Feb 22 - Lac Bay

4,312 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2017 GA Vapor 7.1, 2015 iSonic 107, MFC KPRC360

Today's postings are the perfect demonstration of the performance of the expert and the duffer. 

Misjudged the wind, rigged too small. Made two runs across with marginal success. Then got suckered out on the tail end of a rain squal and paid the price. Had a good run to the north but the wind faded enough that I struggled to get back to the launch site. This all happened a little after 4 PM. Managed to dump the rig part way back. Not enough wind to waterstart and I'm too feeble to successfully uphaul the race sails. Floated/drifted forever but finally made it to the shallow area where I could beach start and putter my way back. In the meantime, the expert, with the correctly chosen sail size was zipping around having a grand time...

Feb 19 - Lac Bay

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2014 Sailworks Retro 5.5, 2014 Sailworks Retro 6.5, 1990 Hi-Tech 8'9" rounded pintail

Misjudged the wind this morning and ended up slightly underpowered. Made pointing upwind difficult. As the wind started to fade, I ended up having to walk the board upwind in the mangrove area in order to make a downwind run to the launch site. Wind was light for most of the afternoon but got a bump around 4:30. Fortunately I had re-rigged to the Retro 6.5 and nicely powered.

Today was a much needed day on the water for me. I was getting close to bagging the entire windsurfing activity as I have been struggling with feeling any sort of  competency on race boards and race sails. The Gorge Gear was a perfect contrast. Easy to ride, fun to ride, and I was making jibes again. I may have been slower than on the race gear but I was having WAY MORE fun for a lot less work. It is clear to me now that as the winds approach 20 knots, it is time for me to get on the fun Gorge Gear. I'm not mentally or physically ready to get hammered at speed in the chop but I do still enjoy being on the water, actually making jibes for a change and just basically cruising - instead of 'on the the edge of my control' kinds of rides which make me very tired, very quickly.

Feb 18 - Lac Bay

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2017 GA Vapor 6.4, 2014 iSonic 90, MFC KPRC340

Made one run, felt completely out of control - probably because I was over-powered. Bagged it.

Feb 12 - Lac Bay

4,284 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2014 Sailworks Retro 5.5, 1990 Hi-Tech 8'9" rounded pintail, Wind: 18 to 20 knots.

Today was 'cruising day' and I loved it . Pulled out the 'Gorge Gear' today. For my weight, the 8'9" is a semi-sinker (as long as I have a little forward motion it doesn't sink) so I need to use it on a day that has consistent, decent winds. Portions of today filled that bill. Compared to yesterday, today was a relaxing walk in the park. Sure, the speeds were not as high as on the slalom gear, but some days that is just fine. And besides, my slalom speeds are not that high anyway so who am I trying to kid? On this board, I was still able to pass some freestylers, giving my ego a tiny boost, while not having my body pounded to pieces. Sure glad I shipped my eight 'Gorge boards' to Bonaire when we moved. I plan on mixing it up between Gorge Gear and slalom gear a lot more in the future.

The wind faded in the afternoon, cutting my session a little short - first time in a long time I was actually looking forward to going back out on the water after a rest stop... The wind for tomorrow morning looks promising - maybe I'll do a repeat. 

Feb 11 - Lac Bay

4,269 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2017 GA Vapor 6.4, 2015 iSonic 90, MFC KPRC340, Wind: 15 - 20

A day of struggling/learning... Wind was strong enough (in the gusts) to be fully powered on the smaller gear. Unfortunately, everything felt different today. The chop was bigger, of course, the board was smaller which was good in the chop but fell off a plane very quickly when trying to jibe. Also, was using the GA carbon boom I got from Taty, which I like but I was struggling to stay in the harness lines. Took me a couple of runs to remember that Taty decided to force me to use longer harness lines by including 30" lines with the boom . Once I finally remembered this, I adjusted my grip on the boom and didn't have as many 'disconnects' of the harness popping off the line.

On the positive side, I got more proficient at surfing the chop (baby swell) faces to keep from getting launched off the face. Probably slowed me down some but not as much as getting launched would have... I had a couple opportunities to try waterstarting - doesn't take much of a wind fade to make that more difficult than on the bigger gear. I'm now heavy enough that the iSonic 90 reminded me of the old Gorge days of almost sinking the board if I didn't have the proper weight distribution when doing a 'light wind waterstart'. The good news for me is that I don't freak out any more if the wind isn't strong enough and I have to float for a while when waterstarting. Also, GREAT news for me was that the Vapor 6.4 was really easy to clear for waterstarting. Not nearly the issue I remember having with the older Neil Pryde EVOs.

The introspective reflections for today were that I need to accept my present windsurfing reality and abilities. Watching Taty and the young guns blasting around it great fun to watch but also a downer to recognize that they are going 5 to 10 knots faster than I am in the same conditions. More specifically, I need to accept that I really don't want to be going any faster in the chop, at least not until I increase my skill/confidence level. Today was enough of an E-ticket ride, I don't need anything more. And, I was the only 70 year old out there (and on slalom gear no less ).

Feb 9 - Lac Bay

4,254 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2017 GA-Sails Vapor 6.4, 2015 iSonic 90, MFC KP-RC340  Wind: ~ 15 knots

When I arrived at about 10:30, conditions looked good for the 6.4/90 combination. The Vapor 6.4, being brand-spanking-new took a little longer to rig and adjust (with Taty's help) than it will in the future. Taty was pleased with the sail/GA 430 mast combination. 

About that time, Yoeri arrived with his GW-60 that he had loaned to Juvannie yesterday. Turns out his GW-60 still had the original firmware, which was not compatible with the GW60AR_Util software. Fortunately, the GW52_Util software worked for downloading the .sbp file. We then updated Yoeri's GW-60 to the latest FW. Upon inspection of the data, it was clear that there were some 'car tracks' data in the file that were fortunately easy to remove. Unfortunately for Juvannie, his data won't look as good as he thought it would... After that messing around, it was time to go sail, except by then the wind had faded significantly. I made a couple of attempted runs, enough to know that when powered, I'm going to really like the 6.4/90 combo. Today ended up being a good 7.9/107 day except I kept hoping the wind bump would happen around 4:30 (it didn't).

Feb 7 - Lac Bay

4,248 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2014 Sailworks Retro 6.5, 2015 iSonic 107, MFC KPRC360. Wind: up and down, probably 16-18 knots at times.

it is a good thing that GPSTC is structured to allow you to just compete against yourself because I'm quickly getting way out of my league here .

I finally changed my daily schedule and arrived at about 10:30 AM. Was able to have reasonably consistent winds and didn't have to deal with the rain squalls. The rain squalls arrived as usual around 3 PM but I had already had some decent sessions. The old body did OK today - the rib pain is essentially gone so now I can focus on sailing again.

While it was a reasonably productive day for me OTW, it was a very productive day from a WCS standpoint. The WCS has a new team member, Juvannie Agostien - WELCOME ABOARD!!. Juvannie sailed with Taty today and they were pushing each other. Then, later in the afternoon, Terence arrived for a quick session before the rain squalls shut things down. 

My comment in the beginning is very pertinent - All the WCS members with NB and CUR sail numbers are consistently clocking low to mid-30 knots 2 Sec averages in sub-20 knot winds. I, OTOH, am working to break 25 knots (this will change some when I go back to the Vapor sails, but not THAT much ). I may be old and slow, but I can see young and FAST on the water. .

Feb 1 - Lac Bay

4,233 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2014 Sailworks Retro 6.5, 2015 iSonic 107, MFC KPRC360. Wind: 15-16 knots

Ribs feeling better. A couple more days and I should get kicked off the injured list. 

Good to be out on the water. Not getting enough TOW in any session to make any reasonable improvement on the jibes, but I think I'm getting better at analyzing and understanding what I'm doing wrong . OTOH, I am enjoying the straight line runs.