He looks way more relaxed while on a fin in that clip, but that could just be perception.

Here's the wingfoil. Posture is closer to the windfoil posture but I'm also noticing how much tilt the winger has into the wind vs. AA. And the winger is out of the harness. Seems like there's a lot to be said for mast base pressure/connection.

Windsurfing just looks right. The others...

I wonder what size front wing he was on. People are pushing the 900cm2 wings into low 30kts on windfoil, and I think AA was probably on a 300-400cm2 wing? I can't find any info on the wing setup at all.

Local wingers hitting low 20kts are on ~900cm2 fronts as well, doing jumps and tricks when the wind is in the 6-7m2 range for fin.

That certainly makes Tony Wynhovens NM PB on Lake George 10 years ago look very good indeed. It was the fastest NM in the world at the time and for many years following that, and has only been just bettered at the French speed strip in the last few years by a select few.

Tony Wynhoven 26/01/2012 = 41.58 Knots Nautical Mile (Doppler). Only 1.76 Knots slower than AA's new world record!!

Gates.
During a contest.
Way harder to get good speeds compared to free GPS sailing.

Its really not comparable as much as we wish it were.

AA is in another league in speedsailing and has been for a long time. Rarely does he get beaten. I don't think any of the top GPS guys beat him in contest, and if they did its not often and usually down to who got the "lucky gust". In terms of consistenly topping the contest speeds- he's clearly in another league. Where the conditions aren't perfect he makes it look easy and blows the other guys away.

Free sailing on a lake with no constraints is getting a free pass. You can start/end wherever the gust is and sail as broad as you like. Even at la franqui you can sail fast either side of where the gates were so for free GPS sailing its a huge advantage in picking the gust or extending the run to pick the best segment.

Also the contest is not running every day there is wind. There are and have been far better conditions at LF over the past years which werent on contest days where the wind is a touch stronger and broader -easier to go fast.

So many ducks have to line up in a contest environment, so AAs 43kts NM in this contest is incredibly impressive- especially since the conditions weren't close to perfect.

Thanks slowboat, that gives me a lot more appreciation for the differences and challenges.

sailquik said..

slowboat said..
Gates.
During a contest.
Way harder to get good speeds compared to free GPS sailing.

Yes, for sure. AA's achievement, given the restraints, is phenomenal.

Chris also points out very well the huge DISADVANTAGE of such a restrictive and elitist way the WSSRC chooses to ratify its world records.
(Ie, their 'Records' are sometimes not the fastest that have been sailed. )

For a Contest, of course, you can run it any way you like. And most often in contests, no one gets anywhere near World Records.

Eh?
World records, by their very nature, are elitist.

Reminds me of ocean gybes; many can smash them out like a pro... when they choose where and when. Gybing around a mark over the back of a swell is a bit more challenging.

sailquik said..

sheddweller said..

sailquik said..

slowboat said..
Gates.
During a contest.
Way harder to get good speeds compared to free GPS sailing.

Yes, for sure. AA's achievement, given the restraints, is phenomenal.

Chris also points out very well the huge DISADVANTAGE of such a restrictive and elitist way the WSSRC chooses to ratify its world records.
(Ie, their 'Records' are sometimes not the fastest that have been sailed. )

For a Contest, of course, you can run it any way you like. And most often in contests, no one gets anywhere near World Records.

Eh?
World records, by their very nature, are elitist.

To some extent, that is true. Your average weekend sailor is usually not going to be in the class to push world records.. But in this case, they don't need to be so 'elitist'. GPS results from all over the world in the last 15 years have shown that there are people at the highest level that can get into that class given the right conditions, but who are excluded from the WSSRC records by the restrictions (not to mention the exorbitant cost) imposed. And then we get the silly situation of the 'World Record' not being as fast as what has been accurately recorded with very accurate GPS tech. And even the world record holder probably went faster than the 'Official Record'. artificially restricted by the random 'gate' position.

Well, it is what is happening already, isn't it? There are competitions, and there are people who post the speeds recorded by their own gps equipment on sites like gps-speedsurfing. I have not noticed self-recorded speeds being any faster then what has been officially recorded in places like Luderitz, or La Palme for the nautical mile, but people can do both. It does makes sense to me that an official world record should be verified "in person", and not simply uploaded on a site from a personal device.