Hey,
So my 21st Birthday just passed and now I’m the new owner of some pretty neat gear...

I’ve been blessed with a completely new board and rig.

2009 115L Naish global free ride board
2009 6.1m Neil Pryde Firefly
As well as a new boom, mast, mast extension and mast foot.

So up until this point I’ve been sailing with a 1985 hifly 700CS which is plenty big enough to float about without the whole sinking feeling... but with the sail I had (a big Dacron bag with no shape whatsoever, 1985 vintage aswell..) I only ever pulled off a few very shaky water starts.

I’m 198cm and 94kg... And I’m starting to think that I might have bitten off more than I can chew with the 115L free ride board...

I’m not allowed to go sailing with it till after this weekend (not actually getting it till my party.. actually maybe not a few weeks now.. small tear in one of my knee ligaments from oztag last night..) and when I do I don’t think I’ll be good enough to sail it..

Can I please have some other people’s experiences with progressing to smaller boards?

Cheers
Simon.

If you can water start with your old kit, you're going to find waterstarting this a LOAD easier (because of the rig rather than the board).

Yup, it will probably be a bit of a challenge for your size, but you're young and keen if you learned to sail on that old stuff!

Suggest you go and find somewhere nice and safe to play with it at first - somewhere where if you screw up you're going to wind up back on the beach without too much drama.

It'll make you progress quickly - I say go for it - as long as you're somewhere safe.

ALSO - suggest that you get someone to show you how to rig your sail properly. Maybe the shop it's come from? A well rigged sail will make a massive amount of difference.

Good luck!

EDIT - agree with Notwal - shiny kit! You're going to progress fast on that.

Cheers guys,

I'm from Kiama so ive got a few options on sailing locations; Lake Illawarra, Gerroa, Shoalhaven River, all depending on the conditions of course. Eventually I want to be blasting off Gerroa in the big NE’ers, like I’ve seen so many people doing.. But I want to get use to the new gear first.

I got my kit from wind-surf and snow; they gave me a quick rigging lesson before I lugged it all the way back down south :) amazing how much downhaul there is on modern sails... Im still a bit unclear on trying to rig to conditions tho (all the +-1cm stuff..) the old gear i just pulled till I couldn't pull anymore! but with the 2:1 ratio i had on the downhaul and outhaul it doesn't even come close to the modern tensions.

I can’t wait to get out on the water...

Simon.

I don't think you'll have much of a problem, will certainly feel very different at first, but at your age you should have no trouble adapting to it. You should still be able to uphaul it if the conditions aren't to extreme anyway.

Hey Downie,

After not sailing for 15 years I went out and bought a 118 supersport and a 6.7 hellcat. i was about 105 kg when i got it and now im down to about 95 :)
It took me a few sessions to get the feel of it and was doing some awesome stacks to the delight of the onlookers on the beach.

With a few good winds you will progess really fast and after 3 months you wil wonder how you ever sailed anything bigger.

with the 115 its very easy to water start since the board will support you as you make the transition. just need enuf wind to get you out of the water then can move off at your leisure. versus a smaller board where you need to come out of the water in a forward movement or you just sink the tail.

As the board gets smaller and smaller you need more forward momentum to stop the tail sinking which turns the nose up into the wind and depowers your sail.

If ya ever up sydney way drop into kernell and say hi :)

Craig.

Corkers said...

Hi mate,
Go to the boat ramp at Sanctuary Point in the St Goerges Basin, its not far from you at all and it has a large section of water which is only waist deep.... Perfect for learning to waterstart! A session or 2 of this and you will be away and loving it!! good bye uphauling...

ill second that corkers, simon it's getting a bit late in the season now, i'm down at sanctury point on most days there's wind,if i'm there im driveing a well used toyota hiace , just say high and ill give you a few pointers in the water, thats the only way to learn cheers keef

at 194cm 98 kg forget sailing simon we need you in our (social) AFL team

You'll be fine, I weigh just a few kilos more then you and made the same move last year. 120 to 113 and there was hardly any difference as long as there is wind, The thing you will notice is the acceleration...It's very noticeable. I can still uphaul on the 113 with no problems but if there's enough wind there's no need to but it's nice knowing you still can. It becomes a bit of a drama if the wind drops out, you can limp back but your balance has to be perfect, You will learn heaps very quickly and before long you'll be looking for a smaller board again, I went to a 95 next and am now looking for an 84, small boards rock. Your gybes become easy, the smaller boards carry more speed and turn heaps better and they are better for jumping, you just have to have a good tack, super fast.

If you ever come back to Canberra drop me a PM and I'll take you for a sail at LBG, It's something you will never forget. As some of the other guys have said, go for sanctuary point...I'm there every chance I get. It's probably the best place in Australia to learn the water start, you'll have it perfected within the day...Then the small boards will be totally unlocked and then the waves....Bring it on.

Hope you enjoy your new toy...

Jase.

I'm nearly 110kgs, and I went from a 165lt to 135lt in a couple of years, then to a 109lt (my main board now). I even got on a mate's 92lt evo a couple of weeks back with no probs...except when coming into shore! If I had half a chance, and if we got more consistent winds, I'd go smaller again!

You've got youth on your side, so stick with it, and you'll find that getting out on days with a good consistent wind will make it a whole lot easier!

went for a sail on the lake this arvo, really gusty and horrible, managed to get blown down wind and i cut my foot on an oyster :(

Feeling a little down but still got high hopes for my new gear..

thinking ill get some booties too...

Cheers
Simon.

dont worry son

zippyblue said...

Hi, i tried my 109 litre JP last weekend.

Got planing on it and felt really good, but then the wind dropped right down and felt goddam aweful!!

I can plane in 12 kts on a 8.0m sall on either the 109 or the 145...but when the wind drops further, the 145 would still feel comfortable, whereas the 109 would be urgggh. Wasnt sinking, but just didnt feel nice, and required a lot more work.

So I'm defo going to keep my bigger 145 JP for crappy light wind days, and the 109 for when it might be a bit more windy.

Definitely keep at it...but if you want to get out when there's not much wind, I'm not so convinced the smaller board will be as much fun as something as little bigger, even after you get used to it.

Not sure if others would agree with this, but it's what i've found so far....

Depends on where you live..certainly in NSW this year I wouldn't have had much sailing if I didnt have my 125ltre board.At least I can go out in 5-8kts & putter around to keep my hand in..hard work & wobbly at times but TOW.
Downie 2
It will be easier for you to get used to the new board with some decent consistent wind..unfortunately winter & east coast NSW doesn't = consistent wind.Keep perservering & when summer comes with the NE's youll find it so much easier!At least you have the Hi fly to cover you for the crappy days..I know that's not much comfort when you want to try out the new one![}:)]Im getting a 'new ' smaller board this week so I'm hanging out for some decent wind but I suspect I'll be in the same boat as you..

So I managed to get out on the water today, just before midday at the Illawarra yacht club.
I managed one very well timed waist deep beach start before not finding the wind to keep the rig flying (for either a beach or waterstart) but atleast im now confident uphauling the smaller board. I almost got onto the plane but quickly lost speed in the lulls.

I think I would have had a great time on my old board but with the ancient rig i would have gotten upset way to easy. Im looking at making a bracket to put my new mast base into my old borads mast track, then I can run my new rig on my old board!

i don't think I'm rigging up right either, the recommendations on my NP firefly calls for

mast 430 imcs 21
Luff 453
Boom 184

gear ive got:
2009 NP firefly 6.1
NS red series 430 mast (30% carbon)
X3 UXT 48 mast extension
Prolimit assault 160-220 boom

so I set my mast base to 24cm and my boom to 160+25cm, now today when I was rigging I down hauled till I couldn't down haul anymore, about 2cm between pullys. then with the boom set to 25, the sail was touching the boomend even before i had done any outhaul! so i moved the boom out one more notch and outhauled a little.

So I'm not sure if its the way I'm rigging or if its a mismatch in the gear ive got.

im noticing black lines on the side of my board, These I believe are from the bottom edge of the sail, anyone else get these? or easily get rid of them?

also, mast foot positions? Ive heard 135cm from the tail is a good starting point? what are the pros/cons of moving it forward/backward?

Cheers
Simon.

Grrr just heading in for a full day of uni now
tomorrow i get off at 1:30, so i might see whats happening then

Cheers
Simon.

This might help you too.