Second Thoughts   by Dan Copper

I'm an average Joe.  I drive a truck and earn a living by ideas, technique, and some hard work.  I try to avoid the hard work and specialize in ideas and technique.  I deliver general freight in San Diego County and I'm good at it.  I'm always outdoors and I see very interesting and cool things all the time, the ocean, mountains, countryside and the city.  I love to drive!  It's my number one love, not money, not fame, driving is what I like best.  Imagine getting paid to windsurf!  Some of you do...

I've embraced several hobbies in the past; I've skied since I was two.  Really, I skied down the hill beside my grandparent's house on two foot long skies while my mother held me between her legs.  Unfortunately, I haven't skied much since my early twenties.  That's about the time I started driving for a living, I love cars, I love trucks, the bigger the truck the better.  I can be delivering to a complex job site, driving down a narrow country lane, or finding a building number on a military base.  I love the challenge, I love dealing with people, I love being physical, and I love successfully getting the job done.  I'm not envious of others.  The job isn't glamorous, but it is my choice to do what I want to do for a living and not just take whatever I can get.  A lot of shallow people make comments.

My hobbies ranged from dune buggies, motorcycles, jeeping, water skiing, camping and sailing.  When I embrace something I really embrace them, which brings me to my point.  Windsurfing has moved to the number one spot for me.  I've been windsurfing for three years and I love it, you all share my enthusiasm.  I've had some setbacks recently that have giving me second thoughts.

There is nothing I like better than to head to the Bay early on a Saturday morning in the motorhome, hang out in the breeze while it's still dark, going back to bed and waking up as sailors start to rig.  After my first several times sailing and asking half a zillion questions, I went to Peter and he got me my first board and rig.  I bought more new and used equipment.  Later I bought a Formula board to better sail in San Diego, and other boards and other sails, I want to be prepared for anything, I'm really set up now 

I love competition and the racing crowd has helped me enormously, not only on how to rig and why, but on how far I have yet to go to get where I want to get.  I'm kind of a big guy, not real big, but just over 200 pounds and tall.  It takes bigger equipment to get me going, possibly for lack of skill and technique.  My best chance to get planing are the biggest sails.  I'm learning to pump now to get the most out of it.  I'd rather be overpowered than underpowered.

Now, I'm breaking everything.  I've broken two carbon masts, my carbon boom twice, battens in my sails, my sails, my harness lines, my harness, I've repaired my boards half a dozen times.  I have so much broken stuff now, I can't sail.

It's gotten me thinking.  No wonder windsurfing is not a growing sport; everything is very expensive and expensive to replace.  I need to think durability, leave racing to the racers.  Maybe Carbon is for lighter people.  I find out that the problems I am having with my racing sails are problems all racers have, no wonder they have sponsors!  I broke a mast last month while it was sitting on the grass and I was in the water on a different sail (I had only rigged it twice).  My boom broke the next weekend, I haven't sailed since.

A Real Racer's Story   by Lasse Uronen

US Nationals and North American Championship, Formula racing
7-11 August 2007  San Francisco

------------------------< Getting there > ------------------------

The purpose of my 6 days long trip to San Francisco was to participate in the US Windsurfing
sanctioned US Nationals and North American Championship competition in formula class. My
decision to join was a last minute decision just 3 days before the racing would start but
long dreamed about. Great fellow racer Gabor Vagi from the Long Beach Speed Boys Club decided
to join as well.

My trip to the California's hot spot of windsurfing started on Monday 6th of August around
7am and the skid marks of Econos tires were visible around 3pm at Crissy field's parking
lot when I excitedly braked and doors open run to the beach to check the venue and touch
the sacred sand.

Ford Econoline E-150 Rental van from Enterprise was in shitty condition, covered in brown
dust like seen in Maui sugar cane fields and absolutely not cleaned inside neither. It looked
like it was just returned from serious smuggling business. Little cleaning session and it
was ready for a test ride to see if I would like to own this kind of van in the near future.

As a real windsurfer I wanted to sleep in my van, but first sign at Crissy told that overnight
camping was not allowed, ouch. No hotel room and the rumor that August is one of the busiest
month in SF area did not comfort too much. Luckily there was a need to have a security guard
for the overnight storage of competitors windsurfing gear. So I had a great excuse to sleep
there at the forbidden beach 5 full nights. Cool!

At arrival date on Monday wind was "Crissy light" (but "SD strong") and after such a long
ride I was eager to get my daily windsurfing dose. What would be better place to do that
than in legendary Crissy Field which would be the venue for North American Championship
formula competition. I think tide was flowing in and some Long Beach size chop welcomed
my 10.8 meter Windwing formula sail and ML6 board combination warmly in the middle of the
bay.

That sail felt little big for the wind which was picking up more strength towards the
evening. Perhaps more downhaul is needed tomorrow. Christopher from Belgium was sailing
11.0 Maui Sails earlier and told it was good size. Tiny recommendation, Watch out for the
ships. They are huge and do not honor right of way rules sailboats have. And provide great
ramp for launching your gear up high, especially formula gear.

 

------------------------< 1st race day, Tuesday August 7th >-------------------------

Forecast  WSW 17-21mph and actual 16-25mph based on Iwindsurf windmeter at Crissy field

In San Diego we use local tide table to see if there is enough water at the South Bay for a
70cm long formula fin. There is also tide (Ebb and Flow) in San Francisco but the tide table
does not specify depth instead it shows how fast tide is either flowing in or ebbing out.
Highest number I saw during our competition was ~4 knots flow.

The flow is strongest at the middle of the bay where our windward mark was located. Imagine
you have tacked and you have perfect layline to reach upwind mark. Get to the straps and
start cruising. Strong wind keeps your 9.2 sail well powered and your 70cm fin gives you the
lift needed for a good upwind angle. While you are getting closer to the mark you notice
you see guys in front of you drifting way below the upwind mark. Too late to do anything
but just follow these guys and after two extra tacks you reach the mark and have lost 3-4
positions easily. A good spot to make a mental note for the next round and remember to sail
over the normal layline on a next round.

The race committee of St. Francis yacht club gave us 6 different course options, A-B-C-D-F-E,
which was just 5 too many for me , and expected us to remember all of them while out there
fighting with too big sails, sharp chop and sneaky tide.
I ended up writing all course information back of my hand and to my sail and while it seemed
to wash away also to the sail. After all this hassle the race committee used only E course
for all the races except long distance which had specific instructions. More of that later on.

The "E" course was the longest of courses having three full laps around the buoys which were
approximately one mile apart, total length of one race was little over 6 miles and took
30 - 45 minutes depending on conditions. Our starting line was close to leeward mark, so
first leg was upwind, then down to leeward mark and two more laps like that and then
finishing between committee boat and red buoy. How could I miss that!

I got great start at starboard tack and I had my own clean lane when going over the starting
line. As my 9.2 Windwing formula sail was a handful and excitement level was at the roof
I cannot recall too many details of the race but the sad finish. I followed one fellow
windsurfer to the finish and when he dropped the sail I also relaxed and took a deep breath.
Yippee! I made it through the course and wasn't the last one. Life is good !

While enjoying my life below the committee boat I noticed that bunch of guys were finishing
on the other side of the boat and they got a laud signal when crossing the line. Hmm,
I realized I never got that signal and that finish line actually is not below the boat but
on the side. Shit! Oops, pardon my French.

I had mixed up courses, in Baltic cup finish line was below the boat. Anyway I wanted to
complete my first start and headed back upwind and after few tacks passed the real finish
line. Without screw up I would have been 18 to pass finish line. Now I was 23rd. That hurts!

 

-------------------<2nd race day, Wednesday August 8th>----------------------------

Forecast 17-22mph and actual 14-25mph wind based on Iwindsurf windmeter at Crissy field

wind was pretty light and 9.2 Windwing formula sail did not have enough power. This slowed
me down but I did not want to rig 10.8 Windwing as it would be too much in highest gust
and unmanageable with the chop. I was so tired from the first day that forgot to make
my usual notes.

 

-------------------<3rd race day, Thursday August 9th>--------------------------------

Forecast 18-22mph and actual 11-22mph wind based on Iwindsurf windmeter at Crissy field
Forecast 18-21mph and actual 18-23mph wind based on Iwindsurf windmeter at Treasury Island

The special skipper meeting in the morning started the preparation for the long distance
race to the Treasury Island. There was no map showing the course in this meeting and many
questions raised because of that. I thought I understood course well but realized during the
race how wrong I was. Components of the race were starting line, upwind mark, two gates,
downwind mark and finish line. I can draw the course later on.

Upwind leg was pretty ok for me and I was at the upwind mark with Gabor and Royce. I followed
Royce downwind to first jibe but fell down twice after jibing and lost sight of him. I tagged
along to the next wave of sailors and found the first gate just by following them.

A location of the second gate was a little mystery but again local sailors took me there,
just that I could have gone deeper downwind than they did and now I lost some distance and
time. Same story continued with downwind mark, I was follower and could not really push hard.

Finally got to the downwind buoy and rounded it and started my search for the first gate.
This time I followed wrong guy as he over stood lowest gate quite bad. Then I needed to stop
and wait commercial boat to pass by. After passing first gate I headed towards the Alcatraz
with a plan to have only one tack in the middle of the bay and reach finish line from there.
This plan was not good as tide/wind combination created deadly razor sharp chop and my
suspension was in heavy use.

I felt relieved after completing the race but not too tired. Not at all. I was ready for
more sailing. Course was approximately 15 miles and took less than 2 hours to complete.

 

---------------------<4th race day, Friday August 10th>----------------------------

Forecast 18-22mph and actual 25-34mph wind based on Iwindsurf windmeter at Crissy field

The race committee decided to run slalom today as wind should be the stronger than on
Saturday. Local windsurfers, like Royce Chen, were telling that whole week has been easy
as wind has been lower than usually in SF Bay. This is great as it gave us non-locals
a chance to sail and compete in formula fleet.

Never tried slalom racing? No worries, me neither. But why not to try with the country's
fastest guys and see what stuff they are made of. My weapon for this competition were my
smallest 6.8meter Windwing slalom sail, 105liter F2 SX105 board and 38cm Deboichet SL2
slalom fin. When I first went out and sailed my warm-up rounds around the slalom course
everything felt great and I felt confident and decided to have short break.

Then Yellow group was called out to the water with 3 minutes to start, that was my group
and I headed out to the bay. First gust gave me some air and I could not keep board down.
After tail riding to the middle of the bay I decided to retire before our first start.
Chicken! Maybe, but still alive. I would have been too much danger to other sailors.

Gabor sailed well and even took one bullet and always finished on top half. With his great
sailing he would sure be in final, but the race committee screwed up badly and instead of
scoring him properly gave him one DNF instead. Pretty bad mistake which they admitted after
the race but he missed the final.

 

-------------------<5th race day, Saturday August 11th>------------------------------

The last day of Nationals and 4th day of formula sailing. Wind was pretty strong already in
the morning and when committee boat was setting up the course they informed wind being around
30 knots. Local sailors abandoned their 9.8 or 10 meter sails and rigged 9.0 instead. Still
sticking up with my survival theory I selected one size smaller than local boys and ended
up using 7.6 meter Windwing slalom sail and 50cm Deboichet formula fin (thanks Gabor for
helping out with fin).

The gold fleet was called to the starting line and I must admit it was pretty fast downwind
leg down there, scary fast. Wind was gusty and tide starting to flow in. It was difficult to
stay put and get the 5 minute starting period set to the watch. Five minutes can feel quite
a long time when you are luffing you sail and holding boom with white knuckles.

At the starting line I was in the middle of the pack and got lots of bad air, but for some
reason did not tack to the port and suffered by having poor upwind angle. Stupid me! Most
of the guys did very slow tack like me. I even put my both feet to straps before hooking in.
So much power on that small sail. I finally learned how to ride my board keeping the nose
down, still had occasional air here and there but manageable.

After upwind mark I headed downwind and towards the beach and wind was gusty, really gusty.
So gusty that on 3rd lap I just could not hold anymore and went over so called handlebars.
Amazing enough I had difficulties to keep board going when in a hole between the gusts.
The secret is to sheet in and keep mast pressure while tilting board to one side. Flat board
stops to the back of the wave but tilted goes through. Tough for calf muscles. Gym calling!

I had my own party at the finish line when I completed all three rounds. Committee boat
sent me and other sailors back to beach for a short break. As wind was picking up and I
wanted to rig smaller sail. Unfortunately did not enough time to rig my 6.8 meter Windwing
slalom sail and I missed this start and got 41/NDF. This would be my throw out.

 

---------------------------------< Conclusion >-------------------------------------

I enjoyed every aspect of my trip and can warmly recommended Nationals to all San Diego
formula racers. It is better to be the very last person on the results than not having
your name there at all. Learning experience is from the other planet and cannot be
explained here.

Thanks Gabor, Joe and Mike for your local help and support at the Crissy, Devon for over
the phone consultation.

My goals for this trip were:
1) to sail at Crissy field - Done
2) participate Nationals - Done
3) not to be the last in final results - Done ( I think my position is  26/40)

I feel extremely happy as I reached all of them and as a bonus was able to camp out in
Crissy Field and sailed in Gold fleet. Next year Nationals will be in Minnesota in
Worthington city and at Lake Okabena on 2nd weekend of June. I will be there, I don't
want to miss all the fun. See you there !

ps. This story was written with a tight time budget, bear with me and try to read through
grammar and language problems.

Flat-Water Fun by Ian Hirschsohn

I admit it, I am a member of the SS (Surf Sailing addicts).  Just zipping back and forth over and over on flat-water rates up there with warm beer, or golf… at least for me.  Yes, you can do tricks to break the monotony, but I am not a tricks person.   As a whitewater and surf kayaker, I yearn for the amusement park rush of roiling water.  Riding a breaking wave adds a 3^rd dimension – the thrill is… well… orgasmic.  However, the combination of smooth waves and wind is somewhat rare, leaving us to put up with lousy chop and high wind ala the Gorge, or reasonably shaped waves and non-existent wind ala Tourmaline (and almost all of California).  I was resigned to regarding flat-water as jogging on water – a means to keep one’s muscles and technique in tune for the real thing.  I say “was” because two weeks ago I had an experience that changed my view.

I have this place just south of San Quintin, 200 miles from the border on the Pacific side of Baja.  Usually I will spend a day or two, then high-tail it for Punta San Carlos (about another 80 miles south).  Two weeks ago, I went down with my wife and son; those two would sooner spend time in a Mexican jail than desert-bleak, wind-blown San Carlos.  So I was obliged to satisfy my windsurf habit on flat Bahia San Quintin.  I have about 10 boards in my garage down there, most being stock production boards I have accumulated over the years (Hi-Tech, Fanatic, Seatrend, etc).  They sail fine, with predictable jibes and speed that will satisfy the average sailor they were designed for.  My favorite until two weeks ago was a custom Clarkfoam polyester board that has edges one could shave with.  Someone donated it at a swap-meet because it had a shattered fin-box.  I gave the forlorn thing a home, mainly to improve my fin-box replacement skills.  What did I have to lose?  The price was right: zilch.  To my delight it leaves any production board far behind in its wake, but its jibing has little margin for error.  Try the usual slalom mast-dance jibe and its tail goes for a dive, with you not far behind.  The only way to jibe it is to plane all the way through and flip the sail while it is still on the plane (classic “carving jibe”).  It cuts through the water so cleanly that the carving jibe is effortless, and fun.

On with the story…  A year ago, I saw this "gun board" sitting sadly on the grass at a swap-meet.  Although like new, it was being ignored... despite the affable seller offering it for $25.  $25?, I thought, what the hell.  And I handed over the bills.  Now where would you sail a gun board in Calif.?  It is a 9'-0" Jimmy Lewis Kinetic Power designed for speed and nothing but.   It is some 18" wide and 12 lbs with the long tapered snout of an alligator.  Zero margin for sloppy sailing – probably why he hardly used it.

Well, we were in San Quintin for a week and the wind blew 30+ mph, a little more than usual 20+ mph.  After 4 days on my tried and trusty, I strapped the Jimmy Gun atop it and took off for the Bahia.  I was intimidated by this skinny plank – I admit it – but with no one around to laugh at my efforts, I screwed on a universal and gingerly walked out with a 5.5 Aeroforce sail.  (Most of the time I am the only one on SQ Bay.  Also, I might mention, those latest model sails with bags of twist-off… keep them for the Gorge and Lake Isabella, Peter Jones’ “old technology” double-luffers will leave them in your wake if the wind is Bahia SQ steady.  Dave Ezzy tells me double-luff is coming back.)

I really want to give Peter his due on his great "old" designs that are vastly underrated.  My experience is that there is too much emphasis on technology rather than technique and the geometrically rising prices are surely keeping many away.  A few days on Bahia SQ with yesterday's equipment are worth a year on Cancer Bay with the latest and greatest.

Meanwhile back at the bay, I hop on Jimmy Gun and... surprise!  It rides beautifully: stable and predictable.  But it is a true thoroughbred: let your concentration wander – even for a millisecond – and it spins up into the wind dumping you in the salty drink.  I swear the thing laughs.  I put my front foot close to the mast and it is easier to control, but slower than any board I know.  So I punch both feet in the footstraps... it snorts and I feel the rock-hard muscles bulge.  It is off with me hanging on for dear life, yelling "Yahooo!" [or whatever those jockeys shout].  All the time it keeps saying, "Rake that sail back.  Godamn you!"  When I oblige, it increases to full gallop.  The fastest I have sailed in my life.  So fast, the spray hurts my bare ankles. 

I spied a power fishing boat coming down the channel at full throttle, rooster tail flying, and whispered, "Now let's see what you can really do, my pretty."  Feet in the straps, sail almost touching the board, I aimed ahead of the boat.  I crossed 20 ft in front of it and the jaws of the Mexican fishermen dropped.  Not for long.  They waved their spray caps and cheered.  Later, I found I could outrun a gringo powerboat motoring downwind.  Kiters?  None were there on the two days I sailed Jimmy Gun, but I am itching to kick spray in their faces.

Jibing Jimmy Gun is a bit of a challenge, as you can imagine… even trickier than my trusty knife-board.  After being dumped more times than I could count, I found it planes around beautifully and if I kept up my speed, sailing clew first, I could make almost all my jibes (extended classic carving jibe).  The Jimmy Gun puts a new face on the flat-water.

SDWA 2007 Trips & Events
printable copy

SDWA Rental Boards & Beginner Rig

Excellent sizes for learning

board rental printable page

Rentals are for 2007 Paid Members only. We have two boards available, a Starboard START,  with a centerboard (beginners and intermediates), and a Starboard GO 180 (beginner through advanced).  The GO 180 board has side fins available. Either board is available for $5.00 per day.  Call Karen Harrington in advance to reserve, and to pick up, go to the Mission Bay Sport Center,

1010 Santa Clara Place, San Diego, CA 92109. 
Ask for Jason or Zack (858) 488-1004
Open 10am-5pm every day

Procedures are as follows:  For first time beginners, the equipment is to be used in the lagoon next to the Sailing Center or Hilton Point.  Members with experience can take the equipment anywhere in San Diego County.

1.     You must be a current SDWA Member

2.     You must call Karen H. to arrange pick up of the boards.  Her contact info is 619098707840 or email Karen.  To pick up the equipment at the Mission Bay Sport Center (858) 488-1004. Go to the Check-In counter; the staff will escort you to the locker.

3.     Rentals are on a first come, first serve basis, one day at a time,  we can't hold them in hopes you will show up.

4.     You need to pay a $5.00 daily use fee to SDWA.  The fee should be mailed to SDWA. PO Box 9494, San Diego, CA 92169-0494 in the envelopes provided.

5.     You must take responsibility for rented equipment, damages or lost pieces too.

6.     All equipment must be returned the same day by 5 PM, or before sunset.

7.     Any questions, please contact Amy,

(SDWA Membership) 858048106135