Fintastic Newton Sat 26th

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 20:32

Been missing the lumpy stuff lately so it was good to get out for a proper session at Newton along with Simon (ambrosia) and the Welsh massive. Simon was an early bird whereas I arrived at a more sensible 11ish and so got the benefit of feedback on the conditions, settling on 5.2 & 96L for the day. Wind was more W’ly than forecast and a bit up and down too but seemed to be gradually picking up so after an hour of blasting in and out in typical Newton lumpiness I stopped for a break thinking I might change to the Evo. By the time I’d trekked back to the van and had a nibble I’d changed my mind and went back out on the same kit.

It was quite a springy low tide so by now the reef was coming into play, catching out quite a few people. Unfortunately, after a while I was one of them. It took me a while to escape its clutches, even though it doesn’t look too bad there always seems to be a wave coming at the wrong time to push you back. Anyway, once up and away I sailed a fair way out celebrating until all of a sudden the board span out and I couldn’t get it back on track. Call me Sherlock but somehow I deduced there was something up with the fin and sure enough it was hanging off, pivoting at the back of the finbox. Thinking the bolt or nut was bust I took the fin out before I lost it and stuffed it in a footstrap, then strapped my harness to the back of the board to act as a temporary fix. Managed to sail back in to the beach but by now I was half way around the bay so had a long walk back to the van. When I finally looked at the fin I realised it had snapped off up by the bolt so I might as well have left it in the box and sailed in. Rich at Windy World later said they’re designed to fail like that so you can get back, so there’s a lesson learnt. Anyway I packed up after that so a slightly shorter session than I’d hoped for, but still fun.

At least 3 others including Simon lost fins on the reef and probably more as there were maybe 30 sailors out at various times. Some pics and videos over on Kelvin's site.
http://winsurfing.co.uk/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5444

Sue · Post by **Sue** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:55

Bad luck, Matt - sounds as though you had an adventurous time, though, and at least got back to shore OK.

Hearing that, and seeing the pics of all that white foamy stuff out to sea, I'm quite pleased I settled for the slightly less formidable option of helping Keith derig the T15 2.7m sails now

Sue

Mark Gregory · Post by **Mark Gregory** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 15:44

Hey Matt great story and a valuable lesson to all us Starboard users, as I didn't know that either.
Still sounds like a good session as can be see by GoPro vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciQe2X7pDEU

Sue · Post by **Sue** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 16:04

Mark Gregory wrote:Still sounds like a good session as can be see by GoPro vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciQe2X7pDEU

Conditions look really flat on that vid to me - what was the problem with it, Matt?

Sue

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 18:05

I bet even Jaws looks quite flat on a GoPro. Pretty typical Newton conditions I thought, with an entertaining but manageable level of lumpiness, slightly more than Axbridge.

I make a very brief appearance on the vid around 55s with the red sail.

Mark, the fin thing is not confined to Starboards, it's any board with a US/classic box setup. Less of a problem for a multi-fin board as it's already got built-in spares.

Mouser73 · Post by **Mouser73** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 18:37

Just watched the video. The guy the camera is following has got a pretty interesting stance; practically no arm bend at all. In fact whilst I'm being an armchair critic (bearing in mind I've just come out of the stone age of sailing myself), there seems to be a lot sailor with bad set-up; either arms too straight or boom way too high.
Whilst I'm rambling, I got out on my Quad fin 75 at M. on Sunday with a 4.5 and hated it. Not a bad days sailing, but didn't like how the board worked. I guess that's years of riding slalom boards.
Has anyone else swapped from a FSW type board to a dedicated wave set-up and had problems?

Cheers,

James.

rachael · Post by **rachael** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 20:54

Aww jealous that vid looks fab!

Sue · Post by **Sue** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 22:31

rachael wrote:Aww jealous that vid looks fab!

...yes. I was too, Rachael, but we won't tell Matt!

Sue

kelvin · Post by **kelvin** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 19:20

Mouser73 wrote:Just watched the video. The guy the camera is following has got a pretty interesting stance; practically no arm bend at all. In fact whilst I'm being an armchair critic (bearing in mind I've just come out of the stone age of sailing myself), there seems to be a lot sailor with bad set-up; either arms too straight or boom way too high.
Whilst I'm rambling, I got out on my Quad fin 75 at M. on Sunday with a 4.5 and hated it. Not a bad days sailing, but didn't like how the board worked. I guess that's years of riding slalom boards.
Has anyone else swapped from a FSW type board to a dedicated wave set-up and had problems?

Cheers,

James.

a lot of clinic coaches rec this stlye of set up now - with long lines - arms out straight and hands closer together , forces the mast more upright and makes learning moves like forwards easier - or so they say !