April 22

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO5 7.8, iSonic 107, Drake carbon 38. Wind: 12 kts

Only had a small time window to sail today - wind didn't cooperate...

April 21

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO6 7.0, iSonic 107, Drake Carbon 38. Wind: 16 knots

Nicely powered today. Did a little 'tail walking' at times. Port side jibes are coming along nicely as full planing jibes, unless I go too deep into the shallows and run aground - only did that once today. Starboard jibes also improving but the timing on the sail flip isn't as consistent, partly because there is somewhat of a wind shadow where I like to jibe.

April 20

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO6 7.0, iSonic 107, Drake Carbon 38. Wind: 13 knots

Wind was fickle today, it backed off just as I finished rigging. Being lazy, I went out anyway rather than derig (and was hoping it would pickup later - it didn't). Got some decent runs but also got dumped in the middle of the bay trying to unhook from the harness line when the wind died. Spent what seemed like forever drifting and waiting for a gust of wind (guess I should really attempt to uphaul on this board at some point in time). Wind finally picked back up to 13 knots so I got in a few runs and was able to get the tightness of the front foot straps dialed in.

April 17

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 5 7.8, iSonic 107, Drake Carbon 38 and Black Project FreeDeltaRE 21. Wind: 12 ramping to 15 knots, E changing to ENE.

First day of any wind in a week and the result was that the bay had a lot of floating weed chunks. Started on the Drake 38 slalom fin but it would collect weeds when moving slowly after a jibe so switched to the FreeDeltaRE which didn't collect weeds but was disappointing and uncomfortable to sail. So, I switched back to the Drake and dealt with the weeds. This A-B comparison demonstrated two points to me: 1) since I can't 'load up' the fin on the FreeDeltaRE my stance is messed up and uncomfortable, but more importantly 2) the FreeDeltaRE is costing me at least 2 -3 knots in speed. Now that my jibing is getting smoother, even in bigger chop and with the 7.8 race sail, I'll likely NOT be using the FreeDeltaRE again any time soon.

Overall, very good session today. Numbers aren't great but looking at the data on GPSResults shows that they are very consistent at around 22-23 knots for a run across the bay. Felt comfortable and am feeling more in control every session, even when the chop starts increasing.

Boro commented:
Barton, BPWeedspeed40 degrees is what you need if you must have a weed fin. 38cm for iSonic 107. No penalty in speed. Trims the board about the same as normal fin so no need for change in trim plus more control in big gusts. Upwind performance is the only downfall.

I commented:
Boro, thank you for the equipment tips. Sunday was the first time in six months that the floating weed chunks were bad enough to be annoying. I'll do what I can to avoid needing to use a weed fin - the deeper sections of the bay didn't have nearly the weed chunk issue as the shallower (flatter) areas where I like to jibe. Guess it is time to work on my jibing skills and get better at jibing in the larger chop/swells - certainly a useful skill for the Gorge

April 11

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO5 7.8, iSonic 107, Drake Carbon 38. Wind: 11 kts

After two days of not sailing I decided 'heck with the forecast' and went to the bay anyway. Wind was very light but rigged the biggest I had and with enough pumping was able to surprise myself with a couple of sucker runs across the bay. Not the greatest day but didn't want to see another day of Roo's great runs not backed up. As it turns out, Peter solved that issue :). Roo, thanks for posting your tracks, always curious how/where the experts sail.

As a contrast to the picture Roo posted yesterday, here is what Lac Bay looked like today...

April 8

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO6 7.0, iSonic 107, Drake carbon 38. Wind: 14 G 17

Good 1 hour workout session spent BAFing. Spent the time messing with footstraps to find the best control/comfort trade-off for the front straps. May need a couple more adjustments. At least I'm starting to feel much more comfortable/in control in the chop. Jibes are getting better as well.

Taty arrived at the launch area just as I finished rigging. Was happy to see that he rigged his GA-Sails Vapor 7.1 for his iSonic 107. Since we are about the same size, at least I got that part correct :). He practices in the 'shallow' area that forms the first half of my long NM runs. I'll have to venture over there more often - I suspect it could be stronger winds based on my past experiences on the NM runs. Chop will be about the same, just more people to deal with. I should have sailed over there today but wasn't willing to deal with the speed difference humiliation at this point in time .

April 7

Bonaire Lac Bay. Neil Pryde EVO6 7.0, iSonic 107, Drake carbon 38. Wind: 13 kts

Afternoon wind bump fizzled. Would have been better off on the NP 7.8. Basically a day of BAFing trying to get the jibes smoother with a some improvement. 

Amazing how deserted in the late afternoon the place is compared to a week ago. It is back to a couple of cars in the parking lot and maybe 5 sailors on the water.

April 5

Bonaire Lac Bay. Neil Pryde EVO 5 7.8, iSonic 107, Drake Carbon 38, Wind: 12 E

Another light wind day so plugged in the race sail to compare with yesterday - definitely more power. Had boom hight right in the middle of the mast cutout. Guessing that I would not have been able to get on a plane with the Sailworks Retro. Spent they day getting more comfortable sailing with arms extended/straight and leaning back more. 

Added treat for the day was when Trevor Hibdige showed up with his drone to take videos of his two sons. The 17 year old was having great fun racing with me because while we were equal in straightline speed he would consistently clobber me in the jibes. Interstingly, he was on a 1999 Mistral SLE board. Anyway, I was surprised to learn that Trevor, who is just learning how to use the drone, had a short video of me, which I posted to youtube at https://youtu.be/ZyS5KJX4BSk . Per the GW-52, I was doing about 22.5 knots at the beginning of the video. I almost looks like I know what I'm doing :)

April 4

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks Retro 7.5, iSonic 107, Drake Carbon 38 Slalom. Wind: 12 - 14

Light wind day but good for practicing sailing with arms straight. Sailed the whole session with the arms extended and leaning back more. In the light winds it felt reasonable, no control issues. Will be interesting to see how I feel when the wind cranks up a few notches.

April 3

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks Retro 7.5, iSonic 107, Drake Carbon 38cm, Wind: 12 - 15 ENE

Light wind but good time to continue experimenting with stance and tuning. Lowered the boom so it is now centered on the middle mark on the sail cutout. This puts the boom at between shoulder and chin high when the mast is vertical. Tried getting as far away from the boom as possible with arms almost straight. This will take some practice as it feels like I'm giving up some control of the sail. Got in some decent runs. Jibes are progressing slowly. My 5x10 efficiency chart (and 2 Sec chart as well) show the changes certainly didn't hurt performance...

I commented:

Congratulations Alexander on the PBs! Nice numbers . Sorry my backup for you is weak - best I could do in 15 knot winds.

Alsosnoff commented:

Thanks, Barton. You've done really good job to involve pros to give their technical advices. It's benefiting all of us.

Roo commented:

Great job team putting us on the board for the month. Nice PBs Alex, looking forward to seeing big numbers from you in Hatteras. Go for it Barton, give everything a try and make it your own. You've come a long way in a short space of time since joining the team, well done.