Dec 22 - Lac Bay

4434km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2015 Sailworks Retro 6.5, 1990 Hi-Tech 8'9", 2015 iSonic 107, MFC KP-RC 360  Wind: 16 - 19 knots

Today was a day of marginal decision making...  

I'm not a morning person but decided that I should sail the morning winds, come home earlier and accomplish something on the house. Bonaire seems to have two peak wind periods, about 10-noon and 1530 to half an hour before sunset. This means I needed to be rigged about 1000. Not a chance. Finally rigged at 1130 just in time to watch the wind slowly die. But, I was not to be deterred from sailing the 6.5/Hi-Tech combo, certainly something as trivial as not sufficient wind :). So out I went, suckered by a little gust, I made it to the middle of the bay before hitting a big lull and plop, into the water I went as the 8'9" is pretty much a sinker for me unless I have some power. I had a casual drift for about five minutes until I got a gust strong enough for me to waterstart. Made it to the mangrove area. Waited for another gust and was able to semi-slog back to the launch area. By then I was in the noon wind lull. Too light for this setup but figured maybe the iSonic 107 would work. It did, with enough pumping I could get it onto a plane, and then things were fine. I even made a decent jibe in the mangrove area but it seemed the wind was continuing to drop. Screw it. De-rigged and packed up as I wasn't going to wait a couple of hours for the chance of an afternoon wind bump - the wind bump hit just as I finished packing up... Oh well. Got some exercise.

Dec 20 - Lac Bay

4427km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2015 Sailworks Retro 6.5, 1990 Hi-Tech 8'9", Wind: 20-21 knots

SWEET SESSION! The thirty year old Gorge board ROCKS! The winds were consistently 20+ knots and a tad from the north which made it possible to get back to the launch site without sailing over the shallows (which I decided after yesterday that it was a pretty dumb move to be doing almost 25 knots in 18 (or less) inches of water). This slight shift in wind angle allowed me to do more of a broad reach in both directions so I sacrificed a little top end speed on the downwind run but gained more comfortable reaches in both directions. I was fully powered on both starboard and port reaches. Swells were large enough (OK, large chop of maybe 18 inches ) to do a little 'down the face' sailing :). Who knows, maybe time for some really small bump and jumps as well :).

Port jibes are coming along nicely with slightly faster exit speeds. Starboard jibes are the next agenda item as I haven't worked on them because I need to stop at the launch area for a breather after each completed run. On the plus side, I'm getting back in shape and probably tomorrow will start attempting two runs before stopping to rest.

Dec 19 - Lac Bay

4410km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2015 Sailworks Retro 6.5, 1990 Hi-Tech 8'9", Wind: 15 gusting to  20 knots.

Per yesterday, I used the 8'9" Hi-Tech and the 6.5 Retro. Caught the tail end of the 12 PM wind and got in one good run before struggling for a couple of hours. The 4 PM wind bump was excellent and I got in a couple of good runs that confirmed my thoughts of yesterday. Looking forward to more bump-n-jump days :).
The one downside of the Retro/Hi-Tech combo is that it does not point well to get up wind. Will need to try the Point-7 AC-One or Gaastra Phantoms to see if the non-cambered sail is the issue.

Dec 18 - Lac Bay

4395km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2019 Gaastra Hybrid 5.6, 2015 Sailworks Retro 6.5, 1994 Hi-Tech SVF 8'4", Wind: around 20 knots.

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to spend about 30 minutes chatting with Taty Frans about windsurfing equipment - mostly boards and sails and what would work well for his rental clients at The Frans Paradise. For guys like me, I've come to the conclusion that a freeride or freerace board better suites me if I want to maximize the FUN of windsurfing. I'm finding the iSonic boards, while fast, to have a very harsh ride and you basically have to be 'going for it' or they don't handle well. They weren't designed for laid back cruising and they don't qualify for that type of sailing. The same can be said for the NP, Gaastra, and Point-7 race sails that I have had the privilege of using. The Point-7 AC One and the Gaastra Phantom (freerace) sails are the most comfortable "race" sails for me. Again, as Taty said, the race sails, even for him, require that you be 'going for it' for them to handle properly. When he wants to have FUN sailing, the race gear is not his choice. There is a good chance he will opt for the Point-7 AC-Z sails for his rental fleet. I hope so 'cause I would really like to try these sails. Their description seems to harken back to the late 1990's Sailworks cammed sails that I loved. I want cammed sails for their stability but don't want the huge luff sleeve that makes them difficult to clear. Also, smaller cams mean lighter weight and easier rotation. I've finally accepted that an old duffer like me isn't going to be challenging anyone for speed, so I might as well have fun sailing. Giving up a knot or two on the sail design is no biggie any more for me.

In this same spirit, my choice of boards is changing. In 15 knot winds, the iSonics are fine because the chop is relatively small and speed is still fun. The last couple of days with winds approaching 20 knots and a corresponding significant increase in chop size, having my body jarred and hammered (sort of like driving a Corvette) is no longer fun. Today I hauled out my 1994(?) Hi-Tech SVF 8'4" Gorge bump and jump semi-sinker board. While the 5.6 sail was just not quite enough, the Sailworks Retro 6.5 worked nicely, once I remembered how to get the board planing (back foot in the strap first in order to keep the board from pointing into the wind). I mentioned this to Taty and he said speed boards tend to do the same thing. I guess because they are narrow. I took a 4 - 5 knot hit in speed but was rewarded with a smooth ride that I could do all day, assuming I was in shape. The bonus was that I could, and did, easily jibe this board - unlike my continuing jibing frustrations with the iSonics. Tomorrow, with similar conditions to today forecasted, I'll be using my Hi-Tech 8'9" glass board which should be just the ticket. Sure glad I kept those 25 year old, old school design boards.

Dec 17 - Lac Bay

4384km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2019 Point-7 AC-One 6.2, 2015 iSonic 107, MFC KP-RC 360  Wind: 19 knots

Good, consistent wind. The Point-7 felt quick and stable. Roughly the same conditions as yesterday and my 5x10 number was about 2.5 knots faster. While my 2 sec was only a little faster, it seemed like I was generally faster all the time than yesterday. Being out of shape, that wasn't necessarily a good feeling in the chop . 

Dec 16 - Lac Bay

4377km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2015 Sailworks Retro 6.5, 2015 iSonic 107, MFC KP-RC 360  Wind: 18-20 knots

Good wind. Going to have to get re-acclimated to the chop :)

Dec 15 - Lac Bay

4371km:

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2018 GA Phantom 7.1, 2015 iSonic 107, MFC KP-RC 360  Wind: 14-16 knots

Happy Birthday to me :). Celebrated my 72nd BDay by going windsurfing for the first time since April 9, 2018. Great to be celebrating on the water after 20 months away during which time I joined the club of cancer survivors with a very good prognosis.

Only made a couple of runs before the wind became too marginal for this setup. That was OK by me since I have not done much in the way of exercise in the past 20 months. Now that I have demonstrated to myself that I can successfully sail again, the motivation for exercising should return. :).

April 9 - Lac Bay

4,366 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2018 GA Phantom 7.1, 2015 iSonic 107, MFC KP-RC 360  Wind: 14 -16 knots

Wind was a tad light for the 7.1, except in the gusts but I wanted to try test the 7.1. First rigging needed more downhaul, according to Taty (and in retrospect, I agree) because the pocket was too deep. Second rigging, later in the day, was better but lost a little of the low-end power. Overall, the 7.1 felt good except that the cams don't rotate a easily as on the 7.8 Phantom. Bottom-line, I'm pleased with the sail swaps from the Vapors to the Phantoms.

Learning opportunity: I was trying to make a run to the rental area to get a better NM but the wind was marginal. On the southerly run, I spun out, not sure if I hit a weed clump, or what. Anyway, was in the water. Got the sail cleared but not enough to waterstart. Then the fun began. As I got tired, I could not clear the clew of the sail because I was also in the area of the bay with the biggest chop, which had a period of maybe a meter. The chop kept breaking over the sail and if I pushed the mast higher, the clew would get buried. Tried uphauling but in the chop the 107 was just too unstable. Drifted/swam until I could touch bottom. Slogged back to the launch area. By then I was too tired to sail and it was almost 5 PM.

March 29 - Lac Bay

4,352 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2018 GA Phantom, 2017 iSonic 127, Drake 44  Wind: 13-15 knots

Today was sail test day for me: Tuesday I briefly sailed my 2017 Vapor 7.9, today was the 2018 Phantom 7.8 . The most immediately noticeable difference between the two sails is that the cams on the Phantom will actually rotate without Herculean pressure on them :). They rotate very easily. Big Plus Phantom. As Taty has been telling me for some time now, the Phantoms are more comfortable/easier to sail so I will sail longer with less effort. Plus Phantom.

I did one intentional waterstart and one waterstart caused by hitting some floating seaweed. In both cases, even with marginally light wind, the sail was easy to manipulate and get oriented for waterstarting. In both cases it took a while to waterstart due to the light winds. Because of the narrower luff sleeve compared to the Vapor, the Phantom was easier to clear in preparation for waterstarting. Additionally, because the cams rotate easily, I was actually able to get them to rotate while I was in the water. I found it impossible to do this with the Vapor. Another big Plus Phantom. 

Speed: essentially the same results between the Vapor and Phantom given the margin of error on wind speed measurements.

Bottomline: Winner for me - Phantom. 

Everything that GA-sails said about the Phantom rang true for me, especially compared to the Vapors. I'm glad Taty pushed me to switch sails. I'm now looking forward to more time on the water and more fun on the water. Interestingly (to me anyway) is that when Taty is not slalom training, his preference is to sail the Phantoms because they are more comfortable to sail (hard core racer v. GT cruiser with both having close to the same top end ).

Below is a picture of my upgraded lightwind kit (2018 GA Phantom 7.8, 2017 iSonic 127):

March 27 - Lac Bay

4,352 km

Lac Bay, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

2017 GA Vapor 7.9, 2017 iSonic 127, Drake 44  Wind: 12-14 knots

Wind was hovering around 12 most of the afternoon. When I finally looked like there might be a wind bump, I rigged. Got in about 20 minutes (or less) before it faded back again.

I think this was the first decent test of the 127/Vapor 7.9 combo. Actualy felt pretty good. Was nice and stable. Biggest problem for me is getting the 127 to turn. Will take some more practice. 

Anyway, got in a sample session on the Vapor 7.9 so I can compare it with the Phantom 7.8 that I am testing tomorrow...