Phantom Raceboard in a Moderate Breeze

Plus: We got some wind over the Holiday weekend.
Minus: Had a family get together to attend.
Double Plus: Family event was at a lake house!

I sailed the Phantom Raceboard and Severne 9.5 in about 10-20 mph winds this afternoon. The board and sail handled the higher winds quite well. The Phantom initiates the jibes better than expected and the wide tail makes it easy to exit with speed. I added more batten tension to the sail the last few times out and that has helped add stability in the breeze. Need to raise my boom a bit next time out.

Got a few good photographs in while my wife was on the pier with the camera.

Enjoy,
Arden, EL-11

Phantom Raceboard in Moderate Breeze

Lechner A390

Well, it's the end of an era for me. Now that I have the Starboard Phantom and plan to compete mostly in the Raceboard Class, I sold my Lechner A390. I sailed this fantastic Div2 hull throughout 2006-2010, winning the MOWIND Series Championship five times in a row as well as the 2008 US Windsurfing Open Class National Championship.

I took a bunch of pictures of the A390 tonight, and posted them on Picasa along with some action shots through the years.

Lechner A390 Photo Album

Lechner A390

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

Double Chicken Strap Project Finished

It's been a busy month, but one of the projects I got finished was the Double Chicken Straps on my Starboard HWR formula board. Check out the pictures from the project:

Double Chicken Strap on Starboard HWR

Arden, EL-11

Door County Results

It's been a busy month, but I finally got the results posted for the Door County Breeze and a couple of pictures on the MOWIND report.

Final Scores:  A Fleet,  Sport Fleet,  Workshop

Day One at Door County

Day One leader Alex Monroe, US292

Wisconsin had strong winds Thrusday and Friday, blowing itself out for the start of racing on Saturday. We were for postponed for a few hours, but at least the weather was sunny and there is plenty to do in Ephraim. I personally went and got a fantastic Russian sandwich from the Second Story restaurant at the old post office down the street.

The lake breeze didn't fill in as we hoped but Steve and Ann on RC still made the wise call to send us out for some quick races despite the light winds. We got in three windward-leeward two-lap courses in quick succession. Alex Monroe paced the fleet with very quick upwind sailing and a nose for the wind. Andy Gratton and myself mixed up the rest of the top 3. Alex has two firsts and a second, I have a 2-3-2 for a score, and Andy had a 3-1-3.

Race 1 I was over early and happy to salvage a 2nd place.

Race 2 I lined up for a port start with the wind coming in hard from the left (westerly, the forecast lake breeze direction) only to have a competing puff come in from the launch shore (the right) and lift the starboard tackers. Andy and Alex were off like a shot and I had to work to get into 3rd position.

Race3 I had a good start and was able to get upwind quickly, just not as quick as Alex. I followed him around the course making ground downwind but losing ground upwind.

The new Phantom worked well in the lightwinds as did the Severne 9.5. Everything felt much better than the last light wind race I did (Saturday at Worthington). I just need to pay more attention to my starts...and get some upwind tips from Alex ;)


Door County cake at the event dinner

Racing was followed by a delicious supper right at the race sight. Jan and everyone always do a great job with that.

Later I watched the Fish Creek fireworks from the balcony of the Cookery while having some cherry pie.

More racing tomorrow...

Splashing the Star-Severne Raceboard

I took my first sail on the Starboard Phantom 380 and Severne Raceboard 9.5 today. There was barely any breeze, but the sail provided punch and the board had surprising glide for a planing bottom raceboard. The glide in this wind was similar to sailing my old Lechner A390 Div2 hull. I think the rocker development on this board is remarkable. It sits in the water very well and makes fantastic use of its waterline. The sail has a lot of depth at the boom, but key for lightwind and pumping is that it also has depth higher up the sail and a tight outline. I was very happy with how well it pumped, and how light it is.

Hopefully there will be some breeze this weekend so that I can try it out in planing conditions as well.

I sailed off of the Village Beach in Elkhart Lake, WI - my home waters. Check out how clear the water is in the attached photo album.

Feel free to Contact Me if you have any questions about this gear. I think it is going to be a great all around setup for course racing, especially in the Raceboard Class.

Splashing Star-Severne Raceboard

Arden, EL-11