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Bird on the Allstar and 7.8 again. This is actually a pretty good combo. The Allstar is just plain fast, very, very fast. It's not easy to get planing, but once it's up, it goes. I was able to really coast through some holes out there, too. The wind was about 14 gusting to the low 20's, mostly in the 18 or 20 range, though. Once I caught a puff I could milk the 10-14 mph lulls easily to stay on a plane.
I feel that I've found a good balance point for the rig, the huge fin helps, I've played around with downhaul and have found a sweet spot, ditto for outhaul, and the board just flies like a MF. It was only about 6 weeks ago when I was always the guy slogging or barely planing in wind everyone else was ripping around in, now I'm nearly always the first to plane and am going as fast, and sometimes faster, than everyone else. In that time two things have changed: I'm better at tuning the rig and the new Finworks 17.5 inch (44.5 cm) fin really helps. Just the extra fin size probably made the most difference.
It's a good feeling, more than drag racing and finally winning, it's the feeling of finally figuring out your gear and reaching a comfort level. Sailing is fun even in a struggle, but it's so much more fun and so much less work when all the gear feels good.
Now that the gear is in order I'm starting to work on my technique, pointing, broad reaches, fast tacks and jibing. Everything needs a lot of work, of course, but now that I'm not fighting the gear, I'm making significant progress quickly.
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