Hardie (35683km):
1099 days ago Liptons Light wind testing. Wanted to see how my biggest Slalom gear would perform in marginal conditions. Wind was 8 to 13kts. Used my biggest board the Carbon Art Slalom 74/121 Biggest sail TR7 8.4m and biggest pepeweed 32/48. Certainly couldnt getting going in the 8 to 11kts range. Had to be 12/13kts to pump onto the plane. Which is no different to when I'm using my EVO9 7.0m and smaller 29/48 weed feed. The initial inertia and drag needs to be overcome, and bigger sail and fin, has more drag, so that part was very disappointing. Once up and plaining the bigger sail and fin would plane thru the Lulls, whereas the smaller 7.0 and fin would more likely drop off the plane. So thats the advantage of the bigger gear planing thru lulls with more apparent wind being created. Overall, it's not a lot of fun, good exercise but a lot of energy expended for minimal fun. I think this is where Kiting, Foiling, Winging and Long Boarding would be much more fun than marginal light wind big slalom gear sailing. I think that part of the sport has come to an end for me wont be doing that much more often.
Now the choice about what to invest in. Out of the 4 sports I've mentioned, and probably disappointing for some, but for me I would love to get back into long boarding, something like a race longbaord like a Starboard Phantom 377 or similar, the LT doesnt appeal as much to me, as a real technical longboard racing machine.
Anyone got a Starboard Phantom 377 they want to sell to me?
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