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Oso bay again. I checked out Corpus Christi Bay but there were only two sailors at Oleander and I didn't know either of them. No one was at TAMUCC beach so I sailed solo at Oso again. It's amazing, all this wind and hardly anyone to sail with. It's pretty lonely sailing & rigging by yourself, but I wasn't going to pass up wind. I don't like sailing solo, but Oso is safe -- waist deep and land downwind. I'll sail Corpus Christi Bay with people I know.
The wind was similar to Tuesday, but I rigged like Wednesday. So, I was underpowered much of the day on my 6.6. Still, I had a good time. I actually wanted a day like this to work on chop hops and I think I'm getting them down. Balls out powered or overpowered isn't what I need for chop hops. Just enough wind to plane solidly and get me going fast enough to take off. I'm not getting really high, but my timing is better and I'm starting to unhook quicker. I didn't unhook before, but I think that was a mistake. Mentally, I was a little worried about being hooked into my power source. Unhooked I'm more upright, over the board and confident that I'm not going to lose my balance forward as easily. A couple more days of good wind combined with me being agressive and I should be able to get some good ones consistently.
I set goals last year when I moved here. By this fall I wanted to be able to have a solid jibe, fast tack, duck jibe and chop hop. Right now none are solid and I've only tried four duck jibes, all of which ended in big wipeouts (kind of fun, actually). My fast tacks are decent -- I've had a couple of excellent ones, but they aren't consistent. Same with my jibes. I can plane out of about one of four. Two of the other three I make, but come off the plane. The other one is really wobbly or I fall in altogether. I'm happy to be making progress, but I want to be able to plane out of three of four. I know the routine, I just need to do it. Niether side seems to dominate -- no port over starboard, etc.
I'm hoping that I have a solid block of wind often so I can work on this stuff. Having a couple of days in a row really helps. I think it's going to be learned on my 6.6, as it just doesn't blow 5.4 for me too often. 5.4 for me is about 25, gusting to 30 or a little higher. It blows 20-25 a lot here.
Fast tacks are coming along without really even trying. They are much easier to do because there is less to worry about... carve into the wind, good footwork to the other side of the board, tilt the sail forward, sheet in and go. I only want a good solid tack I can do in all conditions. I'm not worried about planing out of them. I can pull off a tack quite a bit, but often I don't carve hard enough and it takes too long for the board to come around.
Duck jibes I will be working on more when I sail in deeper water more often. I've tried a few at Bird Island, but when I wreck, I often hit bottom. Since you can't be sure what is on the bottom -- I found old fishing nets, etc, I'm a little worried about these wrecks. Of course, if I just keep my mast out of the water these hard wrecks won't be such a big deal.
Chop hops are all balance and timing for me right now. My timing has improved, and I'm realizing how much more upright I need to be to catch air. Before I would be laid out as if on a speed run. When I'd try to catch air, I would be laid way too far back to get anything out of the water. Now that I realize this I am a lot better, but feel like I'm going to go over the bars sometimes. Plus, I'm sailing more off the wind to pick up speed, then cutting upwind to hit some chop. Timing is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I suppose this won't be an issue on the big bay, because the chop on even a 6.6 day is in the 2-3 foot range, but since I don't sail alone there, how often I get a chance to sail depends on how many friends I can scare up. They all seem to be out of town right now.
My jibe is the big one. I can waterstart very well. I am very fast. There are only a few people I think can consistently outrun me if we are both trying. But my jibe still needs work. Once I get it down, I think I enter the "advanced sailor" ranks. I have all the knowledge, I can plane out of a decent number (when you are on the water, one of four feels a lot higher), all I need to do is put it all together consistently. When I'm agressive and concentrating, I do great. But, sometimes I'm just out there banging around, having fun and forget to do both or either. Then I start to struggle. It's like when a basketball player scores 40 one night and then 10 the next. I see now how easy it can be to forget what needs to be done. Hopefully this will soon be second nature, but in the meantime I am trying to stay more focused.
I'm not really working on them, but I'm doing two more things: sailing nose first & carving 360s (circles). The nose first is out of necessity at Oso, and Bird Island for that matter. Once I get them down, I'll probably try it at Bird, though it's straight downwind from shore to the dropoff there. I found that nose riding is easier on a reach or slightly upwind, which is weird because I didn't think I would be able to go upwind at all without my fin in the water. It's really pretty easy when you are going... keep your lee foot on the lee rail and keep your windward foot up near the mast base. If you let the windward rail dip instead of the lee rail, your board will spin around and want to go the normal way. The hardest part is getting started. Once you are in at least 6 inches of water, you need to toss the tail of the board out and get on the nose quickly. Sail movement greatly determines where the nose goes, so a quiet sail is important. You can't really sheet in at all until you are on the nose or it will move lee or windward.
Circles are just for fun. They don't serve any real purpose, but I sometimes do them when I'm playing around or when I'm coming in for a break. They are a blast, though, because you can really crank on the board without worrying about coming out of the turn. I've only gotten about 3/4 of the way around at the best, but I'll get all the way. No pressure. From a showoff perspective, I'd love to be able to do these well, though. I plan on being a showoff when I can sail better. ;-)
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