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Changing sails mid reggatta |
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Sam.Spoons 
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Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
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 Topic: Changing sails mid reggattaPosted: 14 Oct 16 at 2:39pm |
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blueboy
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Joined: 27 Aug 10 Online Status: Offline Posts: 512 |
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Posted: 15 Oct 16 at 6:47am |
Actual active racing classes? Really? I'm aware of UKWA, LWA and Seavets. The first is a travelling circuit and the latter two inland, none of which appeals to me. My club, which has a good number of recreational windsurfers, has made a number of attempts to revive board course racing which thrived at one time and there has been close to zero interest. Edited by blueboy - 15 Oct 16 at 6:50am |
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Sam.Spoons
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Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
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Posted: 15 Oct 16 at 9:42am |
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Over 140 sailors registered a result in this years UKWA Course racing 'Cup' series, all costal venues and a similar number attended their Inland series events. That's without including slalom and wave events. Sounds fairly heathy to me.
There is one club up here running a reasonably well attended evening series and the NWWA series soldiers on, the last bastion of the 7.5m class. Unlike dinghies where I'd guess a majority (or at lease a significant minority) of sailors belong to clubs and race at least occasionally, windsurfers are more 'free spirited' and less interested in organised events.
Edited by Sam.Spoons - 15 Oct 16 at 9:43am |
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blueboy
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Posted: 15 Oct 16 at 12:29pm |
I'm old enough to remember starting with several hundred other boards for the Round Hayling, every year for several years. That was one single event. So sorry, as far as racing is concerned, the sport is a pale shadow of what it used to be. |
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Sam.Spoons
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Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
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Posted: 15 Oct 16 at 12:43pm |
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Yes it is compared to the heyday (150+ on the line at Grafham for the Club Team Champs) but it's not a basket case just yet..... But I blame the decline on serious mismanagement in the '80s and allowing the manufacturers to rule the roost rather than the UKBSA/BWA/RYA to the detriment of the sailors
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RS400atC
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Joined: 04 Dec 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3011 |
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Posted: 20 Oct 16 at 10:10am |
From 1988 I was working near Hayling Island, lots of my mates were board sailors. None of them wanted to be managed, they just drove their cars and kit to the beach after work and went sailing. Most were not interested in racing, more about going out in more and more wind. Many people had a board or two for fun, but raced dinghies or crewed on yachts for competition. Southsea had its own club on the beach just for racing boards, it lasted a couple of decades? It always was a minority of active boardpersons. But many of its original members are now still racing dinghies or yachts, or doing other sailing such as yacht cruising. Not every sport is about competitive racing. Edited by RS400atC - 20 Oct 16 at 10:10am |
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Sam.Spoons
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Posted: 20 Oct 16 at 10:53am |
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I started racing Div 1 in around 1984/5 at club and regional level with the occasional National event. Windsurfing, for me (as an ex dinghy racer) was as much about racing as the other stuff (probably more TBH). I was a member, and later chairman, of (probably) the most successful 'Sailboard' racing club in the NW for around 25 years and was on the winning team at the UKBSA Club Team Championships three or four times. During that time we had a Raceboard World and several times National Champion and a couple of serious Olympic contenders. The decline in racing started when the powers that be changed the rules for Division 1 to exclude small board makers (boards had to be 'series production boards' officially to keep costs down but in practice the UK built custom div 1 boards were cheaper than a new Mistral Superlight). The final nail in the coffin of inland club racing was the introduction and heavy promotion of Formula Windsurfing. FW boards and rigs are un-racable on a small inland pond (anything smaller than Rutland, Kielder, Grafham or Grimworth) and, initially at least, super physical with, typically, up to 12m sails. The average racer like me soldiered on with a gradually disintegrating Equipe 2 and stopped going to even the occasional National after trekking up to Ullswater and having racing cancelled when there was a 6 knot breeze because it wasn't enough for the FW boards.......
TBF, the mismanagement I mentioned was probably in the '90s rather than the '80s  Edited by Sam.Spoons - 20 Oct 16 at 10:55am |
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Sam.Spoons
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Posted: 20 Oct 16 at 12:01pm |
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Oh and when they changed the existing Raceboard subdivisions from 7.5m and Unlimited to 9.5m and Unlimited instead of retaining the 7.5m sail (which we did in the NWWA) that finally put a complete close on my National Series ambitions as I couldn't justify £1500+ for a new 9.5m rig just to do a couple of events a year (that supposing I would have enjoyed sailing with a 9.5m sail which I doubt). The 7.5 allowed average (and smaller) sailors to enjoy tactical racing in 3kn+ and were good up to 20kn+. As the gear gets bigger the game gets more physical and favours the bigger stronger sailors over the lighter/older/younger/smaller but more tactical guys. IMHO there is an optimum sail size for Raceboards that doesn't require you to be super fit to pump around in the light stuff or hang on to when it blows........ and it's 7.5m2......
Edited by Sam.Spoons - 20 Oct 16 at 12:02pm |
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GarethT
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Joined: 21 Apr 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 714 |
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Posted: 20 Oct 16 at 1:59pm |
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The kids are hanging onto an 8.5 in the RS:X in up to 30 knots, and loving it. A real resurgence going on in that class.
14 year olds use 7.8 on the Techno 293. With modern materials I think they would all think 7.5 too small. |
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Sam.Spoons
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Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
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Posted: 20 Oct 16 at 3:06pm |
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Maybe they would but I'm talking about Raceboard sails not shortboard sails (which 95% of modern sails are, including the RSX ones). I use a Demon VG5 7.5, it's more powerful than most 'modern' 9m sails but weighs significantly less than my 5.8m Neil Pryde wave sail. I've just unrolled an old VG5 I have for sale, measured in 1992, and I'd bet I could still win races with it at club level.
The 'area' of a modern sail is a bit of a nonsense with a huge area of leech that does no more than flop about, it works at high speed on a short board by promoting twist but at lower speeds (as on a Raceboard) the sails don't generate the power of a proper raceboard design. BTW, looking for a couple of bits of info before posting this I discover the UKWA now have a 7.8m class, really for Techno sailors but also suited to returning RB 7.5 sailors..... About time (don't say I didn't tell you.....)
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