4,334 km
Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands
2017 GA-Sails Vapor 7.9, 2017 iSonic 127 Ultra, Drake Carbon Race 44 Wind: 12 G 14
Had a couple of decent runs before the winds backed off. Shin splint pain mostly gone. Will have to spend more time on the 127 to get used to jibing this super-wide board. That said, for these light winds it worked well.
Later in the afternoon, made the bad decision to try it again, even though the wind was less than 13 knots. Struggled to make it to the sand bar. Made the second mistake of attempting to beach start from the sand bar and fell in. Third mistake was thinking I could waterstart - not enough wind to waterstart but enough to drag me away from the sandbar. Spent the next 30 minutes or so drifting across the bay to mangroves on the west side. Did not attempt to uphaul the heavy 7.9 sail because I didn't want to screw up my back. Just before I made landfall on the west side, the wind picked up a little and I was able to waterstart. Sailed to the north mangrove area and then back to the launch site.
Given this experience, and previous discussions with Taty, I talked with Alexander, who had mentioned he wanted a better sail, and sold him the 7.9 Vapor. Taty has been pushing me to switch to GA Phantom sails (detuned Vapors with 3 Cams) because they are lighter in weight and easier to sail. May give up some top end speed potential which I will never realize anyway. So, swallowed my ego and will be going to the 'Granny Sails' in the Fall. Taty and I agreed that I will get 2018 7.9, 7.1, and 6.4 Phantoms. I still have the NP EVO 5 5.8 and the Sailworks Retro 5.5 for the few stronger wind days on Bonaire. The three Vapor sails were in my quiver about four months - a record for the shortest time I have had a set of sails.
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