The whole NK speed I was in the water, sooo I actually experienced the one and only gust. Sadly just before the gust I released my downhaul to get better low-end, but in the gust it was not 100% efficient anymore. I gybed and managed 2x 62kmh runs, beside those runs I had at that moment a 56kmh run and 2 upwind runs below 45kmh....
After another hour waiting I managed a 61kmh run and 2x 58kmh runs, but it was soooooo hard to keep speed. I had to sail on 99% to even get up to 50kmh... I was against spin-out, the board-vin-sail combo was to small to get acceleration in these low conditions. I actually thought to hear the fin struggling to get enough grip. The sail was also not capable to deliver enough drive, at least not enough drive and planning capacity.
In these low-wind conditions the power on fin is HUGE for the given speed. With a wider board and 34cm fin I think there would have been no problem at all. But sadly I decided to sell my Falcon 91 to get some money, the falcon 91 would have been soooooo fast. Now I had to do the trick on the Falcon 79 + Rs:slalom 6.2 which is the smallest combo of the day? I only saw 2 lighter guys on the sameboard size with a smaller sail, but my real rivals were all on 7.0 or 7.8 m2.
Conclusion: I am really happy with this performance (top 10 !?!), actually I think I did the best possible for me in those conditions with my gear. Next year I will get a 7.0 and 90 liter board to handle these conditions, this would be at least more comfortable.
I am dissapointed the fastest surfers were onshore during the 1 and only gust. Otherwise the race would have been official for sure!!!! I know with bigger gear I could have added at least 3kmh average, and the best surfers could add about 2kmh on top of my best performance ==> 60.4+3+2= at least 65.4kmh average would have been possible.
Cheers,
Erik
June firsts
1 hour ago
4 Responses:
I was doubting until sunday-morning to drive to Horst, but luckily I opted for Zeeland with the better windflow.
It's normal that the organisation wanted to use the last date possible to have a NK and another USM, but for most recreational speeders the fun is still more important, then waiting for 4 hours for 5 lucky gusts from the topriders to have a valid race.
Really a shame that the big speed-country Netherlands doesn't have a valid NK this year!
It was a very nice day
To mountainbike ;)
I think the organisation should have made all the competitors to have break after 45 minutes no wind. It is not healthy standing in such low tempratures in the water. I didn't see many happy faces during the "windsilence period", myself including.
I think warmer tempratures are more suited for a lowwind-USM...
The new feature on the dayranking with the timerun with fastests runs is now perfect to demonstrate this (+1 hour no fast runs):
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=forum&forum=2&val=17605
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