This weekend there's going to be a regatta at Cozumel, I'm pretty excited as it is going to be my comeback to racing after about 9 years, hopefully the wind, gear and most importantly the SKILL will cooperate, it will be very different as it is going to be open class and the majority of racers will be on RS:X, some on formula, IMCO, techno, etc and I will be on the Phantom 377.
There will also be a paddle board race, hopefully I can race in both, this will be my first time in a paddle board race and is also the first paddle race in Cozumel!!!
I hope my old sail holds up and doesn't rip or explode during the race. There are about 50 windsurfers coming, I will try to get some pics and video and post it here. By the way, I haven't forgotten about the IronMan post, just haven't had the time to download and post all the pics.
Tomorrow will be race preparation day, and I will be tweaking the Footstraps and mast track on the phantom, wish me luck!
Good winds and sail strong!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
IronSUPing
This weekend is the Cozumel IronMan 2012, I´m part of the official SUPport Team, there is 30 of us providing waterside safety to almost 3,000 athletes so it´s going to be a daunting task. Of course the Ironman Organizers are an extremely capable team and there will be divers, swimmers, PWCs and powerboats besides the SUP team to ensure all the Ironmen and Ironwomen have a fun and safe swim.
The great part about SUPing is that we can get closer to the action than any powerboat or even PWC, and do so in a safer way for the competitors, enabling us to spot and reach any trouble before anyone else can.
It is a great experience and it´s really exciting to watch these amazing athletes battle it out through 2.4 miles of open ocean against chop, current and other 3,000 competitors, to then move on to the biking and running stages of the competition.
The atmosphere is electrifying, the amount of energy being burnt is staggering and the warmth of the locals and the competitors families towards the athletes is invigorating.
For more info about this event go to www.ironmancozumel.com
In preparation for the Ironman Cozumel 2012, here are some pictures of the Mr. Sancho´s 2012 Sprint Triathlon and the Cozumel Ironman 70.3 2012
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| The Mr. Sancho´s SUPport Team |
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| The Men´s Start |
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| Demi and Isaias Chillin' |
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| Nicole starting the running stage, she´s also an accomplished RS:X sailor!!! |
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| Raul DeLille explaining the course to the Ironman 70.3 SUPport Team |
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| The Team heading out for the first swim practice |
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| Competitors getting ready for the following day of competition |
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| Competitors registering their bikes into the Transition Area, there´s some serious heart here people! |
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| Having a blast at the Cozumel Ironman 70.3 |
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| Decent form, keeping a lookout |
Next week I´ll post some pics of the Cozumel Ironman 2012, in the mean time, SAIL STRONG!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
SUPing among giants
The other day I noticed some guys SUPing next to the Disney Fantasy, it was kind of surreal watching this guys navigating in this most basic form of water transport with the backdrop of one of the largest, newest and more advanced vessels at sea... Here are a couple of pictures of the moment...
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
18 knots Phantom
On October 13th we had about 18 knots from the north, it turned out to be a lot of fun on the Phantom!
The NP V8 8.0 really came into its own and powered up the Phantom properly, I tweaked the rig a little bit, boom at correct height, harness lines balanced, etc.
The board is still a rocket upwind, railing nicely and easily, while still being perfectly in control. But where it really excelled was on the reach, planing easily and quickly, and maintaining plane during the lulls, nice control and speed, and the gybes were superb! I was carving and planing out of them even though I hadn't sailed in four years! What a blast! The reaching straps were easy to reach and comfortable to sail in.
There was plenty of people on the water, mostly kiters but about 5 other windsurfers on RS:Xs, everybody was having a great time, and we are certainly looking forward to more days like this!
Good winds!
First Phantom 377 test
About a month ago I was finally able to test the new Phantom 377 with decent wind. First the specifics:
Board: Starboard Phantom Race 377
Fin: Starboard supplied Drake 52 cms blade
Sail: OLD Neil Pryde V8 StreetRacer 8.0 square meters
Mast: Cheap Neil Pride 460 (40% carbon?)
Boom: Old Hawaiian Pro-Line Aluminium
Adjustable downhaul and outhaul
Wind: 8-10 knots, 12 knot gusts
Sea: open ocean, light wind-driven chop, light swell, 2-3 knot upwind current
Sailor: 80 kgs, 1.85 mts height, windsurfing for 16 years, 8 years since last used a raceboard (IMCO), haven't sailed much last 4 years
Since we're trying to review the board, I'd like to first talk about the sail as I believe the shortcomings I ran into are because of my rusty skills and the slalom design of the sail as well as its old age.
From the start, standing on the beach the sail felt too flat, too rigid and with too loose a leach for the conditions, even with the outhaul and downhaul very loose... All the patches didn't help either.
On the water the sail felt powerless and physically heavy, loosening the outhaul didn't seem to affect the power too much...
Now, onto the board... It felt quite small when I was standing on it, the sail certainly takes up a lot of room!!! ;). Also the nose seemed a lot shorter than that of the IMCO, but it may be be a matter of visual inaccuracy as I've recently read on the LBWS forums that the mast track and centerboard are placed farther forward on the board compared to the IMCO.
Perhaps this was also the reason why I was submerging the nose on my first runs! Easily corrected by standing further back on the board.
Upwind it was a rocket. With the flat V8 sail, the centerboard fully down and decent wind it went to the weather mark like a freight train, it beat 4 RS:Xs by quite a lot and the RS:Xs were sailed by much better sailors!!!
Even with the centerboard fully down the board wasn't railing willingly, I had to coerce it by pushing and pulling with the feet. Perhaps this is more a reflections of the poorly matched sail and the boom might have been set too low, will try to raise the boom a little bit next time.
The centerboard and mast track worked flawlessly and the fact that you can press down on the mast track pedal by pushing down on the centerboard lever is brilliant, this should save several seconds and win some ground on the upwind-downwind transitions. Gotta pay attention and make sure the mast is locked in position in the track or it WILL move unexpectedly, this wasn't an issue on the IMCO but the again it's track was much harder to move, especially trying to pull it back. For serious racers it seems that the mast track positions are not enough, but it should be easily fixed by disassembling the track and cutting more notches in the aluminum locking plate.
The canted mast track didn't seem to benefit or hinder the railing, planning or downwind ability of the board, but perhaps it's my skills that are lacking. At first it was weird stepping on and around the front part of the track but you get used to it and forget about it really quickly, you can see that Tiesda took the time to shape it properly so it is not uncomfortable under the feet.
On the water the centerboard is easy to deploy and retract and the gaskets prevented water from shooting up trough the opening. The centerboard is big but very manageable, the board didn't try to go rail-riding or anything weird, will have to try it in stronger winds.
On the reach the rust really showed! I barely managed to get the board planning! The straps seemed to far back even with the mast track in the aft-most position. Again, too much rust, too little wind...
Downwind it was weird to step around the centerboard, but once I found a comfortable position I was able to sail much deeper than on the IMCO, but still not as deep as the RS:Xs. Gybing was really easy as was tacking.
This board would make a tactical tacking and gybing duel a whole lot of fun!
Once I (inevitably) fell in the water both the board and sail seemed HUGE when trying to wrestle them into position for a waterstart! Handling the Fanatic Bee and the 5.2 North is much easier! Hahahaha
The non-skid is very grippy and will scratch you up if you're not careful. The only shortcoming I find in the manufacture of the board are the footstraps. They are too soft and with no K-9 anti-twist devices supplied with the board they get twisted very easily and this makes it difficult to get into them. I certainly don't enjoy looking down and fumbling to get into the straps, I will try Bushfire's tip to make the railing straps stiffer, read his great review of the Phantom here:
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Review/Starboard-Phantom-377BW/
All in all I'm really happy with the board, it is great to be back on the water and can't wait to get a new raceboard sail and really sail this board to its full potential. In the mean time I will try to dust off some cobwebs and get the old skills up to muster!
See you on the water!
Board: Starboard Phantom Race 377
Fin: Starboard supplied Drake 52 cms blade
Sail: OLD Neil Pryde V8 StreetRacer 8.0 square meters
Mast: Cheap Neil Pride 460 (40% carbon?)
Boom: Old Hawaiian Pro-Line Aluminium
Adjustable downhaul and outhaul
Wind: 8-10 knots, 12 knot gusts
Sea: open ocean, light wind-driven chop, light swell, 2-3 knot upwind current
Sailor: 80 kgs, 1.85 mts height, windsurfing for 16 years, 8 years since last used a raceboard (IMCO), haven't sailed much last 4 years
Since we're trying to review the board, I'd like to first talk about the sail as I believe the shortcomings I ran into are because of my rusty skills and the slalom design of the sail as well as its old age.
From the start, standing on the beach the sail felt too flat, too rigid and with too loose a leach for the conditions, even with the outhaul and downhaul very loose... All the patches didn't help either.
On the water the sail felt powerless and physically heavy, loosening the outhaul didn't seem to affect the power too much...
Now, onto the board... It felt quite small when I was standing on it, the sail certainly takes up a lot of room!!! ;). Also the nose seemed a lot shorter than that of the IMCO, but it may be be a matter of visual inaccuracy as I've recently read on the LBWS forums that the mast track and centerboard are placed farther forward on the board compared to the IMCO.
Perhaps this was also the reason why I was submerging the nose on my first runs! Easily corrected by standing further back on the board.
Upwind it was a rocket. With the flat V8 sail, the centerboard fully down and decent wind it went to the weather mark like a freight train, it beat 4 RS:Xs by quite a lot and the RS:Xs were sailed by much better sailors!!!
Even with the centerboard fully down the board wasn't railing willingly, I had to coerce it by pushing and pulling with the feet. Perhaps this is more a reflections of the poorly matched sail and the boom might have been set too low, will try to raise the boom a little bit next time.
The centerboard and mast track worked flawlessly and the fact that you can press down on the mast track pedal by pushing down on the centerboard lever is brilliant, this should save several seconds and win some ground on the upwind-downwind transitions. Gotta pay attention and make sure the mast is locked in position in the track or it WILL move unexpectedly, this wasn't an issue on the IMCO but the again it's track was much harder to move, especially trying to pull it back. For serious racers it seems that the mast track positions are not enough, but it should be easily fixed by disassembling the track and cutting more notches in the aluminum locking plate.
The canted mast track didn't seem to benefit or hinder the railing, planning or downwind ability of the board, but perhaps it's my skills that are lacking. At first it was weird stepping on and around the front part of the track but you get used to it and forget about it really quickly, you can see that Tiesda took the time to shape it properly so it is not uncomfortable under the feet.
On the water the centerboard is easy to deploy and retract and the gaskets prevented water from shooting up trough the opening. The centerboard is big but very manageable, the board didn't try to go rail-riding or anything weird, will have to try it in stronger winds.
On the reach the rust really showed! I barely managed to get the board planning! The straps seemed to far back even with the mast track in the aft-most position. Again, too much rust, too little wind...
Downwind it was weird to step around the centerboard, but once I found a comfortable position I was able to sail much deeper than on the IMCO, but still not as deep as the RS:Xs. Gybing was really easy as was tacking.
This board would make a tactical tacking and gybing duel a whole lot of fun!
Once I (inevitably) fell in the water both the board and sail seemed HUGE when trying to wrestle them into position for a waterstart! Handling the Fanatic Bee and the 5.2 North is much easier! Hahahaha
The non-skid is very grippy and will scratch you up if you're not careful. The only shortcoming I find in the manufacture of the board are the footstraps. They are too soft and with no K-9 anti-twist devices supplied with the board they get twisted very easily and this makes it difficult to get into them. I certainly don't enjoy looking down and fumbling to get into the straps, I will try Bushfire's tip to make the railing straps stiffer, read his great review of the Phantom here:
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Review/Starboard-Phantom-377BW/
All in all I'm really happy with the board, it is great to be back on the water and can't wait to get a new raceboard sail and really sail this board to its full potential. In the mean time I will try to dust off some cobwebs and get the old skills up to muster!
See you on the water!
Friday, September 14, 2012
Struggling
Some times getting back on the water is Not as easy as one would expect. Old gear breaks, monofilm tears and something as simple as a downhaul line can make you wanna poke your eyes out...
After way too many years of not rigging my 8.0 (it's a Neil Pryde V8 StreetRacer with a ShearTip!!! Just to give you an idea) the trusty downhaul line snapped and I almost made a back flip. After driving all around the island I couldn't find the kind of rope I needed for my downhaul, living in an island of the coast of Mexico there's no abundance of windsurfing shops!
A friend of mine had some rope to spare so we can rig and now I only have to patch all the rips in the monofilm... Not how I expected to spend my afternoon, well hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to test the new board...
In the mean time I'll grab a cold one and start working on the rips...
See you on the water!!! (tomorrow)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
After way too many years of not rigging my 8.0 (it's a Neil Pryde V8 StreetRacer with a ShearTip!!! Just to give you an idea) the trusty downhaul line snapped and I almost made a back flip. After driving all around the island I couldn't find the kind of rope I needed for my downhaul, living in an island of the coast of Mexico there's no abundance of windsurfing shops!
A friend of mine had some rope to spare so we can rig and now I only have to patch all the rips in the monofilm... Not how I expected to spend my afternoon, well hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to test the new board...
In the mean time I'll grab a cold one and start working on the rips...
See you on the water!!! (tomorrow)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Traveling with a Raceboard
So this friday I traveled to Miami to pick up my new Starboard Phantom 377. I was quite nervous that they wouldn't allow my board on the plane as it exceeded American Airlines regulations by over half a meter! Fortunately my fears where unfounded as the lady on the counter was extremely kind and helpful, I did pay through the nose to get in board but fortunately it made it to Cozumel in one piece and with no dings!
For the plane ride I kept the original factory packaging and used a DaKine SUP travel bag which fits the board (even with the batwings!) perfectly!!!
I a big thanks go to the guys from Isthmus Sailboards for their excellent packaging and shipping, as well as to the warehouse guys at Pilot Freight Miami, they even helped me unpack, inspect and re-pack the board!
Well, here's the unpacking of the beast:
For the plane ride I kept the original factory packaging and used a DaKine SUP travel bag which fits the board (even with the batwings!) perfectly!!!
I a big thanks go to the guys from Isthmus Sailboards for their excellent packaging and shipping, as well as to the warehouse guys at Pilot Freight Miami, they even helped me unpack, inspect and re-pack the board!
Well, here's the unpacking of the beast:
Goodies!
Close up of Centerboard, fin and straps packages
First glimpse! It´s pretty cool!
Close up of the mast track "car" it seems a little flimsy (for a board in this class) and there is a fair amount of "play" in each of the mast track positions, I guess this is normal as the positions are fixed by a rotating, indented aluminum plate
Close up of the tail, showing the batwings, they are really thin at the tail, looks like I´ll have to take good care of them!
The beast in all it´s glory!
It looks really fast, and that slanted mast track should really work, Once I setup the footstraps, etc I´ll post more pics...
Happy sailing!
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