Lake George 10-4-2011

I had a fun session down at Lake George near Beachport a few weeks ago.  Here are some of the stills I took with my GoPro.  I am still trying to edit the video footage I took.

Here is one of my favourite shots showing a nice arc to the gybe entry.

I went out on the 7.8 / 49 combo first - pushing the limits of the 49's range!

 The JP 49 hitting WARP speed ;)

JP 49 / 7.8 gybe sequence below...

Falcon 111 / 7.8 gybe sequence below...

Baked Veneer Hull Repair

I have purchased two timber veneered boards and built one and they all had problems with the veneer cracking. This was due to the veneer drying out and re-sealing was the remedy.  I repaired a friends boards recently that was an extreme case. The board was accidently left in the sun(Australian sun - fry eggs on your car bonnet!) in a board bag hull upward for two weeks! He thought that the board would need to but cut up to fit in the garbage but when I took a look at it I thought it was salvageable.  The saving grace was that the deck was not facing up.  That would have meant a lot more work and a board

Here is how I undertook the repair.

The entire hull was covered in cracks that 

sat up higher than the surrounding area.

The veneer is reinforced with fibreglass in areas such
as the fin box.  These did not crack but the weave
appeared swollen and needed to be faired.

The rail has a fine weave glass for about 25mm from
the rail which is post moulded.  This area may or
may not need fairing also.

Here is the hull after being sanded with120 grit(random orbital).
Be sure just to take of the highs, you dont want to go too
far into the veneer as it is only 0.9mm.

Here is another area after sanding with the120 grit, there are
finer cracks present.  You want to sand until all of the
lows have been just touched by the paper.

Tape off the rail and tail area that is glass covered,
you only want to apply epoxy resin to areas of unsealed
veneer and gelcoat.  Warm the room where the board
is located.  Warm the resin to the recommended curing
temp using spot lights.  When the both have warmed
apply a thin layer of resin and tipoff using a piece of foam
roller or rubber gloved hand.  The board should be cooling
as the resin is applied to stop out gassing under the curing
resin.  If the boar is cooling this will actually suck resin in,
which is a good thing in this case

More info on this step later....

The first layer of resin applied.  Note the patch under the
gelcoat from the factory.  Might have been a defect in
the veneer or a repair done and covered with a glass
patch before final painting .

Edge of the tail patch reinforcing the box lightly sanded
to blend with the veneer.

Detail of the first resin layer. 
There will be some air bubbles and streaks where the
resin soaks into sanded areas of the veneer.  Wash/sand
off the amine blush and apply with a second coat of resin.

Wash/sand off the amine blush and sand the second coat 

being sure not to sand through to the veneer.  Remove 

the masking tape and fair out the edges that were masked off.

Detail of the sealed veneer.
The signs of a random orbital used at the factory.

Detail of some of the bigger cracks filled with resin and faired.

Finer resin filled cracks.

Paint the hull using acrylic primer and lightly sand.

Be sure to mask off the rails and deck to prevent
overspray contacting the deck.

Detail of the hull finish.

Fanatic Falcon 111 Gybe - Boom Tail GoPro

On my recent trip to Lake George(near Beachport, South Australia) I captured a bunch of footage and tried some new(for me) mounting positions for my GoPro camera.  I got plenty of the usual head cam footage as well as boom mounted near the mast.  I had not tried the rear of the boom due to the need to change mounts in the water(and possibly lose a $330 camera) and the inconvenience with pressing record.
 
Lake george is waist deep in middle lake and reasonably flat so I had less chance of loosing the camera in a stack and had flatter water to gybe at the end of each run.  This was the perfect opportunity to try mounting the camera on the tail of the boom.  What really stood out was how much slower and less reactive the rig was in the gybe with the camera mounted at the rear.  The camera is only a few hundread grams but it slowed down the rig flip remarkably as well as oversheeting on the entry to the gybe and trimming the sail when sailing a straight course.  I was happy with the view as it showns the foot and hand work required as well as timing variations.  I will mix the other footage together in a clip but for now here is the gybe with boom tail cam.

Tuttle Fin Re-box - S10

I needed a Select S10 39 for my Falcon 111/Evo III 7.8 combo and since none were available in that size I had to re-box a bigger fin to make one.  I had a 57 from a SLW that I sold which would be too big for my Falcon 134 and since I could buy the big fins I needed for this board the 57 had to get the chop.

 S10 37 top, S10 57 bottom.

 S10 37 top, S10 57 bottom.

 Marking out the 39cm on the 57cm fin.(+2cm)

 20mm longer than the 37cm fin(plus a little extra ;-)

 Measure twice - Cut once!

 Ooooops

 Select Elite Layup

 Make flushing plates matching the foil profile.

Wax mould & plates.

 Cut-out 2 layers of 200gsm plain weave 

Carbon Cloth for each side of the fin head.

 Mix Talc and chopped CF. 

Add a touch of carbon black.

 Layup each side of the mould.

 Add special sauce and swing down fin jig.

 Place top mould using dow pins and clamp shut.

Go to bed and allow resin to cure.

 Resin cured, lever the mould halves apart.

 Top half of mould removed, flushing plate still in place.

 Flushing plate still in place.

 Top flushing plate removed.
A few air bubbles, needed more filler!

 Remove fin supports.

 Apply pressure to fin tip to pop head from mould.

 Head released.

 Bottom mould with flushing plate.
Insert removed to make Deep Tuttle Heads.

 Fin with jointline flash.

Flash Removed.

Pictures to come...

Drill holes for barrel nuts.

Drill clearance holes for screws.

Allow to cure for a few more days.

Sail!

Select Elite - What's inside...

While cutting down a Select S10 from 57 to 39cm I was intrigued by the layup used.  I use a full carbon skin on most of the fins I make(using a full carbon skin is easier to layup and looks cool), the Elite makes the most of carbons high modulus while minimising cost by not using it in the areas where it has less influence on flex and twist. There is also an outer layer of glass which will increase durability as carbon will wear down before glass fibre. It would be interesting to see if this layup is used for the entire foil length.  I might try to peel back a few layers to see the type of weave used.

Select S10 Foil Section

Windsurfing Heart Rate

I recently started wearing a heart rate monitor as I have always been interested in how intense a workout you get from various sporting activities.  The primary use for my heart rate monitor(garmin 310XT) in my twice a week ride to and from work. I live in the hills and work on the plains and so it only takes me 25 minutes to get to work.  Getting home is another story, it takes 50-60 minutes with the last 25 up the hill that I live on.  I like this part of the ride best as it is a real mental game - do I push harder or keep a little in the tank for later.  It is amazing how when you take the same route all the time you can tell if you are the slightest bit sick or went to bed too late(or got woken up by the baby more than usual).  Riding to work I push a little to keep between 130 and 140 BPM(beats per minute).  On the ride home I keep in the same range until I hit the hills, then I go to 150-160 BPM. I rarely go above 160 as I am reasonably fit and usually stay in the saddle.  I can stand near the top of the hill in a higher gear and use a more anaerobic style to keep at 160 with more quad burn and dont mind this at all.

I have found that the cycling has been great for my knees as being tall, they have always been a bit loose and rattley.  If I have been for a ride the ligaments and muscles support my knee joint much better.  I have been holding off having an arthroscapy for torn and floating cartilage for as long as possible.  Cycling is also excellent cross training for windsurfing.  I never get any quad burn going on speed runs, nautical miles or hours.

One of the main features I wanted when shopping for heart rate monitors was that I wanted a waterproof, not water resistant unit.  I wanted to be able to take the unit windsurfing!.  The 310XT is a sealed waterproof unit that is charged from to external terminals on the back of the body.  The unit also has an inbuilt GPS receiver but cannot be used for uploading as the interval is variable.  Data is transferred via a wireless usb stick so there are no openings that have to be sealed each time you charge or retreive data.

Garmin 310Xt with Wireless USB receiver.

 Charging Terminals.

The first time I took out the unit was a shocker,  I ended up swimming most of the time(heart rate is not able to be transmitted while under water).  The second session was more successful.  I haven't used the monitor since as I always get my wetsuit and vest on and realise I need to put the sensor belt around my chest.  I need to remember next time!  The session I wore the unit was 15-20 knots with moderate chop and I mainly reached back and forth with the odd 10s of the wind.  I transferred the data to the garmin training center software which shows a map of your tracks with a speed and heart rate graph.  I found that I had peaks of 163 BPM and the end or during powered upwind legs on the way back from squirts off the wind.  I also had high rates shortly after the gybe when pumping to maintain planing.  These results were due to the anaerobic nature of the sailing at the time.

Anaerobic sailing:

• Upwind when powered to over-powered.
• Holding your breath, or erratic breathing during a gybe.
• Pumping to get on or hold the board on the plane.

Garmin Training Center Software. Click to see animation.

My average heart rate for the session of 1 hours and 38 minutes was 143BPM and the calories burnt 1274.  Average speed was 34.2 km/h and max was 61.1km/h. Sailing is similar to interval training and varying the heart rate is good for improving fitness.

I want to gather more data on this subject with a wide variety of conditions and equipment.  It will be good to record the calories burnt with different types of sailing and comparing them to the figures I get with other activities.

Falcon Speed 45 & 51

The new Fanatic Falcon speeds are online and look like they have some very nice go-fast features.  There is a 51cm wide (65L - 230cm) and 45cm wide(54L - 228cm) board to complement the 85 which can be used as a light wind speed board.

Falcon Speed 45 (courtesy of the Fanatic Website)

Other features include...

- Extra Deep Deck Recess for Rig Stability
- S-Shape Volume Flow
- All New Feet Grab Rail Shape for Max Foot Comfort
- 70° Pintail for Clean Water Release/Reduced Drag Area
- V into Double Concave Speed Control Bottom
- Slight Tail Rocker for Maximum Free Speed Experience
- CAD Designed Speed Curves
- Straight Outlines

Check it out on the Fanatic Website HERE