a couple more knots of wind...
EDIT: when I derigged I found that the tendon in my unijoint had snapped. Luckily the ropes held it all together. I may have improved my speeds if the tendon was in one piece. I think my bast base separation happened toward the end of the session. Suddenly it was difficult to push the board off the wind with mast foot pressure and I had to bear away with the sail. I guess that was why. Interestingly top speed was during that time.
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