Steve Allen (AUS-0) and Sean O'Brien (AUS-120) holding up the Aussie flag.

www.formulawindsurfing.org
Clip from Day2 below
miamiwindsurfer.blogspot.com/2011/07/second-day-of-fw-worlds.html

Reflex Films said...

thanks for the summary sean - what a great looking website
here is a quick summary
boards crashing left right and centre
even top riders falling in on tacks and taking others with them
massive start line bias forcing fleet on to 1 tack
boards being spilt down the middle by other boards
fear of death
riders going to hospital
to win you have to use between 11.0 and 12.0 in 27 knots (thats when i am nicely powered on a 4.7 and thinking about a 4.2 )
10 m2 still not competitive in 10-14 knots
free beers !
Albeau untouchable

Or alternately..
1 - Sailors crashing left right and centre because they are keen to win because competing at a Worlds is a big step up from staying in your confort zone cruising around with a 4m sail. Great things come out of staying in the comfort zone.
2 - top riders falling in on tacks (see above).
3 - Massive start line bias - Lines being set up to the same standard as the Syd/Hobart, even the Americas Cup - Sweet.
4 - Boards being split down the middle (kind of points 1 and 2 all over again)
5 - Fear of death - Who doesnt? Why dont they just wear brown pants?
6 - Riders going to hospital (Points 1, 2 and 4 all over again)
7 - to win you have to use 11's or 12's - both sweet sails in those conditions (and points 1, 2, 4 and 6 again)
8 - 10m not competitive - because its too small. Man up, rig big. (points 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 again)
9 - Free beers - worth the cost of the flight in itself
10 - Albeau untouchable -because he is a one trick wonder - oh wait, he is pretty quick on a slalom board too, and a speed board. I am sure he would prefer to be thinking about a 4.2m sail too, he obviously loves being "nicely powered".


Great looking event, wish I were skilled enough to warrant the flight.

JB

Seriously though, I do have to agree with Reflex somewhat - is publicising crash's and "unruly" behaviour the way we want to show our sport?
I would prefer more detail on the racing then the crash's but...

Even the Americas Cup is heading doen the high speed crash and burn path.
#at=92

With the curent AC34's and the impending arrival of 72 foot winged sail monsters the normally conservative Americas Cup media circus would give their right nut for the type of action windsurfing provides.

JB

Interesting to see that at the Formula 'WORLDS' that not ever sailor is on the newest gear. I saw a lot of older model NP race sails there.....
Wouldn't be too many other 'world' championships where people aren't using the latest gear.

Brett and I have both been at previous FW World or FW Europeans in the last few years, and I'm sure he'll agree, start lines at this level require you to have nerves of steel. Fleets of 50 -80 boards converging on opposing tacks at 30 knots closure on a start is a recipe for carnage. It's actually surpising there hasn't been more serious injuries before this regatta.

Having said that, it's a great experience, and I hope more of our locals get to experience it(again).

There's not many sports where your weekend racer, would have the opportunity to compete against all the top professionals in their chosen sport.

Seany, Nice fall at the bottom mark

Who's that guy with my 10.7? It seems to be missing out of my garage.....

Only watched the clip from day 2 (miamiwindsurfer.blogspot.com/2011/07/second-day-of-fw-worlds.html). None of that was shot in 30kt winds. Typically, sea water begins to white-cap in 14kts of breeze, and there were barely any white-caps on day 2. The squall mentioned may have been a different story though.

However, they sure do get along well in 15(ish)kts, don't they.

Reflex, I dont know why your mother lets you out of the house, you might fall over and hurt yourself.

Reflex Films said...

thanks for the summary sean - what a great looking website

here is a quick summary

boards crashing left right and centre

even top riders falling in on tacks and taking others with them

massive start line bias forcing fleet on to 1 tack

boards being spilt down the middle by other boards

fear of death

riders going to hospital

to win you have to use between 11.0 and 12.0 in 27 knots (thats when i am nicely powered on a 4.7 and thinking about a 4.2 )

10 m2 still not competitive in 10-14 knots

free beers !

Albeau untouchable

Oh the humanity. Why can't we just all get along

I liked the Reflex summary, I didn't have time to follow any links and it gave me a clear picture of what was happening as the OP didn't have any info..

Why are you formula guys so damn touchy??.. Funny, my only memory of racing formula was being sworn at while trying to work out when to cross the start line. Seems like nothings changed.. Bunch of sooks..



?

maybe you should have worn a watch......are you Reflex's mummy ?

barn said...

I liked the Reflex summary, I didn't have time to follow any links and it gave me a clear picture of what was happening as the OP didn't have any info..

Why are you formula guys so damn touchy??.. Funny, my only memory of racing formula was being sworn at while trying to work out when to cross the start line. Seems like nothings changed.. Bunch of sooks..

?

JayBee said...

I liked the Reflex summary too. Except we have already established in a different thread that he is anti-Formula sailing and his appraisal is just a teenie tiny bit prejudiced.
I have not yet seen a thread where a Formula sailor has jumped in thrashing any other aspect of the sport. But it seems fair game to knock Formula racing (usually by people who have never sailed Formula, but who insist that the big rigs are impossible to manage, and the boards are uncontrollable).


If you had a bad experience racing Formula then that is not good at all. In the majority Formula sailors are welcoming to newcomers in the fleet, many going way out of their way to loan sails and boards to people wanting to try racing.

JB

Anti-Formula?? talk about playing the victim.. Teeny tiny bit prejudiced, sure, but that doesn't warrant everybody having a big sulk.. We have also already established in that same thread that Formula guys get uppity and upset as soon as somebody mentions anything "Anti-Formula"..

It seems fair to knock formula now cause it gets such a funny reaction.

I didn't have any bad experiences racing Formula, I just realised that everyone was way too serious, and it apparently hasn't changed..

Wood Duck said...

maybe you should have worn a watch......are you Reflex's mummy ?

Nice one Centurion.. like it, like it..

Rob11 said...


How condescending to everybody who enjoys sailing Formula


Oops, is that what someone was saying in another post about sailing flatwater... same applies here for the ones who like sailing Formula I believe

Again, I still don't see where anybody said anything bad about Formula..

Why don't you guys quote exactly what upset you all so much?. And an explanation why it deserved this collective reaction?

Why so sensitive?

What happened to

play the ball not the man ?
(Remember the golden rule- NEVER go the FULL retard )

Funnily enough this and the original thread have thrown up some lively debate with massive participation/ viewership.

I used to race a lot - start biases, knocks, lifts , shifts and lay lines - its lots of fun !

I also remember the total whinge fest that would go on after a race from everyone but the winner - and lots of aggro back in the day. Some serious dills in the sport - but i have seen some serious Dills out wavesailing too - so maybe its universal.

- its one of the reasons i drifted away from a successful racing stint - the culture was horrible - i hope thats changed - but from the standard of SOME (not all) of the debate here i suspect elements of it still exist.

The Ledge to lanno rocks and i do that every year - still a bit of a whingefest afterwards though...

nowadays i generally prefer this kind of sailing





I am going to stick my head out and say that Formula in its sweet spot (7- 14 knots) is cool. It lets crew get out and sail or race in conditions that are typical in many areas.

Its obviously bringing happiness to many people - thats cool. I get that too.

Now back to the topic at hand

Its a shame that- at world class events- they dont put a ceiling on the top wind speed - i reckon cap it at 18 knots (if you have the time window to be choosy) for safety and to respect the sailors and the sport .

which should be won on technique and sailing skills not Gorilla strength.

Seriously - when the ambulance is flat out at an event then there is something wrong.

Good luck to Sean -looks like he is getting PBs at the vent. His website sure is slick!

My comment about the 11s/12s in powered 4.7 / 4.2 weather was a polite way of calling bull** on that particular wind strength claim - you WILL get smashed on large formula gear if you go out in that .


a bit like kiters claiming that they hang on to 16m kites in 35 knots of wind (now there is some common ground we all have - ridiculing the silly group portion of the kiting crowd - windsurfing has a silly group too and we should take the piss out of them too - its the aussie way ! )

Reflex Films said...

What happened to

play the ball not the man ?
(Remember the golden rule- NEVER go the FULL retard )


I am going to stick my head out and say that Formula in its sweet spot (7- 14 knots) is cool. It lets crew get out and sail or race in conditions that are typical in many areas.

Its obviously bringing happiness to many people - thats cool. I get that too.



Its a shame that- at world class events- they dont put a ceiling on the top wind speed - i reckon cap it at 18 knots (if you have the time window to be choosy) for safety and to respect the sailors and the sport .

which should be won on technique and sailing skills not Gorilla strength.

Seriously - when the ambulance is flat out at an event then there is something wrong.

Matt,
Up until this point I have taken your tactics (throw an incendary device with one hand then hold an olive branch with the other - as demonstrated by your first post in this thread and then the comments above) with a grain of salt.

But your comments about wind ceilings are either precious, or the last Creatures Pale has taken my irony detector away.

Yes it is plainly obvious from the footage that it is not a constant 20+kn - yes its the aussie way to take the p&ss - but seriously do you really want to start a mast high debate in the wavesailing forum also.....or would that be just taking the ....

dinsdale said...


Just ignore ol' barn. He's had other "bad experiences" in his life which also get him all bitter and twisted. Move along, nothing new here.

You seem to attribute my lack of belief in your imaginary friends to some mythical 'Bad Experiences' in my life. This seems to be an ad hominem argument. Attacking my motives and character rather than my position.. Hypocritical much?..

You don't seem to grasp the fact that one does not need to be 'bitter and twisted' to realise Sky Fairies exist only in peoples imaginations. I may be a little twisted, but I am not delusional.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusional

Anyway, I've never had 'Bad experiences' sailing Formula, I just noticed that many racers are poopy heads who get cranky at trivial things..

barn said...
You don't seem to grasp the fact that one does not need to be 'bitter and twisted' to realise Sky Fairies exist only in peoples imaginations. I may be a little twisted, but I am not delusional.

So you accept that you are all bitter and twisted then? I actually pity you barn. You're the standout dysfunctional mental cripple on this whole forum.

... so,

It looks like Antoine won, Arnon second, and Gabriel Browne third, with Steve sixth and Sean twenty second (www.formulawindsurfing.org/ for full results).