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2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

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AdamKoch
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2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby AdamKoch » Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:16 am

It's been a week now since i've arrived here in Corpus for the worlds. We've had it all from balls out windy and volkswagon sized chop to flat and light.
Farley and I set a (spider man themed and branded) windward and leeward mark to see what's up 2 days ago. That boy can really grind and always has another lap in him. It was full on war with lulls in the 5 knot range and puffs to upper 20's... Possibly in the lower 30's... I can't tell anymore... A couple times my board speed numbers read downwind 30+ knots and I believe it because on one downhill leg I caught air unintentionally off the back of a man sized piece of chop and buckled into the back of the next. Somehow still in the straps both my knees hit the board and added to my dent collection... (Sorry Aguera. Hope you don't mind a couple extra dents on your baby). Of course Farley smoked me on that run...
Next beat (upwind) the wind turned up a notch and so did the unforgiving massive chop... It's funny here in texass... The waves do not spread out like in the open sea here. It just gets steeper and steeper. Upwind Farley and I where really close and when we finally found our spyderman mark bouncing in the seas we speed for it neck and neck. Pinned wide open and overstanding we both hit a voodoo wave that sent us both in the air at the same time... Going upwind with no intension of jumping. Needless to say we both ate it hard.

I didn't have enough yet so I took another crazy lap. I ate it really hard catapolting myself and skipping like a rock for 100 yards and face planting into the backs of the waves. This place can be really brutal if you loose control...
On my beat back upwind i caught air once again... The wind got under my board, ripped her off my feet and blew back straight at my face. All I could do in my out of control sate was put my forward knee up to keep the obvious from hapening. Sorry Aguera, one more dent you will for sure notice.
Man I really love this new sport. It seperates the men from the boys for sure.... I'm not talking age here either. When you hit the windward mark and turnoff the wind... If your not scared your not pushing hard enough.

No wind yesterday, today it was really light and gusty, shifty north wind out of the city with butter flat water. Farley tuned up his new board. We both swam through the lulls and droped our 9's (we should have been on 11's, but no wind is no wind and we still would have swam). In the end we both swam/drifted in. Farley gets the navy seal award today for scaling a barnicle covered wall and sacraficed his body to save his kite and new board. Dude is tough!

More to come... Fan should be back on mañana and there should be more sailors on the water for some extra motivation.

AK

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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby windrider1212 » Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:55 pm

Adam, I think the reason the chop is so steep and tight is the bay is pretty shallow which forces it to kind of jack up. Even though I live in McKinney Texas, I have been making a trip to Corpus almost every year for the past 20 years. I was a very avid windsurfer and the bay was really fun for bump and jump. I've switched completely to kite surfing about five years ago. I can't imagine bearing off the wind on one of your boards or even course windsurf board. The biggest I ever sailed in was when a front came through overnight and I awoke to 30mph Northeast winds. This was a steady 30 not gusting to 30, I don't know how high the gusts were. We launched from Poenisch park and the wind was blowing so hard you had to hold on to your rig really tight when rigging so it wouldn't blow out onto Ocean Dr. I was on a 4.5 and 8'6" wave board and lasted about an hour before the wind increased even more and I didn't have anything smaller to rig. I really don't know how you guys and gals can race in those conditions.

Which is scarier racing in the bay or launching off the USS Lexington?

Good Luck!

Keith

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AdamKoch
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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby AdamKoch » Fri Apr 09, 2010 4:21 pm

windrider1212 wrote:Adam, I think the reason the chop is so steep and tight is the bay is pretty shallow which forces it to kind of jack up. Even though I live in McKinney Texas, I have been making a trip to Corpus almost every year for the past 20 years. I was a very avid windsurfer and the bay was really fun for bump and jump. I've switched completely to kite surfing about five years ago. I can't imagine bearing off the wind on one of your boards or even course windsurf board. The biggest I ever sailed in was when a front came through overnight and I awoke to 30mph Northeast winds. This was a steady 30 not gusting to 30, I don't know how high the gusts were. We launched from Poenisch park and the wind was blowing so hard you had to hold on to your rig really tight when rigging so it wouldn't blow out onto Ocean Dr. I was on a 4.5 and 8'6" wave board and lasted about an hour before the wind increased even more and I didn't have anything smaller to rig. I really don't know how you guys and gals can race in those conditions.

Which is scarier racing in the bay or launching off the USS Lexington?

Good Luck!

Keith


Thanks Brotha'

sounds like good times... You are too right about the depth of the bay effecting the attitude of the chop.

About your question... Lex launch vs. Course board in strong winds... I would have to say they are both impossible without the proper training, preperations and fine tuning of your equipment/yourself. You have to crawl before you can run. They both are in the same adrenaline rush catagory from my perspective...

Stay cool.

AK

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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby cglazier » Fri Apr 09, 2010 4:25 pm

Great post Adam, you seem to have really conveyed the conditions there. It looks like it will be a great competition.

:wink:
CG

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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby Toby » Fri Apr 09, 2010 4:52 pm

true, looking forward to that world championship.

Bruno was unreachable in Thailand...let's see what the US guys can do.

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AdamKoch
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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby AdamKoch » Sat Apr 10, 2010 3:34 pm

Toby wrote:true, looking forward to that world championship.

Bruno was unreachable in Thailand...let's see what the US guys can do.

Trust me.... Everyone is beatable. Especially if they run a real course race... I'm still waiting for someone to tell me the courses they ran in Thailand??? Can anyone out there please clarify that? That's why I was not there... I would never spend that much money traveling to a regatta where they make up a course at the skippers meeting.... That's very unprofessional from my persective.

Don't get me wrong Bruno can kick butt.

Yeeehaaa from texass

AK
Last edited by AdamKoch on Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby gmb13 » Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:47 pm

Hi Adam,

What's the Water temperature like in Corpus at the moment?

--
Gunnar

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AdamKoch
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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby AdamKoch » Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:09 pm

gmb13 wrote:Hi Adam,

What's the Water temperature like in Corpus at the moment?

--
Gunnar
i would say 70 f

James Johnsen
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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby James Johnsen » Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:09 pm

AdamKoch wrote:
gmb13 wrote:Hi Adam,

What's the Water temperature like in Corpus at the moment?

--
Gunnar
i would say 70 f

Which fins are you and Sean using? - and size vs kite size?

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AdamKoch
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Re: 2010 Corpus Worlds training up-date...

Postby AdamKoch » Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:56 am

James Johnsen wrote:
AdamKoch wrote:
gmb13 wrote:Hi Adam,

What's the Water temperature like in Corpus at the moment?

--
Gunnar
i would say 70 f

Which fins are you and Sean using? - and size vs kite size?
Funny, everyone asks that...
I for sure can not speak for Farley.... And I don't even know what I have... Alex Aguera is my tuner. He just gives me what he has fine tuned and I leave it at that. I'm simply the sailor and Aguera is my designer/coach (for what's under my feet). I like to refer to him as master yoda. You will have to ask him for those numbers...

From my end I can tell you that I have 2 boards and two fin set up's. Each set designed for the individual boards. I really have only been using the larger board and fins that go along with it. I plan on using the high wind set-up once my dog blows off her chain. I like to keep it simple and only change my kites... I would love to see someone change fins inbetween races... And I feel you don't need to if the board is as finely ballaced as Aguera and Damien have tuned mine. And for the record my fins have huge dings in them and my board is one of the first Alex built a couple years ago or so... I kinda ended up with what was left over.

I'm very thankful that Agura and Ozone have both taken my feedback and hard data seriosly. They both believed in me when no one else would and I owe them huge credit for getting me dialed to the point I am now.

Wehats mix of that and training my butt off since last fall in Seattle through the winter. My largest steps forward recently since I haven't changed my fins has been my kites. Robert Whittall and Matt Taggart have gone above and beyond to make sure the new Edge is simple, nimble and ready for any condition mother nature decides we should race in. So far, now that my body can deal with the agressivness of course racing both mentally and physically, I feel really comfortable with all my gear both under and over powered. This is a new break through for me, since now my gear is totaly dialed... Now the rest is up to me. In racing skiffs we always had the best gear and spent countless hours dialing every last detail early and always had brand new everything so the only thing left to blame is yourself... Since both Ozone and Aguera have taken care of those details for me... The rest is in my hands and what I choose to do with my training before the Worlds.

Today the wind pretty much sucked here in Corpus... Random crazy chop with 35 deg shifts and lulls that make you want to bite a footstrap. Difficult to stay on your board let alone go fast, but after 5 straight hours, countless continuous laps around the course and I finally felt dialed in. I never give up. You win some and learn some in this super technical game of coure racing. I truley have fallen in love with this new sport!

That's all I know for now...

AK


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