Who was out this weekend?.....

I too was out sailing a laser at the lymington open in howling winds and huge waves.  Crazy conditions and a lot of capsizes, but a lot of fun

'Low wind boat' - take it you're referring to the Pico there, Nick?

I've always viewed the 29'er as a bit of a PY dog in light airs. Watched one flying once in a F.4, then the wind eased to a 3, and it slowed like an insect that had just run out of oxygen...

funny thing is harry on the other side of the forth at Largo we had loads of wind. I sailed a 400 and remembered y i loved sailing them so much!

your right, burghfield wasnt an ideal test site for the 500 but i have a feeling even if we sailed it on QM it would have still been slower and less of a challenge, if you dont feel ready for a 9er i would say the 500 is a reasonable boat to learn in.

Edited by mike ellis

Well, we got a pleasant sailing breeze from the East for the first time on a
Sunday in a long while. Blowing about 8- 12 kts and relatively flat
(though nothing like you inland boys know as flat). I managed to crack
single handed trapezing whilst larking around waiting for Steve to get
changed, just like snowboarding, its easier riding regular than fakie,
making Port my favoured left foot forward tack.

Starboard is just a little trickier, I remember this from the Musto, had the
same problem with that.

So, given it wasn't that windy Steve took the helm, to give me the wire
practise I bought the boat for in the first place, we found out a bit more
about this boat today. It works just like an old windsurfing round board,
letting it heal over as if we were "railing" a round board actually improves
the upwind performance. Here we've been trying to sail it flat (cos that's
what the old text books used to say, (I've still got an old copy of Start to
Win by Eric Twiname)and in fairness it works better that way when its
windy. But in medium wind the 12 knots we had today, heeling it gets an
extra couple of windward degrees and more speed off the foil.

Y'all will probably come back and say you know it, but I haven't read
anything so far that says that, so excuse me telling y'all how to suck
eggs, we are after all trying to learn how to stay up front.

Today again we creamed the start then screwed up the first beat by over
standing, we went round about 7th cocked up the down wind legs,
tacking down wind into an oncoming tide and a very deep reach we made
a pigs ear of the angles, and were in the teens by the leeward. However
by then we'd discovered our upwind technique and a couple of shifts,
then understanding and letting the tide do its work got us back in
contention.
A three sail tight top reach but the tide allowing us to stay low and foot
off beneath them all gave us third round the gybe, but then it all went
down the toilet as the wind dropped and we were wallowing down a 2nd
reach that had become a run and the little 3k sucked the water as we
awaited the inevitable.

The beginner in the lazer radial asking us which mark she should go to
next as she cruised past had us slashing our wrists so the bilges ran red.



Edited by Graemef