Dec 15

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 6 7.0, iSonic 90, MFC KP-RC 340. Wind: 17 knots

Had a good birthday today - decided to focus my afternoon on adjusting/tuning the race gear after the improvement I felt adjusting harness and boom settings on Sunday for the Gorge Gear. Result - I finally think I'm really going to like the iSonic 90 because I am reasonably confident I've adjusted the 'twitchyness' out of it. Started by narrowing the harness lines, raising the boom, and moving the mast base halfway forward of the recommended starting setting. This helped but the board was still a little on the wild side for my ability. Next step: move the mast base as far forward as possible with the Chinook two-bolt base and then move the foot straps from their 'center' position as far forward as possible. This did the trick. Board no longer wanted to become airborne when pointing into the wind coming off of chop faces. I'm still a little nervous at speed in chop but hopefully this will diminish as I become more confident about my ability to react and control the board/sail. I'll look closely at today's track results in GPSResults but my recollection from the GPSLogit speed chat was that the changes did not noticeably effect my speed (i.e. slow me down).

Dec 13

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks Retro 6.5, Hi-Tech 8'4" SVF, True Ames 9.5", Wind: 19 knots

Good exercise day. Gorge Gear day. Raised boom by about 4" (bracketed by 2nd and 3rd stripes on sail luff) and narrowed harness lines to the width of one hand. Combination made sail control significantly easier - allowed more 'hanging' on the sail in the gusts. Will do this change for the EVO race sails - maybe will make the NP/iSonic setup a little more comfortable in fully powered situations.

Talked with Taty Frans about the iSonic 90. He doesn't like the hard rails and harsh ride - said you need to be a big person (like 200+ lb) for this design to shine. Without the sailor weight the board is very twitchy and wants to be airborne. He is a fan of the iSonic 87. He also suggested the Starboard Futura 90 as a more controllable, but almost as fast, alternative to the iSonic 90. I'll move the mast forward, adjust the boom height and narrow the harness lines and see if these tweaks make the board more controllable in chop.

Dec 12

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks Retro 6.5, Hi-Tech SVF 8'4", True Ames 9.5" fin. Wind: 20 knots

No great numbers today but had a lot of fun sailing GORGE GEAR. Nicely powered and the Hi-Tech sliced through the chop for a smooth, mellow ride. Glad I kept it.

Dec 11 - PB alpha

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 6 7.0, iSonic 90, MFC KP-RC 340, Wind: 18 knots.

Fully powered. 

Roo commented:

Way to go Barton, another PB....you seem to be getting the race gear dialed in and comfortable. In no time you'll be knocking on the 30s.

Sailquik commented:

cool

I commented:

Thanks for the encouragement Roo. Maybe 'better dialed in' but not so sure about comfortable - some of the runs, like the NM were a little tense for me going over the larger chop in the middle of the bay. I am feeling a little more confident letting the board become airborne and adjusting by trimming the sail. Surprisingly, in looking at the NM track, my fourth best 10 sec reading happened in the middle of the bay in the worst chop... oh well, what do I know :0. Still, a long way to go to get to the 30's. 

On a side note, I was a little disappointed at not having a tie with PB on NM. The GPSLogit/Alcatel phone had the numbers but the GW-52 came up a little short. On the plus side, now that I'm using the GW-52 for posting, I know a PB is really a PB with a .07 to .1 knot margin from the previous PB.

Thanks Sailquik!

Dec 10

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks 5.1 Race, Sailworks 5.6 Race, Hi-Tech 8'9" Gorge pintail, iSonic 90. Wind 20 knots.

A day of trying to get calibrated: 5.1 was barely powered. 5.6 was reasonably to well powered on both boards but iSonic was easier to get planing. Hi-Tech was slower but more comfortable. iSonic was faster but harsh ride. Jibing in the shallows by the mangroves is touch and go with the iSonic's longer fin - 80% of the time it will pick up some turtle grass.

Dec 9

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP Evo 6 7.0, iSonic 90, MFC KP-RC 340. Wind: 20 knots.

Comfortably powered. Nice exercise session. Still struggling with jibes, getting better at controlling the board at speed in 30 - 50 cm chop.

Dec 6

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks Retro 6.5, Hi-Tech Slalom 9'0" carbon, wind: 15 knots

Frustrating day - wind consistent 20 knots all morning and until after I arrived and had rigged the Retro 5.5, then it dropped to 15 kts or less. Rerigged to Retro 6.5 assuming it was they typical afternoon dip but it didn't return to morning levels as it usually does. Spent the afternoon underdone with a lot of shore time waiting for the never-to-arrive uptick in wind speed. 

Dec 5

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP Evo 6 5.8, iSonic 90, MFC KP-320, Wind: 19 knots

Underdone today. Rigged for forecast of increasing wind to average of about 22 knots, of course didn't happen. Some broad reach runs and slogged back. A little surprised at the nm number as speed chat was telling me over 20 for most of the run.

Dec 4

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP Evo 5 7.8, iSonic 90, MFC-KP 360, Wind: 18 knots

Quick session in preparation for backing up Roo with his ARooBar session tomorrow. Practiced pumping today, feel more comfortable getting the rig moving in marginal winds. 

Dec 2 - Gorge Gear

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks Cam 1+1 4.6, Hi-Tech 8'9" Gorge pintail, Wind: 23-24G26

My irony for the day: we had the strongest winds of the past two months yet I had the best/most comfortable sailing session for that time period. Why? GORGE GEAR :). Sure glad I kept this 20 year old equipment as it was perfect, for me, today. Heavy, narrow glass board stayed stuck to the water. Sail was easy to handle and easy to clear, if necessary, for a waterstart. Down-side: not fast, but that was what I was looking for. Didn't need to be stacked today, especially in the middle of the bay with large chop. Also interesting to me was that the chop was actually starting to become predictable swells deep into the bay - actually gave some relatively smooth water.

Roo commented:

Keep it up Barton, Saturday looks good here for a session at ARooBar. We should be able to get some numbers on the board.

I commented:

Roo, won't be able to come anywhere close to your numbers but Saturday looks good here too (relatively speaking) with a 20 G 24 knot forecast. Should at least be able to get numbers on the board. Hopefully Marc will also be able to sail on Saturday so you will have two backups