33 knots is 33 knots, however you get it...

Or are you saying 33 knots is too slow, he should have grown a pair and put up a bigger sail?

Sorry Gestalt but I think it is fair. Sails are still made down to 9.0 in formula cut.

Going fast takes more than rigging the gear as you would for typical sailing, off the wind I rig my gear very different to what I would for slalom racing- this is one reason why vando tends to go faster than most as he has his gear more sorted than anyone round here for off the wind speed.

What do the rules of formula state and there-in lies you're class- yes there is a max sail limit but is there a min on sails or fins?

What board was it? I believe thats not the end of it, that fin seems a little small to get the board flying unless it was really honking- and you'd probably go nearly as quick with a slightly larger fin in more manageable winds.

What formula gear do they race with if it's blowing 35knots?

Remember also that pryde and others used to make upwind biased sails down to almost 5.7m, some of which were very fast due to the fine entry but were easier to make twitchy.

Sam Parker clocked 31 knots at the last FW regatta (Marmong Point Spring regatta) during a race....his PB on FW gear. I think he was using about a 9 because it was windy, but as it was actually during a FW race he was certainly using FW gear.

I borrowed his GPS and scored 25.4 peak (with 2 10 second averages of 22.4) on the stock Wally One Design, which was a complete staggering shock considered how stuffed I was and the crappy conditions.

chris249, how windy was it. that is motoring for a one design. lol.
do you know what type of fin sam was using? R13....
with you clocking speeds as fast as my formula i may now go into retirement.


agree jethrow, the gps speedsurf thing seems to be that the board needs to be 95cm+

HI Gestalt,

I was on my R13 70 +8 S+ in the 1st race which later cracked in the second race on the last downwinder. Speeds were around the 28 -29 knots range for both races.

In the 3rd race I borrowed one of Brett's fins which I gave back to him straight away as it was completely out of control downwind and hard to get height upwind in those conditions. Speeds in that race were around 24-25 knots. Thanks for that Brett!!

In the 4th race I borrowed a R13 70S +8 from Brett which felt sweet downwind in that sort of wind and water. Best 2 sec speed was 31.9 and like the other races was in the chicken strap most of the time.

Scary days racing but heaps of fun. Kinda wish we'd done some slalom but it was just a Formula event.

Sam.

I'll have to dig it up and check this, but I do have the track from Wojtek Brzozowski (POL-10) when he came to Melbourne and sailed at our Oceanic FW Titles back in 2004. He was using 9.8m and a cutdown 70cm (cutdown as in, probably began as a 77-80cm fin, then cut to 70cm length)...

On one tack downwind in Port Philip Bay (BIG SEAS!) in about 25knots of breeze he AVERAGED over 30knots for a good 900m. That's right...average. Not peak.

I'll find the track one day and verify this..