Thanks everyone for your kind words and encouragement on the last post. I just wanted to share my latest run where I broke my own record with a speed of 33.8 knots in 19knots of wind on a 9m Epic Renegade. It was the 1st time I rode my speed board since the Championships in France. I'm very pleased with my result and hope to practise more on the lagoons in Brazil.

Awesome Jessica !

1.8 times the windspeed, quite brilliant

Peter

Nice job, keep after it!!

1.8 times the wind speed... if only sailing boats could do that

Breaking PRs is always fun.

Is your board model custom made? I am trying to find one to buy and I am wondering if your board source will sell to the public.

Thanks I was really happy with it.

I actually bought my board from Rob Douglas http://www.sailing.org/worldsailor/2011/rob-douglas.php and was fortunate enough to have Michael Gebhardt cut it down to size for me. I'm not 100% sure who the shaper was but I do know they are custom made.

I found out from Rob you can order one through Alex Aguera http://alexaguera.com/ as that is who designed mine.

Nice!

My personal record is only 28 knots on my raceboard. I'd like to try out one of those speed boards, looks fun. Can you ride it back upwind after the speed run, or do you have to walk?

You might want to try a higher aspect ratio kite for faster speeds. The Renegade is fairly low aspect ratio. If you like the Epic kites, I'd bet the Screamer would get you going faster, or better yet, the Epic Racer.

I know I really notice the difference on my raceboard when comparing riding a lower aspect ratio Best Kahoona (similar to the Renegade) vs the high aspect ratio Dynos (similar to the Epic Racers). The high aspect ratio kites are much better at taking advantage of the apparent wind.

Does Rob Douglas ride crossbows? Or switchblades?

You can tack both ways on the race board no problem. I used the Screamer & tried the racer last year at the World Speed Championships but this stability and pull of the Renegade worked way better for me. I'm sure everyone has a personal preference. To ride the speed board you need to be extremely over powered and that particular 9m Renegade to me is a very powerful kite much more pull then the Screamer. (I can only use it for freestyle in less then 16 knots.) The racer would be a great kite for course racing but just did not work with speed, it was too unstable in the gusts. I'm also sponsored by Epic.

I believe Rob rides Switchblades.