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Well, I'm gonna give Day Two back a NINE as well, because it was a fantastic day, and doubly so because I hadn't sailed in really good wind in over 5 months. Man, this wind was GOOD. Steady, strong, warm. My bum toe (Osteoarthitic) gave me some trouble, but nothing with my ear. I had a pretty "safe" day, no big crashes. I missed the only two duck jibes I tried quite badly, but it was pretty windy and I wasn't keen on trying a lot. I planed out of quite a few jibes, but also had a few Wally Jibes. It was fairly choppy, small random stuff, but I did okay.
We had Mike, John, Bob, Carl, Crab, Phil and Wolfram showed as I was leaving. Most were out on 5.2, 5.4, 5.5, etc. Mike was on his 4.7, but he's lighter than most of us. John rode his 5.5, which almost lead me to rig my 6.6, but when I saw Mike hit it off the beach with lots of power, I decided to rig my 5.4, and am glad I did. It was perfect (after a little tuning adjustment).
During one break I took out this piece of elastic rope to determine harness line placement. One of the European windsurfing magazines I read had a piece about using elastic rope, say 6 feet long, marked at two feet (one third). If you stretch it from boom head to clew, your harness lines should be pretty much centered one third of the way back. Mine were pretty close, Mike's were dead on, and John's were pretty close. I did it to see if it worked, and it kind of did. So, if you are just getting into the harness and having trouble with balancing them, give this a try. You can find the elastic rope (string) in the sewing isle at Wal-mart or a fabric or sewing store. Mark it one third of the way (any length... six feet is too long unless you are measuring 7.5+, go with 5 or 4 footer otherwise, it stretches and maintains the 1/3, 2/3 ratio). This should give you a basis to start with. You will still need to fine tune by adjusting it a little. Having balanced harness lines is very important if you want to sail relaxed and at good speeds.
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