Longboard Races in Ottawa end of JULY 2011

Dominique Vallée, Silent Sports, Andrée Gauthier, Suzanne Roberge and MANY others are organizing a longboard event in Ottawa for the 31JUL2011 weekend. Some details can be found here : http://windsurf.ca/ just need to clique EVENTS and then CMWA 2011 Notice of Race and a PDF will open. Suzanne has explained to me via e-mail that one does NOT need to be a member - just means NO official trophy. Camping is apparently free and they are hoping for a big turnout. As seen in the PDF, one needs to book in advance - food n all.

Kona Ones were purchased through Silent Sports of Toronto and the hope is to have a Kona ONE race. These boards are difficult to get here in Canada.

Here is a quote from one e-mail correspondence that i have had regarding the event:

"Bruce at Silent Sports is a dealer and Kona’s can be purchased through him in the future. The price is going up by a lot but he usually gives good deals. 

By the way, Dominique is officially going to hold the Kona World’s in 2013 at Point du Lac.  That may be the year for you to purchase the left over lease boards.  

She is really planning a big event with long distance, shuttle bus to and from airport and day trip to Quebec city.. 
We would love to have 30 or so Canadians show up at this race."

As you can see here, one day I would like to try a Kona ONE and perhaps purchase one to replace and upgrade my current longboard - BIC Dufour Wing from about 1980 !!


Aber Wind Cup 2008 with Kona ONEs from opop on Vimeo.

I still prefer my longboard on the lake at the chalet due to wind shadows and gusts. It also allows me to windsurf on the local river after work quite regularily. One week I windsurfed six(6) times where only two(2) of those on the AHD FF 160.  I keep wondering when will I actually use the Fanatic BEE LTD as it should be ??

So, if you are in the area - or are interested in supporting or watching Kona's and other longboards, CHECK IT OUT !!

If weather keeps up as it has so far - it should be great. Only today was the FIRST day i have not longboarded in about the last ten(10) days !!!

----------------------------------
FOLLOWUP :

BAD NEWS - I never made it :-( GOOD NEWS follows :-)

http://windsurf.ca/
Thirty windsurfers (17 open raceboards and 13 Konas!) converged to Ottawa for the annual CMWA championships. We had gorgeous weather all weekend accompanied by wind on Saturday and Monday. Open class did five races and Kona One Design managed to finish four races on Saturday. The wind arrived a bit late on  Sunday so we just windsurf freely at the end of the day. Monday morning brought some wind so we held a long distance race, followed by lunch and awards and a safe return home for everyone. The results are posted here. We would like to thank everyone involved from the participants to the volunteers to the staff at the Britannia Yacht Club.

Andrée Gauthier is organizing a second Kona One Design group purchase. Find more information here.
The latest CMWA  newsletter is now available online...here.

Addendum:  Since July 2011 I have purchased a Fanatic Ultra CAT and met local "Sailboarder"  who has a Kona and RIPs with his Ezzy 7.5 in 25 knot winds !!!

In Ottawa Citizen from the Event

lesson #1 - copy the material - stuff disappears from the bloody internet %^&*()_

When is it time to change/replace a windsurf sail ?

As I am working with limited funds, most of my sails are purchased used or received free. The ONLY sail I have purchased NEW to date is the 2006 Maui Sails Pursuit 8.5 which I purchased in FALL 2007 for about $500 with taxes in. I still have the original BIC Dufour sail from 1981 that absolutely sucks, butt is retained JUST for historical value. That sail has NO full battens and obviously NO cambers. The reason it stinks is simply due to its swing weight. The boom length of this sail is phenomenal !!

I still have an NP 7-oh and a Simmer 6-oh from the 90's that are still just OKAY. Both have cambers and mostly suffer from things like broken zippers on cam pockets and batten tensioners that slip over time.

My 1998 Gaastra Flow 3x 7-oh is still going strong and rigs on my current 490 mast. This is a GREAT sail, but was pre-Barry Spanier era with Gaastra.

Also have a 2008 Maui Sails TR-4 10-oh that is also a GREAT sail IF one can handle such large sails. I purchased this sail for light winds and NOT to race. One year I used it almost 45 % of my outings in that summer season. It is too large to use for winter sessions, as these tend to be quite FAST!!

Now we get to the real reason for this post ... my MS Pursuit 8.5 ...

This is my MOST used sail and I use it on my BIC Dufour Wing 200 liter longboard, on my AHD 160 liter shortboard AND in the winter on my snow sled. Donut believe I have used it on the ice sled - again, would be too FAST. This sail has a GREAT deal of range and I rig it tight leech for snow and longboard. It can be downhauled wonderfully for the shortboard and rigged tight all over for some bigger winds around 20 knots and some really decent planing.

This sail is made with monofilm and i had some discussions on durability of the material when i first purchased it. I was re-assured and it seems true - it is slightly cloudy, the logos are peeling, butt the monofilm seems FINE. The stitching on the other hand seems to be wearing out at the batten pockets.

I posted some questions regarding this on the MS forum and the Auzzie forum. Barry has asked for some more info and I posted this photo:
 

On the Auzzie forum some folks said ride the sail until the end and even put mylar tape or duct tape until it dies. Others said chuck it and replace it and comedians that they think they are, posted the following pic of a sail they say they had to throw away !!

I have ridden some sails until the end and they looked NOTHING like the sail above :-)

The sails I consider my GOOD sails are ALL in GREAT shape and I hope to keep em as such. My question on the forums was to determine whether people replaced panels and/or stitching on their most-used sails. I did NOT get a clear definitive answer. One answer that did surprise me was: someone mentioned that North Sails had an excellent five(5) year warranty and they had used it successfully with some monofilm issue. In other words they said - the extra money for the North was well worth it. I donut know the warranty policy from MS and would be surprised if they paid for a stitching repair. Such things can be blamed on usage and/or poor rigging...

I did a calculation or estimate and came up with a figure of $5 per outing with the 8.5. This seems VERY acceptable !!

New sails in the 8.0 to 8.5 m² range all seem to be well over $600 now.
Found an almost new Maui Sails TR-6 8.4 for $800 asking. That seems expensive.
AuVentFou has a used MS Titan 8.0 for $650 - no negotiation for items on consignment.
Found a 2009 Severne Overdrive 8.0 asking $450, butt is about a 3 hour drive away.
Decisions, decisions ...

Followup: In the end, I decided to keep the sail and ride it until it dies.THEN I saw a used MS-2 8-oh with the MS 490/75% mast !!! Well, I purchased it. So now I am trying to sell the Pursuit 8.5 and the Autima 490 mast. So far only had a few nibbles. My w/s buddy suggests I sell them separately cuz the mast it still very good to go and the sail is B material - with lotsa life ...
See my post about MS-2 and Pursuit: maui-sails-pursuit-vs-ms-2.html

This discussion is about replacing sails and NOT changing sails.
For me - changing a sail means the sail is NOT performing as expected or one is using a sail in conditions it was not meant to be used. That is a different discussion entirely. When you are on the water - how to know it is time to change the sail ??  

Formula Boards and Longboards

Sometimes this discussion is called Formula vs. Longboards. I do not consider this a competition nor do I consider these board types to be mutually exclusive. It should be a symbiotic relationship in terms of helping windsurfing. Both are meant for the lighter to mid winds and start to be beyond their means when one speaks of 25 + knot winds.

Before I get too deep into discussion, perhaps I should briefly describe what these board types are, generally speaking.  I will assume that the name Formula was derived from Formula car racing :-) These boards are typically low rider , wide boards – somewhat similar to the Formula I racing car. Nowadays Formula boards are typically one meter wide and shorter than they used to be and not nearly as long as a longboard.  They usually have very long fins – around 70 cm and use very large sails – from 10-oh to 12-oh. The longboard, as the name implies, is a longer windsurf or sailboard – typically over 11 feet. Measures are relative and it is a simple measure to say that both Formula and Longboards will not fit into the average North American motor vehicle. The Formula boards are really wide and the Longboards really long. Longboards typically have what one calls dagger boards or centre boards. These act like a keel and help the board go upwind. Both boards work well with 8.5’s and I am unsure how large a sail a longboard can handle – probably depends on the board - in races it seems 9.5 is the max.

This discussion of "Formula Boards vs Longboards" is found in windsurf magazines, forums and at the local beach. Interestingly enough, locally there is more discussion and evidence of formula boards than longboards.  Just as I met a fellow who wants to be considered an ambassador of SUP {stand up paddling} in the province of Québec,  I wish to become an ambassador and advocate of longboarding in Montréal !!

I believe longboarding is less about racing than formula. Formula requires a certain amount of wind because it is very inefficient when there is almost no wind – like fewer than 10 knots (i say 10 knots cuz i am a heavyweight of close to 100 kilos). Longboards are fine in light to mid winds and the centre board helps when it comes to those lighter winds. People discuss what happens when longboards and formula boards race and it seems the results are extremely dependent on the course and the conditions. At a certain point, the formula board will just blow the doors off the longboard and other times the longboard will be the predominant winner. This is why I say they are NOT mutually exclusive AND as such I am surprised there are not more people or racers doing both. Perhaps it comes down to cost... Formula boards, sails and masts are extremely expensive. A race longboard is also extremely expensive. Interestingly enough, there are older race longboards that DO show up in the used market OCCASIONALLY.

A bit of history ... The earliest sailboards were longboards. They were long, heavy, had small fins, a centre board and no footstraps. Apparently the first world championships were in 1973. The International Mistral Class Organization/IMCO started in 1976. In 1984 windsurfing became part of the Olympics for men. Board choice has been an issue ever since and there was talk of removing the event from 2012 Olympics.  Early longboards had boat like hulls, but flattened out quickly ... The most famous longboard of today has to be the Kona ONE and perhaps the Starboard Phantom. In the early race days, there were boards like the Mistral Equipe, Mistral Superlight, Fanatic Mega Cat, Tiga Race, the One Designs and F2 Lightning. Today’s longboards are still over 180 litres in volume and usually more than 11 feet.

Racing example:

The Starboard company was infamous (and still is) for coming out with new and innovative concepts when it comes to sailboards. They recovered the industry with the wide GO board and also started the Formula line in about 1999. In around 2002 the boards hit the one meter width and it has stayed there since. Other companies like AHD, BIC, Exocet, F2, Mistral and others have tried to keep with up with Starboard in the Formula arena, but have had difficulty.

Racing example: 



In general people are saying that a Formula board will require about 2 knots less wind than a modern longboard in order to plane – when using the same sail for the same person. This is an interesting idea because typically people say one cannot use the same sail on these different boards since the formula prefers a sail with a loose leech and the longboard prefers a sail with a tighter leech.

So, the longboard can handle lighter winds more readily. The formula does not schlogg well. The formula board can be faster in planing. Both can go upwind quite well. Apparently it takes some getting used to when getting in the footstraps on the formula for the first time – due to board width. The formula has quite a long fin and as such has issues with shallow waters and rocks. They say formula boards are fragile. If you are not racing, one board and two(2) sails should be adequate in either of these disciplines. Both board types get you on the water earlier and both can handle quite decent winds – to about 25 knots.

So, it is just a matter of personal choice !! Since I like to go on the water and almost drift about and explore, I use an old longboard for now (BIC Dufour Wing) . I hope to try a Kona ONE end of July 2011 in Ottawa. These longboards are quite capable of planing and fast...Perhaps one day I will manage to purchase a used one...

For me it is all about TOW aka time on water. This week I sailed every day so far. My w/s buddy, who is selling his 160 and will have only a 130 liter board, would not even consider going out unless steady 16 knot winds. However, he too is considering the possibility of a Kona ONE. Some people "argue" that a large freeride board with larger sails is the "way to go" - rather than formula. I have a 160 liter/79 cm board that i use with an 8.5 and 10-oh. With my weight, the starting point is 12 knots. Under that, I go for the longboard. With a formula i might gain 2 knots ie be able to start planing at 10 knots. I have determined that i can do the same thing much more cheaply - just lose some more weight !! {Allison Shreeve of Australia says she can plane in 6 knots on a Formula board !!}

My motto: Get out there and ride. You're gonna like it :-)
Unfortunately, my skills stop me around the 25 knot mark - also when waves get over about one foot... {for now !!}

Follow-up: Re-discovered a piece on James Douglass' blog: http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2009/09/wind-thresholds-and-kitestration.html In this post it discusses and shows on the graph that longboards can reach planing thresholds around 12 knots whereas Formula boards do this around 8 knots. However, it is NOT until 12 knots in the Formula arena when pumping is no longer required. Personally, I have never been a fan of pumping and use it sparingly. Have NO idea how the Olympic RSX folks do it cuz it is TIRING !!

For me the issues for Formula are cost and pumping. For the longboard the issue is availability !! Cannot easily find Phantoms or Kona ONEs !!! Will check out the Konas in Ottawa the weekend of 31JUL2011 and go from there - will probably stay with what i have since sails are starting to need replacement...

Update:  Since the original post, I have purchased an MS-2 8-oh with matching 490/75 mast and a Fanatic Ultra CAT, a classique longboard. This CAT can plane when even the kiters got off the water at OKA Park and it can handle the 10-oh. The Formula solution for me was too $$$, too specialized, too long a fin and too sensitive. The longboard was inexpensive, can go in 7 knots, has a short 12 inch/30 cm fin and fully retractable centreboard and can handle any abuse. This was a NO brainer for me and it gets chuckles or comments wherever i go :-)