larger sail quivers

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

The problem I find with borderline winds -- which I define as that 18-20 mph range for me -- is that they so often progress quickly to the low 20s where I can go to a 5.7 and a smaller board. Thus if I rig my 6.2 and 9x liters for the 18-20 stuff, I can quickly abandon it for 5.7 and 8x liters. And of course the low 20s often gets replaced quickly by mid 20s, where I switch to 5.2 and 7x liters. Thus I rig bigger sails only if I don't expect more wind soon, so my bigger sails -- 5.7 and 6.2 -- get used rarely.

There's no way I'm going to sail a 6.2 because it's blowing 20 at 8 AM when we expect to be on 4.2s from 11 'til dark. I bought my 7.5 rig and 114 liter slalom board for those days that blow 18 mph for 10 hours. I've seen about two of them since I bought the stuff 8 years ago.

Bigger sails and boards -- say a 6.2 on 95 liters -- have a narrow window because they won't work for me at 16-17 mph and are abandoned the minute a 5.7 and 85 liters work (low 20s), which in turn are abandoned the minute 5.2 and 75 liters work (mid 20s). OTOH, as log as te average wind runs up and down between 23ish and 29ish, I'm sticking to the 5.2 to eradicate lulls.

Thus overall, my 6.2 or 5.7 each have a 3-4 mph average wind speed range by CHOICE, whereas smaller sails get used in a far wider wind range because I'm not rigging down to a 4.x until I'm SURE it will be powered up every moment. IOW, I'll stick to an overpowered 5.2 or 4.x FAR longer than I'll stick to an overpowered 5.7 or 6.2 simply because on the 5.2 and down I've got good swell and am on a small board.

Just stuff to think about.

Mike \m/

mogunn · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 1307 Location: SF Bay

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Most people are intelligent enough to stop reading it the second time.
Some are even discerning enough to ignore it the first time.
Then there's Brucie.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Test:
Most people are intelligent enough to stop reading it the second time.
Some are even discerning enough to ignore it the first time.
Then there's Brucie.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Final exam:
Most people are intelligent enough to stop reading it the second time.
Some are even discerning enough to ignore it the first time.
Then there's Brucie.

mogunn · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 1307 Location: SF Bay

SWE106 · Joined: 14 Feb 2005 Posts: 264 Location: San Mateo

capetonian · Joined: 11 Aug 2006 Posts: 1197 Location: Florida

beallmd · Joined: 10 May 1998 Posts: 1154

Allow me to simplify; 15 not fun, 19 fun.