Saturday, April 25, 2009

Battle at sea...

The St. Francis Yacht Club and the hardy racers of the Bay Area fleet never cancel racing. It just doesn't happen. At the 07 Nationals, we raced the final two heats in conditions that caused the race director to issue stern warnings to people, as well as send competitors in against their will when they were floundering at the start line. But they don't cancel racing.

Make that they very rarely cancel racing. Last night's Friday night race didn't happen. It was blowing somewhere around 30, with a vicious ebb throwing up some pretty big voodoo chop, and when John Craig (said race director) asked the assembled (and fully rigged) crowed of racers whether they wanted to race in this, only one hand (Jean's) went half-way up.

Instead, I got to test just what the upper limit of my Exo 71 is. The board did remarkably well in overpowered 6.0 with a  34 (a 36 would have made for better jibes - that is a pretty wide tail on that board, after all). With that much range, Exocet isn't doing itself any favors - people just won't be going out and buying multiple boards if each of them has that much range. Good for the consumer, I guess (and so, in the long run, good for Exocet). Lots of fun was had as most of the guys took out their slalom or freeride stuff. Much tailwalking and hilarity ensued, along with white-knuckle maching reaches through the troughs (usually ended by some stray piece of chope throwing up a ramp where there hadn't been one a second before - gotta love Crissy on an ebb...)

The pictures don't do the day justice, as it was pretty tame on the inside 200 yards or so, which pretty much exhausts the effective range of my little camera.  For a reality check - David Wells (blue Aerotech) was on a 5.7 and an 84l freeride board; Jean (red Aerotech) was on a 5.0 and a 78l wave board. It was windy...

Today's CalCup will be in Berkely - lots of wind expected for that. After that, it's time to drive home.


James Douglass said...

Wow! Is the 71 the smallest slalom board you use for racing, or did you just want to test it in crazy conditions for the heck of it?

G-42 said...

The 71 is it; last year, it was a 67, and while I've been planning to go with a 71 and a 61 this year, I haven't been able to justify it to myself so far between recession-induced uncertainty and the fact that all last year, I didn't end up racing with anything other than the 67 and a 7.2 all year. That said, I'm probably looking at a long string of Gorge Cup slalom racing with super-furry 6.0 or better conditions, until the day I break down and get the smaller board - which is when it will be Formula for the rest of the season (not that I'm superstitious or anything...)

On this trip, I also wasn't carrying anything other than my race gear - on this particular day, I could have used my 80l jump board and the 5.0, but I'd had to leave those at home so I wouldn't have to drag the trailer. Given that the round trip was roughly 2K miles, that saved me a good deal of time and gas.