Feb 2

3266km

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 5  7.8, iSonic 107, Drake carbon slalom 38. Wind: 15G17 followed by short segment of 19G21 knots E

Good workout today. Most of the afternoon I was comfortably powered up and had fun working on the downwind run and on the mangrove runs trying jibes further out in the deeper water (no bottom weeds) and just foregoing 'speed' on these runs. And Then, the wind picked up for about 1/2 an hour. Tried to maintain my discipline but after getting a 27+ knots on the downwind run, to h*ll with discipline and I did a couple of runs into the mangrove shallows. Hit 28.18 but only 27.78 for the 2 sec. On this run I stayed locked in a little longer than I normally do and figured I was in for a bailout before hitting the trees or breaking the fin. Fortunately, the mangrove area provided the perfect catch mechanism for run-away-windsurfers. The mud/weeds was just dense enough to provide a gradual deceleration. The only drawback was trying to get out of the knee deep mud and back on the board to slog into deeper water where I could clean the fin :). 

Little-By-Little: The 2 sec is a new PB for the 7.8 sail by .5 knot and 5x10 was also a PB for the 7.8 sail. The previous PBs were on January 29, 2017 and then the next best speeds on the 7.8 were almost a knot slower on 2 sec and 1.5 knot slower for 5x10 and occurred almost a year ago in March 2016. Hopefully this means I'm improving and getting more comfortable with the race sails. I'm pretty sure a year ago I would not have felt comfortable on the  7.8 in over 20 knot winds - today it was just exhilarating and I even spent time trying to keep my grip loose on the boom while bouncing over the chop :) .

Roo commented:
About bloody time for some more PBs, I was about to delist you for getting lazy. You've been down in the tropics for months and taking it easy doing island times. HTFU princess and start churning out some decent speeds. Now you're comfortable on the race sails its time to turn it off the wind and get bitching betty all excited. Congrats on the improvements and keep it up!

I commented:

Maybe it isn't clear from the track image (which is oriented N-S) but I AM turning it off the wind. The wind is sorta from the East, maybe a few degrees N of East. On the southerly runs, I start bearing off as I approach the sand bar. Today Chatty Cathy usually went from 18-19 knots to typically 25, maybe 26 knots on the Southerly runs, until the wind picked up. As I said, on the Northerly runs, I'm trying to improve my jibing so wasn't doing speed runs. I need the stronger winds in the mangrove area to help me practice laydowns - my goal is to be doing something that could be at least mistaken for a laydown by the time I return to the Gorge... 

For example, my best Alpha today, while not up to your standards, felt pretty good. Entered the gate at 20 knots in chop, peaked at 22.7 knots as the water became smoother, jibed and ramped back up to 20 knots in chop before hitting the exit gate. Stayed at about 20 knots in the chop across the bay and then ramped up as I turned off the wind, peaking at 26.7 knots. As an aside, friends on the beach gave me unsolicited compliments today that I had really improved over the last year...

Maybe it is time for some more tips from the Guru as I'm not sure what else to try on the Southerly runs. Arms are straight, trying to get away from the rig and stay low. Forward foot has slight up-lift combined with rear foot pressure to slightly raise the windward rail. Staying rigid when hit by a gust to translate that into speed. Thoughts?

Roo commented:
Time to get low and go low. Drop the boom height, move the mast foot back the same amount and go low and deep off the wind. You want the board to be on the edge of flying out of control. Move the mast foot back until that starts happening then drop the boom height to bring it back under control. You may have to adjust your harness line length and position to open the sail up a bit to get more power.