2016 Severne Sails

Today I finally had some time to rig the new 2016 Severne Sails. Raceboard 9.5, Reflex R7 7.0 & 6.2, and Gator 5.7. The weather didn't cooperate enough to go sailing, but hopefully it will this weekend. The sails are ready. 

The 2016 Severne Raceboard is the 3rd generation of the Raceboard 9.5 sail. It got a bit longer for both the mast and the boom, so it's more triangular or less curve/roach. This results in a noticeably tighter perimeter for gen3, especially the top of the leech. 

The luff setting is now about 556 cm vs around 540 cm for gen2. These pictures are with the sail rigged on a 550 enigma mast. I want to try this first and then compare with rigging on a 530 enigma mast. Also, I need to use the sail a bit to wear it in before I can get the battens all the way dialed in. There are some wrinkles for now but those will get worked out.  

2016 Severne Raceboard 9.5, gen3

2016 Reflex R7 7.0

2016 Severne Gator 5.7

New Severne Raceboard sail

I got a new Severne 9.5 Raceboard sail two days before the Dam Jam. The cut is slightly different than my previous sail, and it now features more monofilm and less of the x-ply material that used to be used throughout the sail. The new sail also adds a 4th camber inducer (3 above the boom, 1 below). It feels a bit crisper now and is probably a bit lighter. I still need to adjust the cam and batten tension a bit to improve the rotation, but this is common with any new race sail.

I hope to have everything ironed out with the sail for US Nationals in Worthington, MN in a few weeks.

Check out some pictures of the new 9.5 as well as some of the previous model.

My previous 9.5 Raceboard sail (2012 model year)

New 9.5 Raceboard sail (2014 model year)

Gliding downwind in light wind

Heading upwind in a stiff breeze. US292 is on a 2012 9.5 Raceboard. I'm sheeted out a bit to bear off since the puff lifted us above the layline.

Dam Jam

Dam Jam was fun last weekend. Saturday was light very shifty wind that saw the fleet really mixing it up throughout each race. Alex Monroe and Adam Anderson were consistent in keeping their speed and finding wind throughout the day and each won two races, with Alex holding a 1-point lead over Adam at day's end. I struggled with finding wind at times and only managed one top-3 finish, but at least it was a bullet in race3.

Sunday was forecast with more wind that was set to build throughout the day. The first race (R6) I had to overcome a poor start to salvage a fourth place as Peter, Adam, and Alex checked out on the rest of us. The wind got over 10mph by R7 and I finally got my act together to win the race. R8 had more wind and Adam and I duked it out to the finish in a strong puff as we tacked to the starboard layline to finish. Adam was higher into the wind and had to push off the wind to get down to the boat (low end of the line) while I was lower and right on the layline sailing more comfortably. But he hunkered down through the puff and held me off at the finish.

R9 had probably the most wind of the regatta (gusts to 20) and me and Don Atlmeyer got to the upwind mark first. We caught a great puff coming around the mark and were able to plane all the way through the next two reaching legs. I was able to hold off Don for the bullet. R10 was also windy and Adam and I got a good start to lead at the top mark. I shifted gears quicker for the reaching legs and took another bullet.

With 10 good races in the books, my brother Adam Anderson took home the Dam Jam title. He sailed well both days and had very few mistakes. I dug too big of a hole for my title hopes on Saturday but was able to sail well enough Sunday to tie with Alex, and win the tiebreaker (most bullets) for 2nd overall.

RESULTS:    A Fleet    |    Kona    |    Sport

Click HERE for pictures from the 2014 Dam Jam, courtesy of "Low Boom" Larry Reed.

Up next is US Windsurfing National Championship in Worthington, MN

First race of the year

I raced in the Walleye Wagatta in Fond du Lac this weekend. I won all 7 of the course races but didn't fare as well in the two distance races. Don Altmeyer finished 2nd in 6/7 course races and won the first distance race and took 2nd in the other to really make it tight. I managed to win by one point. Click over to the Mowind web site for the race report.

I was very happy with the Starboard Phantom 377 and Severne Raceboard 9.5 combo. The 377 is a nicer board for me at 170 pounds than the outgoing Phantom 380 was, especially upwind. I love how the 377 rails up in even a light breeze and slices through the chop.

Click for Results

Fwd: Phantom 377 hits the water

I got my first session on the Phantom 377 yesterday. Sailed with the

Severne Raceboard 9.5 in 5-8 mph winds. He board feels more slender
and rails easier than the Phantom 380 in the light winds.

Tomorrow is forecast to have stronger wind so maybe I'll get a chance
to try the planing capabilities of the new board.

Phantom 377 delivered

The Phantom just got delivered. Can't wait to get it on the water.

Windpower Championships were this weekend. I did an overall write up over at the MOWIND site. I finished 2nd again this year, with Mark Boersma taking another 1st. Congrats to him on another win - he's very fast and showed tremendous board control in R2 when the wind rapidly increased. That is when he separated from me in the scores and I wasn't able to make it back in the subsequent races. I still sailed a pretty solid regatta and thought it was a good start to the 2013 MOWIND Race Series.

RESULTS:  A Fleet  |  Kona  |  Sport

LINK to photo album from the Fond du Lac Reporter

Video of last race (R10)

Here are the last two legs of Race 10 (last race) of the Walleye Wagatta. Winds were light so the last race was a one lap windward-leeward course for A Fleet, and the Sport Fleet had a shortened course that sent them to to upwind mark and then finishing downwind through the start line. Magnus Zaunmueller won the A Fleet on the big course at virtually the same time his younger brother, Niels, crossed the line coming downwind to finish 2nd in the Sport Fleet race (behind Victor Hora). Their Dad, Jim (MNH), is also seen at the pin end of the finish line in the video.

There are five Severne Raceboard sails seen in this video. I lent mine to Magnus since he is between rigs right now, and he put it to good use winning this race. He also won the first two races of the day, and finished 3rd in the other.

Adam Anderson won the overall event title with near perfect sailing on Saturday (1-1-1-1-2-1) and a strong showing on Sunday as well (2-3-2-4), so he kept 5 bullets and 3 seconds. Alex Monroe and Don Altmeyer finished in 2nd and 3rd place overall, respectively.

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

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

Phantom Maiden Voyage

Here we go...

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

2011 Race Year has Started

The 2011 MOWIND Race Series has started. I was the Race Committee for the Walleye Wagatta in Fond du Lac this weekend. Check out the regatta report on the MOWIND web site.

This coming weekend I am headed to Des Moines, IA (Saylorville Lake) for the annual Dam Jam regatta. This will be the first regatta I will race in this year so I am looking forward to it. I am borrowing an old Fanatic Mega Cat from Kevin at Windpower Windsurfing right now, and had a chance to sail it for the first time this afternoon. It went pretty well but it was a good idea to sail it before the race. It could use some touch-up on the nonskid near the middle of the board so that I don't slip around as much. It was also good to get used to way the mast track and centerboard work. It will be fun to sail a raceboard this weekend especially since Adam will also be on one too. He picked up a Superlight2 a few weeks ago and used it for the first time at Walleye last weekend.

Here are some pictures of the Mega Cat and Adam's Superlight2.

Superlight2 on top of the Mega Cat. Notice the thicker nose of the Cat and thicker tail on the Superlight2

I fixed up the Cat on the right. The one on the left needs some repairs to the deck so went back in the Windpower shed for now.

Lots of longboards...

The Mega Cat has some vee ahead of the centerboard and more rocker than the Superlight2. This picture is from before we put in the new gasket on the Superlight2. Adam said the new gasket worked well this weekend. You can get new material for repairing a worn out gasket at Windpower.

The Mega Cat centerboard alongside Superlight2 centerboard (black) and original Superlight centerboard (white)

All for now.

- Arden