And here are some upwind angles for you JJ :))
Better than 90 degrees upwind tacks

Easier to go fully downwind in 30 knots and 1.5-2m windswells

3.4m 720cm2

Gotta love a downwinder

2 downwind sessions yesterday in 25 knots - too much fun

Swapped from 550 to 920 wing in the sessions
Simmer Blacktip 3.4m, Phantasm 103 mast, GoFoil proto 190cm2 tail - used both sessions
The 920 is a little easier (more stable) to ride, gets upwind easier - 550 a couple of knots faster
Both glide equally well

550cm2 Simmer wing




920cm2 Simmer wing

Nice tracks lads.
what apps are u using?

First session for 3 weeks. Great upwind / downwinder in small bumps.

One of my better long downwind stretches compared to usual mostly lawn mowing. It was more NE today than east so there was a wind shadow on the inside of the sandbar so I went out in the swell. It was about 1ft or so out there with cleaner air so I had a good little time doing jibes in the small swells and keeping my eyes on a friend winger.

It picked up and it got a bit hairy going upwind or reaching because I didn't have extra rake, and I did a few jibes heading back, flew cautiously over the sandbar, and jibed around trying to stay with the other guys on the inside. The sketchy part here was downwind before the last turn back up north, yuou can see the darker channel. That's usually where the swells get double in size (about that today) because of the current from the channel going under the bridge that's off screen to the lower left. It's a lot more fun on a more freeridey setup there, or a fin board if there's more wind, but 900 and IQFoil isn't really the waveriding machine and I was trying to stay in the right part of the troughs...

Fell once the entire ~2hrs during a jibe (on the inside!) but now I can see with the stats that most of my jibes were over 5kts which is above the non-planing speed, with 31% clearly in the "flying" category for that wing. Felt like my most consistent jibe day yet. Even on my "bad side" of turning from starboard tack to port.

Was on the IQFoil with a 7.0 FG2 and 900/115+. Last weekend I was on the same but had the 725/105+ and a 6.0 because it was windier.

Trying to jibe the 725 and keep it flying made the 900 feel super easy today, like I had all the time in the world to figure out the jibe. I was a lot more clearer than where the flip needed to be and when to get the power back on than ever, often flipping out of the new front strap but getting into it pretty quick after I felt stable.

thedoor said..

aeroegnr said..
One of my better long downwind stretches compared to usual mostly lawn mowing. It was more NE today than east so there was a wind shadow on the inside of the sandbar so I went out in the swell. It was about 1ft or so out there with cleaner air so I had a good little time doing jibes in the small swells and keeping my eyes on a friend winger.

It picked up and it got a bit hairy going upwind or reaching because I didn't have extra rake, and I did a few jibes heading back, flew cautiously over the sandbar, and jibed around trying to stay with the other guys on the inside. The sketchy part here was downwind before the last turn back up north, yuou can see the darker channel. That's usually where the swells get double in size (about that today) because of the current from the channel going under the bridge that's off screen to the lower left. It's a lot more fun on a more freeridey setup there, or a fin board if there's more wind, but 900 and IQFoil isn't really the waveriding machine and I was trying to stay in the right part of the troughs...

Fell once the entire ~2hrs during a jibe (on the inside!) but now I can see with the stats that most of my jibes were over 5kts which is above the non-planing speed, with 31% clearly in the "flying" category for that wing. Felt like my most consistent jibe day yet. Even on my "bad side" of turning from starboard tack to port.

Was on the IQFoil with a 7.0 FG2 and 900/115+. Last weekend I was on the same but had the 725/105+ and a 6.0 because it was windier.

Trying to jibe the 725 and keep it flying made the 900 feel super easy today, like I had all the time in the world to figure out the jibe. I was a lot more clearer than where the flip needed to be and when to get the power back on than ever, often flipping out of the new front strap but getting into it pretty quick after I felt stable.

Well done on all those gybes, not exactly easy on race gear, esp if not flat

Thanks! Yeah it is a lot easier if you're willing to sacrifice upwind position and just aim along/with the waves and time the jibes in the right portion. I almost lost it on the last jibe before heading back up north because of the wave power, but managed to stay dry and get right back up on plane after slapping down pretty hard. The wave helped push me along and back onto foil.

Heading upwind though, that's where I want at least 1 more deg of rake or it starts to become unsailable on a big board (at least for me).

30th January 2008 (16 years ago!) - one of the first GPS sessions I did - Mettams to Costalotta (Sorrento) - we called it Costalota as that was the name of a house opposite the car park. One next to it was called Lostdaplotta.

We had been doing what we called Coast Runs for many years before this, ran out of partners as they all moved to kiting etc.... Would have been on a 79l Starboard Kombat I think. Now some of them are back at the same places (winging) - its all a cycle. But now we can sail back up easily - took a lot of time and wind to do the upwind part back then. We used to just have a car at costalotta and pile all the gear and people in. Before that used to do Floreat to Brighton etc... but the drive was a lot more mucking around.

Didnt start posting the GPS Team Challenge until February that year - so no detail on this sail.

Dip916 said..


My first effort at ocean squiggles. Got them going ok on port tack, but struggled on stbd.
Couldn't pull off many gybes as the lumps and bumps were too much to deal with.

Love the feeling of riding a swell with the energy coming from the wave rather than wind, which I'd been doing for downwind runs on the river to-date. More ocean TOW needed.

Sweet downwind track on port
Awesome for a first go.

Stbd downwind is usually more difficult because it's more of a reach so you're typically more powered up, potentially faster and harder to control.

Hectic downwinder in SSW 25 to 30+ knots with Mark
Used my big 920cm2 foil as it's probably more controllable than the smaller wings in manic chop and gets back upwind easier.
3.4m Blacktip

Thanks to some coaching from Mark and JJ yesterday afternoon (and a sail size change down to 3.7), the second part of my session yesterday afternoon was a lot better. Still had some good splats, but usually from touching down fast and deep off the wind, and going over the front rather than foiling out, which was my problem in the first session of the afternoon.

Dip916 said..
Thanks to some coaching from Mark and JJ yesterday afternoon (and a sail size change down to 3.7), the second part of my session yesterday afternoon was a lot better. Still had some good splats, but usually from touching down fast and deep off the wind, and going over the front rather than foiling out, which was my problem in the first session of the afternoon.

Nice deep angles on those runs coming into shore

Warm up session first in 6 weeks, small/medium bumps.Just me and a hoard of wind addicts

azymuth said..

Mr Keen said..

Warm up session first in 6 weeks, small/medium bumps.Just me and a hoard of wind addicts

Nice - are you staying at Wyatt's place?

At the moment yes