Spot: Grevelingenmeer - Herkingen, Netherlands (BE)
Board: Fanatic Falcon 85, 2011
Sail: The Loft Sails Racing Blade 7.0, 2013
Fin: Select Caspar GPS / Speed 29
2 sec: 57.0 km/h, 30.8 kts
10 sec: 55.0 km/h, 29.7 kts
AVG: 53.1 km/h, 28.7 kts
Runs: 55.0 / 54.9 / 52.6 / 52.2 / 50.9 km/h
500m: 53.5 km/h, 28.9 kts
Mile: 36.4 km/h, 19.6 kts
1 hour: 29.5 km/h, 15.9 kts
Alpha: 28.7 km/h, 15.5 kts
Distance: 40.8 km
With 8 Belgians on the spot waiting for wind. Even with half of the predicted wind, we would be happy...
Pat D and Paul were the first ones on the water and could go for 30 minutes in probably the best conditions. Then I came on the water with my F85 + 6.3 and could plane 1 x upwind. Then all the wind disappeared suddenly (ard 13u30-14u00). Not even 1 downwind run... Luckily it was quite warm today (compared to my last session) and I took some time to throw the PVC pole (attached to a rope) which is floating IN the speedstrip (2/3 from beginning) at the other side of the dam. But with the next storm, it will be floating again into the speed-zone !! So please be carefull if you are the first one out next time !!
We went back to the parking and enjoyed an open-air theather of GOS in my car ;-)
Suddenly it started raining and the wind changed another 20-30° more to the south. Unfortunately the wind didn't pick up... It was already 4pm and my GPS was quite clear: 30 km/hr max speed !! Pat D and Paul called it a day, but I didn't want to give up already. Driving so far for only this? Because Pat stopped, I could change the 6.3 i was using from him with his 7.0m². And then finally the wind picked up a little bit. Just enough to get my F85 + 7m going with some pumping in between. The wind direction was too broad (and much too light) to get some descent speeds along the dam. F113 + 7.8 would have been perfect...
The others didn't gamble and went back home dry.
Too bad the sunset arrived so early... Really felt a big difference compared to my previous session at the other side of the dam (with right hand in front). Today everything was much more balanced and felt alot smoother. Now i only need a day with some wind to see if i am still able to get some descent speeds (with left in front only).