Today, at Kyeemagh, (the airport for those not from around here), it was a windy day. It was around 25 knots, give or take 10 or more knots at a time.

I could only hold down a 6.6m, and that was with heaps of downhaul. The plan was to release some downhaul if it got lighter, but it never did. I ended up changing to a 5.7, at around 5:30 because it was too windy for me.

Now, my question is, what do I need to do to be able to hold down an 8.5m? Is there a particular aspect of my technique that needs tweaking? I don't want to eat more pies as I am already a lardy 95kgs.

Anyone get out there with an 8.5m that can offer me some tips?

P.S. I used the 8.5m yesterday, but it might have been a touch lighter.

Macroscienc has the answer.

My 8.0 RAM is out of order as for today.
Broken second mast in this sail this year and one boom
So If you Formula think that 8 is too much and you will never use it, but by any chance you still have 490 cm I will be happy to buy from you.

Strangely enough all my previous masts broke below the boom , this time mast broke just above .
I hope to use my 8.0 sail in the Wynnum race this Sunday

a formula racer will rig an 8.5 or bigger, but that is because he wants to go straight upwind, turn around and go straight back downwind.

fjdoug said..

a formula racer will rig an 8.5 or bigger, but that is because he wants to go straight upwind, turn around and go straight back downwind.

I've heard of guys using these size rigs in 25knots, but I just don't know if it'd be comfortable. Even with such a large sail, I don't think the boards would be that much fun in that wind. I use a formula board for light wind, maybe less than 15 knots, with the 8.5m, and its fun. When it picks up a bit its still good, but 25 knots is something else.

hey formulanova, yeah, plenty of downhaul and outhaul and you should be able to manage the 8.5 in a patchy 25kts.........as people on 6m go past you, the real challenge is, can you convert the more size to more power/speed, good luck man

From my experience the ranges that I am comfortable with - weight 80 kgs.
I keep records in a spreadsheet, first figure is avg, second is max. gusts, taken from seabreeze records:

12-15: Formula with 11.0
13-17: Formula with 10.0
PS: I use formula for reaching up and down

14-18: Falcon121 with 8.5
16-22: Falcon121 with 7.5
20-25: Falcon121 or i101 with 7.0 or 6.6 Koncept
23-28: i101 with 5.8
26-35: i101 with 5.0
over 30: 4.2 only used once

So I think it matches with formulanova experience, yesterday was well over 25 knts gusts. The fact that some use much smaller sails is probably because they don't use slalom boards with outside footstraps, so with the weight more in the centre don't need a big sail to keep the board flat.

My experience with bigger sails shown that not so much absolute wind speed matter but relative.
With big sail and +20 ktn is quite difficult to launch and start.
But once you have shadowed from wind position and could start at hardly any wind then entering windy area at speed , to hang on on big sail is no longer a problem.
The profile of the sail is also important as sometimes is much easier for me to hang on 8.0 RAM which is extremely stable, with low drag, that 5.7 no cam that seems to deform in strong gust.
I didn't still measured how fast my 8.0 could go with relatively big 118L slalom board, but I am just novice GPS raider.
29 something recorded on my mobile phone but it wasn't the fastest run yet.
The problem I found with strong wind that this board at speed approaching 30 ktn could launch in the air, so I am very very admire slalom riders going into chop at 33-36 ktn on similar equipment.

im 100 kg and i was on a 90 l board with a 5.5 powered up - everywhere except the wind shadow at the shore line.

First problem was you were on a 115 lt board with a big fin which is a slow combo in strong winds. your board would have been dragging so much your apparent wind in the sail would have been huge.
The trick to sailing over powered is to go faster :)

On the 5.5 at 30 knots on a slalom board the apparent wind makes the sail almost weightless with the harness doing about 95 % of the work.

eyeMhardcor said..

Because your weak as piss. I hold an 8.5 in 35kts

We were talking metres squared, not centimetres

eyeMhardcor said...
Because your weak as piss. I hold an 8.5 in 35kts

Is that with or without a harness. If its with than your soft.

eyeMhardcor said..

Because your weak as piss. I hold an 8.5 in 35kts

I don't know why the red thumbs. I've seen you do one handed spocks with the above.

macroscien said...
The problem I found with strong wind that this board at speed approaching 30 ktn could launch in the air...

If you start to get blown off the water, literally, then it is time to come in and rig something bigger and heavier. Try switching from an 8.5 to a 9.0 or 9.5. Switch to a bigger fin and a bigger board too. The extra weight will keep you on the water!

If you find that you can't even lift the sail out of the water because it starts oscillating violently in the wind then you know you've rigged like a man.

Hey Marco, from what I'm lead to believe you will actually go slower on a bigger sail (even if you can manage to hold it down) than someone on a smaller one, due to drag (wind exiting the sail). Its not something I've noticed at my level of ability its just something I've heard.

I'm 100Kg and put the 8.6 away once it hits 20+ knots, for a few reasons

1. It hammers the sail/boom/mast (especially when its choppy)
2. Its bloody frustrating to waterstart big sails in high wind
3. You tend to muscle the sail and fatigue faster, I'd rather sail for longer and improve my technique on smaller kit

Definitely agree what speed helps manage a large sail, we tend to run larger sails on the broadwater because we often have inconsistent winds. If you were to sail somewhere like WA in say a solid 20 knots you'd probably be on a 7m or less

Still recon you should grab yourself a 7.8 and the right mast (CRITICAL) and you'll notice the difference straight away.

Im voting for eyeMhardcor, thats hardcore!!!!!!!!!!!

Reckon most people over estimate wind strength and what they can hang onto. Most guys I sail with in Sydney, Canton and Illawarra know how to rock up, look at the wind and know what to rig. Its experience but also you want to be powered when doing GPS sailing as if you are comfortable going deep off the wind you have rigged too small.
As an example, last Monday at Canton. In my opinion it was blowing approx 20-25 in the gusts. Now if you can hang onto an 8.6 then my hats off to you. The weed is gone so the water state is different. Not flat (pretty bloody bumpy) and pretty hairy if you are going for it which everyone was. Most good sailors were hitting 30-33 knots. with the excpetion of non mortals (we all know who they are) it was bloody hard to get past that. If it was flat as normal then I reckon it was PB central for most of us. My opinion!!
Of course there are guys that are in a different league but thats windsurfing. Thats why we all love it!!
I was on a 6.4 and most guys were on similar or 5.8. You cant sail comfortably and go hard in those conditions as you crap yourself. So if you are on an 8.6 then you are a legend. throw in weed etc then Im taking up darts