Just got flogged in a catamaran regatta while riding a sector 60 and a 17 zephyr. The wind was 10 to 13 knots and they killed me on the upwind legs. Long reaches I creamed them and downwind the fastest were still beating me. My biggest hurdle is the upwind legs although with a bit more wind tomorrow it will favour me.
So I get you ride the fins and not edge the board but in anything other than flat water it's not easy. When I am riding the board flat in flat water it goes well but keeping it flat and not coming off feels like I am on a knife edge and the back leg is burning. Any tips that can help me get some pride back in tomorrow's races would be great.

AKSonline said...



To quote Sargeant Barnes in Platoon: "Take the pain .......take the pain!" welcome to racing. LOL!

DM

Yep felt the pain getting back out this morning.
slogging through the upwind legs was a killer this morning.

So in the real light winds edging just kills the power. I reckon give me 15 knots plus and I could keep up upwind and maybe actually staying on the board when trying to tack would help. I also hit some weed patches which pull you up real quick.
By the way we were sailing in 10 to 13 gutless SE winds not a SWer.
So Damo how much fin do you need in light winds the fins on the sector look pretty big compared to my surfboard

"So in the real light winds edging just kills the power."
In the really light stuff you have to ride cross wind for a bit first to get your board speed up and then edge and turn up wind (takes more skill than it sounds) another big tip is to not choke the kite by sheeting in too much too early. Wait till you have the board speed up going cross wind first then start edging to turn up wind and then you can sheet the kite in more once you have built up more apparent wind and you are pointing more upwind.

The fins on your Sector will look big compared to the ones on your surf board but compared to the 30,40 and even 50cm fins on some of the full on race boards they are tiny
I ride 26cm and 28cm fins on my Monaro V3 and that rides flat or edging on the leeward/toeside rail but i think that is more to do with the volume/shape of the board than just fin size alone.

Biggest killer of performance on the smaller free race boards is the weight placement. It is a very common mistake to have too much weight too far back on the board and sinking the tail. You have to keep the board trimmed!

So is it just you our there racing the boats TH or are there a few kiters getting into it now?

there must have been a bit of breeze scotty, one of the cats is mast down.
maybe you just need to lay off the food at pinocchios

Yeeew found an extra gear tacking upwind in the light wind today (almost had both feet together in the front foot strap. Next step is make more ground in the tacks.
I found you can make a heap of ground by carrying plenty of speed into a tack.
Anyone have any ideas