North Sails shox XTR

North Sails have done it again.
They already had the PowerXT mast extension on the market for some years now. The PowerXT is an extension with a build-in sail tension mechanism. Now they have come up with a adjustable shock absorber build into this mast extension. The shox XTR.

Shox XTR

They also have the only 3 piece masts on the market. I didn't gave this one much attention before but now I've seen that they sell a top and a base together with 3 different middle pieces. This means you have a range from for instance 430 over 460 to 490 with one set.

3 piece masts

Recently they also invented a boom with an adjustable flex in the boom head. For a long time everybody was thinking the stiffer the faster but in chopping conditions more flex actually gives more control and more control means more speed.

adjustable boom head

They only thing left is the adjustable sail. Let's hope this one will also arrive soon to reduce the gear we have to transport and buy to sail in 12 till 40 knots of wind.

3 Games (5-6 sep 2009)

The second event of the 3Games was organized at the “Kabbelaarsbank”.

After I registrated I joined Kurt to rig our sails. I measured an average 20 knots with peaks up to 25 knots. As we were getting ready for some slalom (long distance) racing I choose to rig the 6.7 together with my SL61 (92 liters). By the time the gear was rigged I noticed the wind was dropping a bit from time to time. I also rigged the 7.2 together with the SL78 and a 39cm fin just to be sure. Kurt had rigged a 7.8 (I don’t have that size) together with a Fanatic Falcon 105.
We bought went out for a test run. I was a bit too big on the board, Kurt was spot on.
I went to the skippers meeting. The race was a figure-eight slalom with reaches of 1 km. Start-Buoy1-Buoy2-Buoy1-Finish. The course was about 4 km in total. We were going to do full fleet starts. About 42 competitors had to start together. The race-directors made a nice wide starting zone to avoid collisions.


We started for the first heat. It is always difficult to get a good start and certainly important in such a big field. I started at the boot but still I immediately lost some places because I had to pump to get going. Two heats later I tried to start at the pin end. I got some very good tips from Nick D. but I didn’t start fast enough. Not a good result in this race but in the future I will try this starting position again because I noticed that the event winner was always starting there. I think you just need to be sure that the sail you’re using is big enough to plane through the wind holes that the other competitors are making starting upwind.
I learned a lot today. From time to time I could overtake some competitors although I wasn’t please with my speed. At the jibes I was also able to win some places due to solid gybing. I never fell once during the 7 races but I often loose speed at the end of the gybe. I have to start practicing these gybes seriously.

A fantastic day of windsurfing and thanks again for the great organization.

Race

Finish

Gybe

Event Winner

Finally some TOW again

On the 28th of August I went surfing again at Herkingen. When I arrived there the wind was already blowing more then 22 knots average. The wind predictions for that day were 15 to 17 knots. I only brought my big stuff. The smallest sail I had with me was the 6.2. By the time I went on the water the wind was still increasing. I choose to put an Select Caspar Speed 27 fin under my Exocet SL56.

Lancel father and son

Koen

On the spot were about 30 people speedsurfing at the same time. The wind angle was not optimal and you had to bear away from the dam into the chop to get a decent topspeed. I say some people crashing with broken carbon masts and carbon booms as a result.

Crash (not me)

I wasn’t feeling that confident and not that fit but I tried to do some runs. I wish I had taken the 5.4 with me to have more control because the wind was already over 30 knots. The 27 cm fin was not creating enough lift and I decided to sail back through the chop to mount the 29 cm fin.
Sailing back I fell a couple of time and hurt my knee. I decided to stop. Not a lot of distance sailed on that day but speed thrill was there for sure.
Topspeed : 68,13 kmh = 36.79 knots
Average 10s : 63,82 kmh = 34.46 knots
New PR on 250m : 65,12 kmh = 35.16 knots

Next season I will replace my RS6 sails with the new RS Slalom MK IV. The current RS Slalom MKIII looks very stable in high wind and has a shorter luff – and boomlength. Some people say the the MKIII is as good as the EvoII sails for speedsurfing.

RS Slalom MK III

I have not been windsurfing a lot the last months due to some medical problems. Mid june I had the chance to sail a few runs with the RS Slalom MKIII. I have been using the RS6 sails for some years now and I couldn’ t feel a big difference with the RS Racing or RS Slalom MKI or MKII sails. But now after I shortly tested the RS Slalom MKIII I could immediately feel that this would be an upgrade for my RS6 sails.

RS6

RS Slalom MK III