Fall Winds

The fall winds are kicking in. 30+ mph gusts throughout the day. I got out for a quick sail after work on the 6.2 Reflex III with the 100L slalom board and 32 cm fin. Took a few broad reaches down to Deadwood Point and then sailed with the kiters for a bit. The wind and chop was crazy off the point - the only place I've sailed with more confused steep chop is SF Bay. I never got the hang of it there, and still haven't mastered it here, but I'll keep trying.

It was hard to fit in good gps speed runs with the chop, but I was glad I took out slalom gear. I need more time in the challenging conditions until I can get the technique and geared dialed in to be more comfortable.

I hope the wind continues to this weekend for the annual Windpower Championships, just a mile down the road. The forecast is currently for west winds about 10-15 mph. The early registration numbers are good, so we should have a strong fleet this weekend. Racing all Saturday and Sunday!

Link to GPS Results
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=107861&uid=2116

Sandy Beach to Deadwood

Good wind today, around 20-25 knots out of the SSW. Sailed a few runs in front of the house to get dialed in and then cruised down to Deadwood Point where a bunch of other people were sailing. Used the 6.2 Reflex III on the Copello with the 30cm Tectonics Goldwing.

Link to GPS results.
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=106374&uid=2116

Severne ReflexII 11.0 on Lake Winnebago

I got my first ride on the new Severne ReflexII 11.0 on July 9 at Lake Winnebago. It has lots of pull on the low end and has a nice slippery feel at speed. Offshore south wind so very flat and not many big gusts to really try it out. It was also a nice day to get some more time on my double chicken strap installation.

Check out the pictures and the gps overlay. Lake Winnebago is quite large (about 30 miles long) except when you consider that Lake Michigan is about 40 miles to the east. It is very nice to have so many bodies of water to sail on around here.

Severne ReflexII 11.0 on Lake Winnebago

GPS Overview of Lake Winnebago

Mega Cat Mega Speed

Mega Speed is a bit tongue in cheek, but I am proud of some of the speeds I recorded while racing the Mega Cat in gusty 15-20 knot winds last Sunday. It was only my third time ever on the board but all my years sailing imco made it pretty easy to get back onto a planing longboard after almost a decade away from them.

The course for Sunday at the Dam Jam was a 2 lap figure 8. I attached a picture of my gps track from one of the races. During these races I got to a top speed of 25.4 knots and had a best alpha-500 jibe at 17.4 knots. The Mega Cat jibed incredibly well and it was very nice for carrying speed through the turn.

Here's a link to my gps results at the speedsurfing site:
http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=78764&uid=2116

Arden, EL-11