Windsurfing Magazine

chrisk97
2010-09-06 21:56:02 | 690 views | 3 Comments

The invention of portable and waterproof GPS devices revolutionized and re-invigorated the windsurfer’s obsession with speed. For almost 30 years elite windsurfers tried to push the limits of their equipment over a set 500m course which required the assistance of organizers and costly equipment to accurately measure their average velocity. Now all you have to do is strap a Locosys GT-31 unit to your arm and watch the numbers go up (hopefully!) and when you are done you just upload to your computer, analyze speeds, angles, consistency etc and even overlay your tracks onto GoogleEarth. Speed sailing got easy? Not exactly, going really fast is still extremely difficult even if the way of monitoring your tracks has been greatly simplified.

Fred Haywood was an early pioneer of speed, looking back at the pictures I find it hard to believe that they went as fast as they did. Fred is pictured (Above) during the anual Weymouth Speed Week in the UK back in the mid 80’s, the event is still going and if you are in the UK between 16th and 22nd October 2010 (and have a wetsuit!) then it might be worth checking out.

The Locosys GT-31 has become a slalom racer and speedaholic’s best friend. They are waterproof, extremly small and light. With the aid of an Aquapak Armband they can be worn on your arm so that you get instant feedback on your runs. The unit will set you back about $175, the 2GB SD card about $20 and the Aquapak about $45. More info is available from the Locosys and Auquapak websites.   

The above image taken from GoogleEarth shows my movements during the speed event. You can clearly see the course layout from thr tracks. Being able to analyze your results in detail is a fantastic way to improve.

I first used a GPS to measure my performance on board about a year ago and I recently purchased a unit for myself. I used this to great effect while training for the Maui Race Series earlier this summer, it was so easy to test different set ups and even analyze the speed I was exiting the marks; I only wish they had been invented when I was a racing teenager.

This past weekend (Saturday 28th August) marked the return of the Maui VMax GPS Speed Series in the form as The Black Project Fins Maui Speed Challenge. Many of Hawaii’s fastest sailors had dusted off their speed boards and GT-31 data loggers in preparation for the first speed meeting of the season. The format was the same as in recent years with the fastest 100m runs used to decide the winner. Last year’s Maui VMax series winner and overall fastest sailor with a speed of 38.3 knots was Peter John. The results will potentially count towards the HAM Speed Challenge which pits teams of sailors and kiters from The Gorge, New England & Hawaii against each other in search of the fastest 100m, nautical mile and Alpha 500 speeds.

As sailors arrived at Spreckelsville they were greeted with 15 knots but it looked promising upwind. Most but not all competitors gambled that the wind would increase and rigged 6.0m to 6.5m sails. Not long after the course opened at 11am the wind had built to 25 knots as expected. What wasn’t expected was the larger than normal summer swell and the reef protecting the course was going off, well if you were riding your wave gear that is. Six to eight foot ramps were rolling in which made for some sketchy moments as sailors headed back through the break and upwind at the end of their run.

Dan Ellis (Mistral) takes the helmet cam for a spin and shows us what it is like to sail the rather challenging course at 38 knots!

Chris Freeman (Above) powers down the course but doesn’t quite find the speed he was looking for on the otherhand Peter John (Below) consistently logged speeds in the 38 knot range despite the extremelly challenging conditions on the course.

Event organiser Tom Hammerton (Below) gambled that the wind would not pick up. The result: He was MAXED and set a new PB for his 7.3m Hot Sails GPS. That’s the great thing about speedsailing is that you can always set goals for different size sails and/or boards.

The results table below illustrates that there really was two competitions going on in the Open class with Peiter, Peter and Dan in one group way ahead while the others were left to fight it out for fourth and below. It was great to see a few new faces out recording times today with their GPS units with a few others checking out the action it seems that the numbers could grow at future events. It was very interesting to watch the vastly different styles of the top three. Peiter (Neil Pryde Tester) on one hand arrived with a stash of fins to try and sailed in a very precise and calculated manner. Dan Ellis fresh from the PWA slalom circuit blasted down the course time and time again, it looked like he was training and his speeds were extremely consistent. Peter’s relaxed attitude to speed sailing is amazing and he uses his extreme strength to good effect, just think how fast he would have gone if he’d bothered to fix the whole in his sail! In the end Peiter took the honours with an impressive 38.9 knots which was one of the fastest ever recorded 100m tracks on the course, only Eric Beale and Anders Bringdal have gone faster.

EVENT #1 RESULTS:

Open Men
#	Name	100m Speed	10 second	Max Speed	Series Points
1	Peiter Bijl	38.9	38.0	39.4	15
2	Peter John	38.2	37.8	38.8	11
3	Dan Ellis	38.0	37.7	38.2	9
4	Tom Hammerton	35.8	35.5	36.0	7
5	Jacques Pauvert	35.4	35.3	35.7	6
6	Anton Blijlevens	34.7	33.4	35.7	5
7	Chris Freeman	33.7	33.4	34.5	4
8	Matt Wicks	30.2	29.7	30.8	3
9	Sam Bockius	30.1	29.8	30.7	2

 

Wave Men
#	Name	100m Speed	10 second	Max Speed	Series Points
1	Chris McNeil	34.1	33.5	34.3	15
2	Carl Grundy	30	29.8	30.7	11

 

Women Open
#	Name	100m Speed	10 second	Max Speed	Series Points
1	Tamara Bockius	25.6	25.1	27.1	15

 

Junior Men Open
#	Name	100m Speed	10 second	Max Speed	Series Points
1	Casey Rehrer	26.3	26.1	27.4	15

 

I was pleased that I had achieved two new PBs (fastest 100m and best max speed) on the day but I hope that this will just be the beginning of a love affair with my GPS unit. Get out there, grab yourself a data logger and start putting down some tracks and see what you can do.

Current 2010 Maui Speed Ladder: This records all the best speeds recorded in Hawaii during the year. Please email your tracks to Tom if you want to be included.

 

Speed Ladder 2010
#	Name	100m Speed	Date	Division	Location
1	Peiter Bijl	38.9	28th August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
2	Peter John	38.2	28th August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
3	Dan Ellis	38.0	28th August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
4	Tom Hammerton	37.4	4th March 2010	Open Men	Kanaha
5	Hajime Nakajima	35.5	2nd August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
6	Jacques Pauvert	35.4	28th August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
7	Anton Blijlevens	34.7	28th August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
8	Chris McNeil	34.1	28th August 2010	Wave	Spreckelsville
9	Chris Freeman	33.7	28th August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
10	Matt Wicks	30.2	28th August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
11	Sam Bockius	30.1	28th August 2010	Open Men	Spreckelsville
12	Carl Grundy	30.0	28th August 2010	Wave	Spreckelsville
13	Casey Rehrer	26.3	28th August 2010	Junior Open	Spreckelsville
14	Tamara Bockius	25.6	28th August 2010	Women Open	Spreckelsville

 

Waiting for wind and talking story!

With a total of three speed events now under my belt I am rather hooked. I am on my way back to Bahrain soon and currently I have a light wind speed challenge going with my Brother in the UK and Tom in Hawaii to see who can get the fastest track with an 8.0m sail and 100ltr board minimum set criteia. If you want to see how fast others are going around the world check out the GPS SpeedSurfing Website. If you are interested in participating in the Maui VMax series please email for more info.  

Thanks to Jimmie Hepp for his photography and Black Project Fins for keeping this a FREE event for those who own their own GPS units.

Aloha and Thanks

Chris

All images Copyright 2010 Jimmie Hepp

Chris Freeman Rides for Hot Sails Maui and Black Proejct Fins