Fridays Downwind Run

My GPS Data from this run

The Awesome Downwind Conditions Just Keep Coming

We've done downwinders 3 days this week, and the weekend looks great too. Two nights this week I played with my new Garmin GPS. Tonights peak speed was 10.2 mph. The glides just kept coming and coming with ease, as the graph shows with the frequent spikes in speed. Downwinding has been a blast this week.

Fun Downwinder, New Camera Angles

GPS downwind test run

Here is a snapshot of my starting point (our home is marked) and how far I drifted downwind paddling straight out to reach my starting point for the run, where I turned the GPS on. The wind died on me quick tonight. It had been super windy, but shut down fast and created a wobbly run. My glides were not fast, just average. My speed averaged 7-8 mph on each glide. I've glided a lot faster on days with smaller waves and stronger wind, so I think 10 mph or better should show up on GPS on a good day.

It's time to ban camping at Freeman Park

Here are photos of the garbage pulled from the surf Sunday morning. People can be pigs. It's out of control up there. Just look at how nice the south end is today. The south end is what the Freeman Park should be like.

Jacky's New Board is Done

WINDY Saturday

We were over powered windsurfing at 10am, so we switched to downwinding on our SUPs.

I introduced Brian to downwinding today.

The Basin Disaster

What I did Today

Jacky's downwind board 14'6 x 26

The Dangers of Downwinding

This is DJs 17ft Naish tumbling in the wind like a rag doll, with no hope of catching it swimming. Be smart out there. Wear a strong leash AND wear an inflatable life belt or jacket, on you, not tied to the board. DJs leash broke and he ended up holding onto a channel buoy until he was rescued. Don't expect someone else to come save you. They can't paddle upwind and get to you when it's blowing 30 knots. If a 30 pound board can tumble in the wind like this, imagine our 23 pound boards flying away.

Dennis Builds one for Tony Delgato

 It looks sweet

The Best Downwinder of the Year

We've been downwinding a lot this week. Classic summer sea breezes every day. Yesterday we did a run at WB. Just too much easterly bend in the wind up there. The wind and waves hit you more from the right side than the rear. Down here in CB we're not affected by the Wilmington sea breeze bending the wind around to the east every afternoon around 2 pm. Tonight the wind was around 25 mph with waist high rollers. The glides were fast and effortless. Probably the best downwinder this year. We both had a blast.

Afternoon Downwinder

It was a wonderful holiday with 3 days of surfing capped off with a downwinder in 10-15 mph of wind

Jacky and Brian McKenzie Photos Today

Brian having fun walking the nose of the 9'5 Mana

Jacky's Race Board Shaped Today

Below I'm showing some of my shaping details. The deck concave at 3/4" deep. The rail tuck starting near the back, then middle, and finally the front. Notice how the amount of tuck keeps increasing as you move forward, finally wrapping heavily up front. This allows the nose to ricochet when it hits the back of a wave. It prevents the forward rail from catch steering and kicking the back sideways. The rider stays in control and surfs the wave without any ill affects from slamming the backs of waves. No nose piercing of the waves either. Punching through a wave can make a board catch steer. That's why I favor wide noses that ricochet up the backs of waves instead of punching through them.