What board & sail for lightest winds going beam reach ?

[jogi1111]

Hi Starboard Team,

I'm looking for a fast board with very early planing ability. Going far up- or downwind is not the goal,
but being the first in plane and the fastest on the plane at a beam reach or slightly broad reach is the goal.

Me, that's 185cm and about 73 Kg, advanced skills, but not a pro

I'm using S-Type 104 with (5.0)5.7 to 7.8(9.0) and JP SLalom III 109 with (6.5)7.8...9.0.

I like to be well powered up, to chase my own GPS records. For the light winds from 7...13 ktns, I'm looking for a bigger sail than my 9.0 and an appropiate board for that. I think, I could handle a 10.0 on the JP 109, but that might not be a perfect combination and the 10.0 might be too close to my 9.0.

So:
Do I have to go for a formular or better take an iSonic or something else ?
Is it worth to go for a 12.5m sail or will 10.5m be enough ?


Greetings Jogi
__________________
Who stops getting better, has stopped being good. (Philip Rosenthal)

[Jean-Marc]

Jogi,

Considering your 70 kg weight, you'll gain at best 1 knot of wind at earlier planing if you select going to the FW route for maximizing the lower windrange.
I'm using HS105 + RS7 55 cm fin and Code Red 11.0m2 combo from 7 knots wind up to +12. On par speedwise against a 85-105 kg pal with a FW + 70 cm fin + RSR 10.7m2/Code Red 11.0 m2 sail combo. Defininitely faster than a light weight pal with a RS5 9.0 sail in the lower wind range, no question.
Speedwise and early planing wise (the 2 most important factors to me as well as decent pointing upwind), I've got ± same results with iSonic 133W85 + RS7 55 cm fin and Code Red 11.0 m2 sail combo for my 65 kg weight; so no real need for a dedicated FW board IMHO.

A 12.5 m2 sail is absolutely useless for your objectives (only for XXXL guys going deep downwind on a FW/Apollo), no gain but a lot of pain compared to a lighter, softer and easier to pump 11.0 m2 sail for your light weight. Forget it.

Cheers!

JM

[jogi1111]

Hi Jean-Marc,

thanks a lot for your judgement.

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc

Considering your 70 kg weight, you'll gain at best 1 knot of wind at earlier planing if you select going to the FW route for maximizing the lower windrange.

Okay - 1 knot might not be worth it, when thinking of all the stress putting a FW into a car

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc

I'm using HS105 + RS7 55 cm fin and Code Red 11.0m2 combo ...

Hmm: 55cm fin for a 11.0m²; may be I've to get a few more cm of fin ?
I should try that Code Red !

Sorry: HS105 ?
Is this the HyperSonic 105 (2003) with a width of about 77cm ?

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc

On par speedwise against a 85-105 kg pal with a FW + 70 cm fin + RSR 10.7m2/Code Red 11.0 m2 sail combo.

Sounds good to me
And also par speedwise against a 70 Kg pal with a FW ... Code Red 11.0 m2 sail combo ?

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc

Defininitely faster than a light weight pal with a RS5 9.0 sail in the lower wind range, no question.

Got that: these 2m² more sail will do the job !

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc

I've got ± same results with iSonic 133W85 + RS7 55 cm fin and Code Red 11.0 m2 sail combo for my 65 kg weight; so no real need for a dedicated FW board IMHO.

Hopefully, I was right with the HyperSonic guess ...
...then - as you have choosen this HS105, you might be better on that, when the wind picks up a bit, as on the iS133 - right ?

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc

A 12.5 m2 sail is absolutely useless for your objectives ...

Okay - this 12.5m² idea is gone !
You prevent me from doing guff ...


Greetings Jogi
__________________
Who stops getting better, has stopped being good. (Philip Rosenthal) Greetings Jogi

[Jean-Marc]

Originally Posted by jogi1111

Hmm: 55cm fin for a 11.0m²; may be I've to get a few more cm of fin ? I should try that Code Red !

Well, the reason why I limit myself to 54/55 cm fins is because of the OFO width of the HS105 : 54 cm wide. Pointless to go bigger than that in fact. HS105 is a very special board WRT fin size, i.e., you can choose much smaller fins than on a classic flat-bottomed wide board.

Sorry: HS105 ?
Is this the HyperSonic 105 (2003) with a width of about 77cm ?

Correct, sorry for the slang...

And also par speedwise against a 70 Kg pal with a FW ... Code Red 11.0 m2 sail combo ?

Sorry, not done yet. Drag racing done with a 65 kg pal on SB F158 + 70 cm fin + RS5 9.8 sail and myself on HS105 + 54 cm fin + NP RX2 10.6 m2 sail: I was quite surprised to get planing earlier than him as I thought FW is the pinacle of early planing. Quite untrue when you consider the light weight of the guy and his 9.8 sail which is mainly designed as a high wind formula sail and not as a low wind sail. RX2 10.6 sail has the same bottom end (7 knots planing threshold) as the Code Red R2 11.0 but much less top end (12 versus 14 knots respectively. Guess that's the R&D input between 2000 and 2007 years...)

Hopefully, I was right with the HyperSonic guess ...
...then - as you have choosen this HS105, you might be better on that, when the wind picks up a bit, as on the iS133 - right ?

That's correct. I can hold HS105 up to 25 knots of wind with a 5.4 m2 sail and a 26 cm fin. By contrast, iSonic 133W85 is becoming a handfull with 20 knots wind with a RS1 6.6 m2 sail and either a 40 or a 32 cm fin: I loose a lot by electing to go too wide, too bulky and too thick rails. This is the main reason why I still keep HS105 from 7 up to 25 knots of wind with 4 sails (5.4-11 m2) and 4 fins (26-55cm) for my taste: a truly mini-formula/wide slalom/racing slim convertible which fits perfectly to my 65 kg x 183cm body frame.

Cheers !

JM