For me at 75kg ,the weight helped stablise my upper body and I could make better use of the gusts.I missed the Tuesdays session (too much work stuff),but I ran with 8kg in the jacket for Als speedfortnight.It does take a bit to get use to and it wears out quicker.Start with a few kgs and see if it helps before going heavier.I don,t use a bigger sail than I would normally sail with,but I may try this on a broard course.Use them with a lot of caution as they may increase the risk of crashing and make sure that they float you.Hope this helps

quote:

---

Originally posted by yoyo

It is in the afternoon session with less wind and quieter water than when they set their fast times.

Apparently this is choppy for SP... or maybe that was the morning session where they said that.??

---

The incoming tide (ie: the afternoon for that day) generates what we call "whoop-de-doo's" - basically a bit like small swell, where the crest-to-crest length is about 4-5m or so, and can get to about 30cm of height.

The PiT gets quite a bit of chop, starting at about 10m from the shore (on the fastest part of the speed course - not near the start of the run). When it is really windy (say 30+), you get chop 50cm or more with a separation of about 1m, and very steep.

And... depending on the wind direction, you get swell build up due to the wind. It gets worse on a broad (read: westerly) direction, as you reach the fastest part of the course, just as the wind has had a few hundred meters to build up rolling swell. The wavelength tends to be about the same as the whoop-de-doos.

So one of the "go fast" tricks, is to sail under 5m from the sand bank so as to avoid the short-sharp chop, leaving you to deal with the whoop-de-doos and wind-swell. So at 40+, you are doing about 20m/s, which means that you are hitting a few crests per second.

Since there is no way to react to the water state at that rate, crashing is a serious possibility, especially when you reduce mast-foot pressure while trying to slow down. ie: its quite normal to see people crash at the end of the course as they slow down to around the 30kn mark.

Eat more Pies and chips

The extra fat has a number of benifits for sailing

Weight
Floatation (fat Floats better)
Energy (Fat will burn of on one of those sessions where you try to beat Claude again)

Simple

Guess who put on weight over his Hols?

thanks for the replys guys, and thanks Elmo for getting this back on topic
advice was not actually what i was chasing (but it is still good to get everyones feed back), i was interested as to how many guys use weight and how much they use.
so you could say a poll is what i am looking for.
i for 1 started using weight in the mid 80's - 11kgs this was extremely dangerous and i wouldnt recommend it to any one (disclaimer) how ever the effect of wearing the weight was stunning in terms of speed and handling in strong/overpowering conditions.
at present i am using a divers weight belt with 9 kgs in it, with a life jacket on top- this is just bouyant,depending on what wet suit i am wearing.
i know most guys at Walvis bay where using them as well, even some of the big guys apparently.

most I've ever worn is 9kg and this was all on shoulders and chest at SP this week. In walvis I had 6 for most of it, and added 3 to the harness. This helped a little bit but was not as effective as on the shoulders. The other guys at Walvis were mostly wearing 12-15kg. Bugger that! The extra weight makes a difference in gusty wind and square conditions for sure. I had really sore legs after Friday and Tuesday...

The conditions in the vid were moderate wind, very square, and still quite high tide. We were sailing to the far marker, and then straight back up to the launch site with a few hundred metres of downwind at the end. ie it was well square. When the wind is that angle the water is super flat, but its hard to go faster because its tight. Mint fun for cruising though. Note the lack of sand flying in the video- that means it wasn't windy. I still did a 42kt 500m though!

Earlier the wind was probably 30-40 degrees broader, and 15kts stronger. Totally different. The sand was fully flying onto the water and into my eyes ears and nose. It was stinging my tongue when I opened my mouth.

I just weighed my jacket and it's 5kg dry.So let's say it's 6kg wet.
It would have been nice to try a couple of extra kg's on Tuesday.
The weight is on my shoulder blades and it is a Neil Pryde Buoyancy style vest(like a zip up water-ski type) that could probably do with another 3-4kg's before I'm neutrally buoyant.