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Competitive speeds?

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:13 pm
by Tone
Now I am a long way off being comfortable to race on my new set up.

I was out today on my 10 Edge and Temavento RC70

Wind was 15-18 knots.

My vmax was 29 knots and I can tell you, I felt like the world was going past me waaaaay too fast. I have been over 40 knots on my TT at a local speed spot but, this was over chop and felt like all I was waiting for was an explosion, which did happen on nearly every long tack.

I am getting good upwind angle ( I think ) 40 degrees, and maintaining 15 knots max, off the wind I am exploding, just totally out of control though I know that will come with more experience.

What kind of speeds are people doing upwind and downwind?

Thanks

Tony

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:30 pm
by Peter_Frank
Average upwind vmg without tacks, about 20-22km/h, speed around 30 sometimes 35km/h.

Average downwind vmg about 35-40km/h, speed around 40-45km/h.

Just had a check at the gps data from our danish guys in Soma Bay, when they were "fast" :thumb:

:D Peter

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:00 pm
by davesails7
There was a video where Johnny Heineken was saying the top guys are riding about 15 knots upwind (28 kmh) and 28 knots (52 kmh) downwind I think. He said downwind speed is the same no matter what the windspeed but the higher the wind, the lower they can head downwind.

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:00 am
by coleman
So what is the fastest point of sail? I have been told that speeds up to about 35knts are hit. I would assume this is on a reach.

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 8:07 am
by Tone
coleman wrote:So what is the fastest point of sail? I have been told that speeds up to about 35knts are hit. I would assume this is on a reach.
Broad reach I believe....

that's my fastest for sure.

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:05 pm
by Peter_Frank
coleman wrote:So what is the fastest point of sail? I have been told that speeds up to about 35knts are hit. I would assume this is on a reach.
It depends on the wind speed.

The more wind, the deeper you can go when maxing board speed, and reverse, in light wind, you have to point much higher to go max board speed.

But apparently you go max VMG downwind close to the max speed angle too, as Heineken almost says.

:D Peter

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:30 am
by chipmunk
Image this may help :thumb:

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:40 am
by Peter_Frank
Yes, but wrong.

It is extremely dependant on the actual windspeed, so only valid for one specific wind speed.

The green area could easily be way faster regarding sailing speed :naughty:

Are the figure board speed or vmg ?

But otherwise a good figure to illustrate, but only valid for one single wind strength :thumb:

:D Peter

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 6:25 pm
by alex a
As stated earlier as a quote by Johnny Heineken that boards are going around 28 knots downwind, he is probably referring to max downwind angles on the course. To achieve higher speeds on your courseboard in the mid 30's, you would need to go slightly higher than this angle and have good wind. Of course it all depends on wind strength and water conditions especially play a major role. Leucate starts this weekend for the speed trials and you will probably see slalom and small course boards hit over 40 knots on the course. In testing, they have hit mid 40's which was unthinkable even last year until the speed trials in Marthas Vineyard. Rob Douglas and Damien Leroy both did times over 42 on the 250M course when I was in Marthas Vineyard for the Lynch Cup speed trials in October while riding small courseboards. It was previously thought that these boards would only get to 35 knots.

Re: Competitive speeds?

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 8:22 am
by Tone
alex a wrote:As stated earlier as a quote by Johnny Heineken that boards are going around 28 knots downwind, he is probably referring to max downwind angles on the course. To achieve higher speeds on your courseboard in the mid 30's, you would need to go slightly higher than this angle and have good wind. Of course it all depends on wind strength and water conditions especially play a major role. Leucate starts this weekend for the speed trials and you will probably see slalom and small course boards hit over 40 knots on the course. In testing, they have hit mid 40's which was unthinkable even last year until the speed trials in Marthas Vineyard. Rob Douglas and Damien Leroy both did times over 42 on the 250M course when I was in Marthas Vineyard for the Lynch Cup speed trials in October while riding small courseboards. It was previously thought that these boards would only get to 35 knots.
I personally think that to get the overall record back, we need to be looking at small 3 finned boards as riding flat is FAR more efficient than trying to edge against a 9m kite in 40 knots of wind.

I don't think it will be long until we see 50 knots on small course type boards.