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After my good 4.7/5.1 Saturday, I figured I'd be out a lot in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, terrorists killed scores of my country-men and women and no one really felt much like sailing. It was a week later when it was to blow again and I still didn't feel too much like going, but did anyway.
It was eerie as I went out to BIB. There were warplanes and helicopters all over the place, practicing and doing real work, I guess. We have an Army Depot and a couple of air bases in the vicinity, and they were busy.
When I got there, it was blowing pretty well. I ran into Mike, a local, and he was rigging his 5.4. Mike's a light-guy, about 150, so I have about 60-70 pounds on him. I watched him go out and get in the straps right away, so I put up my 6.5. John came just as I was starting to rig and he put up his 5.5, saying that he knew Mike and if Mike was using his 5.4, it's time for the 5.5.
My 6.5 was the perfect sail. The wind was pretty good, too, but the sail was great. For an 9 year old sail, I was impressed. Obviously Sailworks must be doing something right and I can hardly wait to get my hands on a newer sail soon, to see how they perform. For this sail, though, I was coasting through lulls, powering upwind on my 95 liter Screamer and rarely felt overpowered, though a couple of gusts came close to yard-saling me. I adjusted the downhaul a bit, letting it out some to make for a fuller sail. I also moved the mase base back a bit to see how that changed things.
One problem I had, which prompted the mast base move, was that I was raking the sail back so far that the tack was being hit by waves and by my wake. The waves aren't big, maybe 8 inches tops, and this shouldn't be happening. I moved the mast base back about an inch, maybe two, to see if that allowed me to hold the sail more upright. It seemed to help, though it took more work to keep the nose down. Technique is my friend, I will learn more as I go.
I also solved a minor mystery with a camber on the 6.5 that wouldn't rotate all the way on one tack and seemed to go too far on the other. The batten pocket was stuck in a weird way. Anyway, I discovered that as I got out, so it'll be nice to see how much that helps next time I use the 6.5.
All-in-all a very good day, best so far. I hit about a dozen non-planing, non-falling-in jibes and ripped around quite a bit. I have several bruises from a couple of wrecks and took the mast on the back of my head once (but not hard enough to knock me out. Still, I'll have to revisit that helmet thing again some day). I didn't feel uncomfortable really kicking it into gear like I had before. I used to be a real speed freak, years before, and it's taking some getting used to it again. Season to season an experienced sailor won't forget what the feeling is like, but after 8 years its tough. It takes a little progression to get the brass balls to return.
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