Weight jacket

P.C_simpson said...

weight jacket, you would have to be completely insane to wear a life jacket doing those speeds.

Wouldn't the weight vest include some sort of life jacket? Otherwise you would sink like a stone if you fell into the water.

Maybe one of those parachutes like the drag cars have to slow them down.

na it was big back in the 90's racers used them so they could hold down bigger sails, some have a little floatation to float the jacket, these jackets used lead shot, like stuff in shot gun shells, other ones used water as weight and didn't need floatation. not sure about the modern ones, the problem with wearing a life jacket is that it stops when it hits the water and you don't, ouch...

This is how you start on the canal with a 20kg weight vest plus your 95-115kg on a 37cm wide board.

Chris Lockwood isnt exactly a big bloke... and i dont notice him wearing much if any weight... so why does he go so damn fast???

wicked video!! The best for the end is awesome, answers my question beautifully!

windjunky said...

Chris Lockwood isnt exactly a big bloke... and i dont notice him wearing much if any weight... so why does he go so damn fast???

thats a good question and its got a few sailors around the globe asking the same thing as well
i personally think he has got some dodgy gps's
still i cant explain how he disappeared in to the distance the other day sailing a 7.5 on a 130ltr board with a 40 fin through knee high chop pulling 35's
and i think if he was wearing his standard sandy 9kgs at the time he would of prob been pulling 37's or more...
actually i do know the secret...he sails through and over chop better than pretty much anyone else!

I was told that AA was weighing around the 120 kg mark with weight and they were having to water start very, very broad on tiny boards. very talented Id say.
I also reckon if Chris was there, him and the big bloke wouldve been battling it out!!

wondering if their feet are in the footstraps while popping out to plane and how would a talented 80kl. rider fare with the heavier and much taller guys

Bails said...

I'm intrigued by the boom height/harness line length. They are standing quite upright on the board, is this to counteract spinout? Generally having your body extended almost parallel to the water is faster, but this does not always apply if you're massively overpowered and need to keep weight on the fin

It depends a lot on the angle to the wind and if your fin can take all the load efficiently.
Remember that these guys are sailing very broad and are looking for efficiency as they already have a surplus of power.