Slowy, maybe you should have used the 7.8 on Sunday?

Good stuff Tim - glad you managed a PB! What gear were you on?

Nice speeds there lads.  Well done on the PB Tim, impressed you went that quick on a 5.0.  I felt a bit underdone on the 6.6!

It was a different world compared to Sunday huh?

Congrats on the PB Tim

Wow Chris , Impressive speed on that sail. I am also pretty impressed that the CA44 handles a 7.8 being that narrow especially in the tail. How big do you think you could sail with on the 53?

Well done on the PB, Tim.

You beat slowy for Knots per metre! 7.88 vs 5.55.

yeah that was a fun day. To go fast in tight but limited windstrength conditions you need to get as much speed up as you can on the tight section (very powered up) before running out into the chop. You dont get much of a window since the apparent wind drops too much as you bear away and you level peg with efficiency limitations (feeling underpowered)... its harder when you run out of a gust, and it was quite gusty on Monday.

The trick- having a big efficient sail. The tricky part- hanging onto it when you are accellerating. On the tight sections the nose generally lifts a lot due to the high apparent wind strength, frontal to the board. Big sails help to stabilise that nose lift. I was also running the fin at its limit- its got a small surface area and its asymetric so the highest lift to drag requires some loading at speed. Big sails are good for that if they are efficient; you go faster into the gust/broad section, and keep accellerating to higher speeds before your apparent wind becomes too low provide enough lift to overcome the drag- and thats the speed limiter.

I discovered why I was hitting a wall on Sunday with those few good runs I had with Tim's sail and the SP44. My old faithful SP44 has finally succumbed to negative rocker. "Only" a mm. Also explains why it was so stuck down on the run on Monday. I had to move the mast track ALL the way back and then some. This is the worst thing that can happen to a board in terms of performance degradation, bar being snapped in half. Its more than a year old and I used it a lot. Just needs to be refaired. All foam sandwich boards go that way after a bit of use.

The SP53 is a good size for the 7.8m in "regular" conditions where the wind isnt as steady as SP. When the wind is steady I reckon I could even use the SP40 with the 7.8m at SP. That would be ridiculously fast I think.

Thanks Chris, Totally explains why I got airborne on both my attempts on Sunday while I was accellerating just beyond the dunes still pretty tight. I was running my mast track in the same position as I run it on the 6.6 but with a 4.4. As soon as I put the hammer down she went light and took of, in almost exactly the same spot and speed both times. Pretty clear I need to run the track further forward on the small gear.

My reason for the question was that I have a bigger speed/slalom board design finished about to get built. 54.5 OAW and 33 tail, 84 liters. I was thinking 7.5 maybe 8.0 at a stretch being it's limit but I now reckon I could run a KaRace 8.4 on it at the PiT.

Seeya

Congratulations on the PB Tim

Thanks for the explanations Chris, I did not realise that boards changed with time

Impressive speed Chris with that size sail, well done.

nice work guys!

wish i could of made the trip maybe next time...

stuck in frankfurt at the moment after a truck ran in too my plane yesterday.....tossers

Snides, that has to be the most unexpected comment I've ever seen on here

yeah its a bummer when that happens 'eh

"a truck ran in too my plane yesterday" 

But a lot better than your plane flying into a truck

excellent average, Tim

CONGRATZ