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Now this is more like it! 4+ hours on the 5.1 and 4.7! Whew, I'm beat. I don't remember if I've ever had this much fun sailing. I might have, but I don't remember it. I had an absolute blast.
I arrived about 11:30 and rigged with Jerry from Houston. Jerry, who is about 25 pounds lighter than me, went out on his 4.5 North, which he used almost the whole day. I decided to rig my 5.1 Sailworks Race. I went out and got some scary fast rides. I didn't even know what I was doing out there and I had a few near miss crashes (near misses between my skull and the mast, etc). I was doing okay, but the problem was mostly that I was having trouble really committing to the harness. When I would get going top speed, I'd worry about a major crash, so I didn't really go for it.
It was picking up, and I figured that I don't have 6 sails so I can rig one and not use the others. So, I hauled out my 4.7 for the first time and rigged it up. Thing of beauty. It rigged super easy, even though it has a vario-top that took a little adjusting.
I headed back out after some technique advice from Jerry. I think it was a combination of Jerry's advice, the smaller sail and my "I didn't move all the way down here to be a pussy" that finally got me going. I was BLASTING. When I wasn't waterstarting after a failed jibe or crash or caught in one of those lulls where the windspeed is suddenly 2 mph, I was going as fast or faster than anyone out there. I worked on some of what Jerry had to say, technique-wise (Jerry is a very good sailor from Houston. He was hooked in and dragging any time I saw him, which was rarely due to him going so fast by me all the time).
I was impressed with my ability to hold the 4.7 down in some pretty decent gusts, and I was also able to coast through some large wind holes. After I had gotten it figured out a little, I wasn't getting passed by anyone, either. No, I wasn't the fastest guy out there, but I wasn't getting killed, either. I hope we have more of this 4.7 wind!
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