Haircut said...ok cheers barn.
sorry radlad, i must be blind. just watching now

that move that kiri does at 3.38 is cool.
barn - as you've been around the block a bit, would you say the wind strength at that event was pretty typical for a freestyle event, or would guys like gollito be looking for stronger winds ideally? would u know what size sails they were using that day and what would they would prefer to be using?
i've never watched a full event, only the pwa snippets etc
Thats the good thing about the live stream, you can listen to the riders commentating, and they give an amazing insight into the conditions and tactics and whatnot. I've spoken to a few of my mates competing and they say Vietnam is pretty choppy, apparently there is a brick wall that is sending the waves back out to sea!. Also the wind seems to be from 5m weather to 4.5, I think in this video they are both on around 4.8.. They don't tend to go out way overpowered because the ducking moves become too unpredictable, a bit all or nothing. Obviously these guys will still be sailing 5 knots faster than the average freerider on a 7.5.
So the conditions in Vietnam aren't really like any other event because all the events are different anyway, except for a heavy bias towards starboard moves on the inside, and port jumping. But Gollito has always had an advantage in the really strong winds of the Canaries, where they need a larger sail size to land moves on the inside, but get blown off the water on the outside. Only Gollito has all your base are belong to him.
Was pretty funny watching the earlier heats on the live stream, Taty Frans landed a few double forwards off chop, and Tonky Frans did about 4 massive forwards in his heat, trying to land a bonka, plus plenty of pushloops and bakkies. You dont see that side watching the PWA highlight reel.