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What a beautiful windsurfing day!
The iwindsurf sensor said it wasn't blowing much, but I wanted to get out, so I threw the Equipe on the van and headed to Grassy. When I arrived Richard B. was there, ripping it up. I figured he was on his 6.0, but later found out that it was a 7.2.
It was pretty light, so I rigged the 7.8 and pulled off the Equipe. I tooled around for a bit, pinching and running around the course. I can't go upwind very well on the big Equipe. I need to rail it up more, but I don't have the experience or confidence to do it yet. If I race in planing wind at all, I'm pulling out the Seatrend. I can point high while planing and easily whip that Equipe. If it's sub-planing, I'll use the Equipe.
After a few runs around the course the wind started to pick up. I was planing off the wind, but still chugging going upwind. Richard was almost lapping me. I came in to rest and eventually decided to use the Seatrend with the big fin. I don't like using my bigger fins at Grassy because of how shallow it can be, but it was relatively high today and Richard thought I'd be okay. I took it out and didn't have any problems with depth. I was very powered up, though. Combined with the fear of running aground, I decided to go smaller. So I rigged my 6.6, put the 14.5" weed fin on the Carve 111 and vroom! Away I went. It was sweet. I was planing comfortably, but was a little underpowered. I bought a new 460 mast for the 6.6, and it helped the low end noticeably. I also played around with the tuning a bit. The wind dropped and I went in and let out the outhaul and downhaul. When I went back out, I was wrestling the gorilla again, so I came in and put the downhaul back (though I left the outhaul flappy). That helped a bunch. I was planing quickly and going fast, but the sail was much, much lighter and easier to sail. There was no tug-of-war. This must be the famous range the new sails have.
On one break John B. came out in his Jeep, no gear. He'd had some stuff stolen recently, but no windsurfing gear, besides his anemometers. He lost an expensive bike, though. None of it was locked up near his house.
I was sailing at about 4:30 when new friend Chris S. showed up. He was on the water in no time and was ripping right by me as I struggled during an extended lull. After it picked back up we dragged up and down a bit and jibed around each other. It was fun. He should be out there tomorrow with some more of his friends. Hopefully the good forecast will hold.
I pulled off a few nice jibes with the 6.6. It's a little more difficult to jibe than the 4.7, owing to the increased size. Not bad, though. I was usually a little underpowered going in, and it's hard to jibe like that. When I was agressive and had speed, they were pretty good. I feel like I'm finally getting to the "yeah, I can jibe" stage. Now that I say that, I'll probably start sucking again.
That's the great thing about this place. I've probably spent more time on a plane and tried more planing jibes since I've lived here than in all the other years combined. Montana is a nice place to live, but it's not a good place to windsurf. I'm glad I made the move.
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