Weight vest – a buying guide

I got some question about which water sport vest is the best for windsurfing. I better write immediately that I not have tested all vests in the market. But here are the things I appreciate:

1.  If the vest fits very well, it will protect better when you crash. (Not slide up)
2. Good buoyancy - It should carry weights.
3. Big pockets for all things I carry
4. Quality

In my vest I always carry a Camelback, the best I have found is a 2-litre Platypus. I have it in the back pocket. In the chest pocket I have a PBL. It is possible to also put in some lead plates. At least 8 kg should fit easy.

Which vest is the best? I have no idea. My first was a Pro Limit. When I have travelled around on all events in Europe, I have noticed that all top-sailors always carry a vest from Liberty in Japan.

The difference between Pro Limit and Liberty is not big. My guess is that PL has sent a Lib-vest to China and just ordered some hundred… But there are differences…

Liberty: The Velcro-belt is double size. Thats is important for the fitting. The seams are more solid. The back pocket has an extra floating plate. They sell weights from stock, 1,5 and 3 kg.

Pro Limit: The back pocket has an extra Velcro divider. Good if you carry 2 plates in the pocket, but has no use if you have a camel-back.

My choice is Liberty, you could buy it here

PS And Here is another blog post about weight vests.

Is a speedboard always faster than a slalomboard in high wind?

Carbon Art SP53 vs SL55

Are you one of those who believe that a speedboard always is faster than a slalomboard in high wind? Well here are some words about how I look upon different boards at different occasions. As you see in the pictures I have a few boards. And when you watch my results the recent years you probably observed that I do not do any slalomracing at all. Still I have a bunch of them. The truth is that I use all of my speed-and slalomboards for only one purpose, GPS speedsurfing. For very light wind 2-3 Beaufort a formula board probably is the best alternative, but since I live on one of the most windy spots in Sweden I get at least 4-6 Bft every forth day (and sometimes a lot more). When it is less wind I have other things to occupy myself with. So I have the second biggest slalomboard in the CA-range to start with. It is not really any use to go for the maximum width, since I am not so interested in super early planning which will make the top-speed suffering. The wider tail, the slower is the top-speed. So the SL78 is my choice in marginal condition with even wind and when the gusts really don’t kick in.

My range of mixed slalom- and speedboards

If we look at the other end of my boardrange, I have small speedboards like the SP40, SP44 and SP53. But I also have an SL53 and a 55. The reason I bought these small slalomboards was from the beginning that I heard from the guys around Sandy Point (Australia) that when the conditions gets really ugly, they jump onto the small slalomboards instead of the speed boards. The last years I have sailed in ugly condition too, both in Karpathos and Port st Louis. And it must feel great to master the rough sea on the way back upwind.

Upwind on the SL55 at Karpathos

I can assure you that the different is huge. It is sooooo much easier to sail a slalom back upwind. But how is the small slalomboards downwind? Well because of the wider tail and the different rocker-curve it should be more busy over the chops, but it seems to work very well anyway, and in many spots you need to accelerate upwind, or in a square angle into the speedcourse and the you only have 15 seconds to perform topspeed (like Karpathos) and it seems like the small slalomboards are doing on par as a smaller speedboard. In 2011 I spent 20 days on the Devils/Paradise bay speedstrip and I tested a lot of different set-ups, and I did 10 second average runs over 40 knots on both the SP44 and the SL55 in similar conditions. I was surprised but that is truth. And that confirms also by Ben Van Der Steen performance at the Speed World Championships in 2009 when he was very competitive on his slalomboards.

Personal Location Beacon – No luxury for speeding

I have added a new gadget to my extensive stash of gear. A PLB. Some think (or know) that I am crazy in getting everything possible thing in the world to execute windsurfing. Well that is very true. And as you may have seen on this blog, I do windsurf in all different places in the world. Some inlets like Sandy Point, some constructed pools like West Kirby. 

But also in places like Karpathos and south of France, where the offshore gusts sometime hits 60 knots. If you are going upwind in that moment 400 metres out from the beach, you are feeling very small. It is simply not possible to sail. 

Hold the gear low and wait for the wind to back to say 45 knots. And try to sail back to the shore. But it is easy to panic, and what you do not want is to break anything, gear or body out there. If that will happen, you are lost. 

The waves are big and no one can see you. What you would like to have is some flares or something, but when you have fired them off, you are not very visible. The you might ask yourself, why did not I bought a PLB - Personal Location Beacon, that I read about in AndersBQ´s blog? It cost like a custom fin and it will probably save your life if everything goes to h:ll. Just push a button and wait for the search and resque-team to pick you up. PS I think my mother and wife maybe are the persons that appreciates this little gadget most.

A windy day in France...

Does extensions matters?

Well, at least quality does. What absolutely is crucial is that the extension does not brake. A racesail require about 500 kg of downhaul, a different ballpark compared to a wavesail. As you can see, my extension bag is filled with extensions from various makes. I have tested a few. And I must say that the price has correlation with the quality. All of them works from the beginning but after 20-30 days the cheapest are worn out. Plastic parts cracks, the pins in the collar breaks etc. In general the RDM with often more simple collar construction are holding together better than the SDM´s. But RDM is also often more used to smaller sails with not so much load.

Not the best angle, the rope gets worn.

Much better angle, with the Nylon part.

Alu or Carbon? Well a more a matter of feeling than performance. Carbon does not corrodes though… 

Which one is the best? Well I have been quite happy with Chinook for some years, but right now I test Neil Pryde MXT Carbon. All good? Well there are problems with them too. This year NP have change the angle in the cleat. So when I used a standard rig-winch the rope got worn off immediately. I had to build a new winch with a different angle. Maybe not a problem for NP-riders, but for Naish and Loft Sails, that have the downhaul block in another angle it did not work. But my tips is, go for quality. A good extension last for many years, a cheap one a few months.

The Premium Speed Fin Test

People sometimes ask me:

- You have so many fins, please tell me, which one is the best one?

OK, the fins are for most speed sailors a well-kept secret. Most understandably, the fin is extremely important. But I will in this blog post reveal some golden nuggets.

But first some basics. There is generally no best fin. There is just the best fin for a certain moment and condition. In this “test” I used 28-30 cm fins from five different premium brands. I sailed on a Carbon Art SL53 speed board, which is a narrow board with about 83 litres of volume. I used a 7.0 full cambered racing sail and the wind was gusty offshore 25-30 knots. I did about 5 runs with every fin and logged 10 seconds average speeds around 36-37 knots in most runs. The spot was Karpathos and I brought +30 fins last summer to the lovely windy island.

At this spot the entry speed is important. It is pretty much a slingshot when you accelerate 10 knots within 2 seconds. The grip is important, and then there are two more gusts, some small chops and a 20 meters to stop. Again the grip is important, because when you release the pressure from the sail, the tail-walk starts instantly.

Tectonics F1

This is what I call a reference fin for all speed sailors. It is a premium fin made at Maui. It is not too hard and not soft. It works on most types of boards. All top speed sailors that I know have used it. It was very popular around 2007-2008. It is still a very good fin. If I didn’t know better I would have been very happy with it. But at a gusty spot when the speed exceeds say 36 knots and you get another super gust, spinouts could occur. I would say that this fin is excellent in more stable conditions. This fins works very well to both small slalom- and speedboards.

Deboichet Upwind

A very stiff custom fin that really needs a skilled rider with good reaction and big muscled legs. Even if I consider myself all of the above, I really do not feel comfortable with the UW. It is so stiff and it is hard to find the perfect trim for that fins when it is gusty. Even if it never spun out, I really did not feel safe and therefore did not hit the best speeds. Probably better in more controlled spots like Dungervan or Sandy Point etc, where the runs are longer and you build up the speeds during a longer time and you can work with more controlled trim of the rig.

C3 Venom
The C3 is made at the Cobra plant in Thailand. Still a high quality product and I would say that it is worth the high price. It drives extremely well upwind and in the acceleration phase and when I bear off I just hold on and forget about the board. It is so easy to ride. I guess it has to do with the softness. The only con is that it is a little more fragile, with the thin top.

NB This fin is 29 cm.

Black Project Type S
The BP fins are pretty new in the market. They are developed on Maui but produced in China. But that is nothing bad. It is affordable and after sanding some paint off, it is as good as the C3 Venom in the acceleration and off wind. Maybe not as good up-wind, but this is not a slalom fin. Not as fragile as the C3 and much cheaper. Very much bang for the buck!

Choco Mach 1

This is what you get if you cross the shape of a Tectonic and produce it in the same factory as C3. It is not a bad fin, but it doesn’t have the edge and feels as the other above. I would say that it is an okay fin for those who doesn’t need to break 40 knots. But there is a reason that I have sold most of mine. Daniel Aaberli (Choco) has launch a Mach 2 which is thinner, but I have never tested that fin.

Conclusion
My personal choice is C3 Venom and Black Project Type S. I know many riders that prefer the others. I do not say they are wrong, but now you know what I think. Maybe you wonder what fin was the fastest? Well I did this test during 3 hours and the wind and water are not the same in every run. The C3 was a little ahead of BPF but within the error margin. The Tectonics almost in par with the other two, and the Deb and Choco just behind. I also tested a few more fins during this day but they where disasters. Maybe thats the most important conclusion, all premium fins are good, just small differences in personal taste.

PS One remark, on the day I did this reference test, I used fins between 26-32 cm. I would say that the "results" where the same on the 28 cm´s, but at 32 cm most fins except of C3 Venom felt a little too big on that board.

New rubber for the winter

When it comes to wetsuits and neoprene I have one principle. No sponsors. I want to buy the best. And that is not easy. The last 3 years I have used wetsuits from Mystic, Pro Limit, NPX, Tiki, and Neil Pryde. But none is perfect.

I need wetsuits for the spring when it is cold in the water but warm in the air, the summer when it´s warmer in the water, in the autumn when its quite warm in the water but cold in the air, and in the winter, when its just very cold. After 30 years with windsurfing I have ended up with using 3 to 4 wetsuits. With about 70-90 days of windsurfing a year, they usually last for about 2 years before they are worn out.

The first problem is that the suit should keep the right temperature. For example the Mystic Cure 6/5/3, an expensive winter suit. Looked good, but was not warmer than my Neil Pryde 4/3. The Neil Pryde Elite, fits perfectly, but I can tell you that a tube of Aquaseal doesn’t last a long time. So most double lined suits are too cold, most of them are too small around the lower arms. And the single lined are always leaking after only a few weeks…

But. Last week when I went to the German Championship, I borrowed a Simmer 3/2 with long arms. I thought it would be too cold for the season. But it was so good compared to i.e. e my 4/3 TIKI, thinner and more flexible but much warmer. And a lot of place for the muscles!

I decided to try to keep it, and when I went to meet the owner Johan, who works in a surf shop Surfers.se, I ended up buying the whole range. One for every season, I thought it is best to grab the opportunity when all suits where in stock in my size.

I cannot say that Simmer has the best suits, because I have not tried more than the 3/2 for a week, but I like it a lot. The only downside, so far is that it takes a while to dry it. I will be back with more on this subject. 
1. Edit one. The 5/4/3 was warm but OK around 12-14 C in the air and water.
2. Edit two. The 5/4/3 works OK around 8-10 C in the air and water, with polypro underwear.
2. Edit three. At longer sessions (more than about 90 minutes) the 5/4/3 can be cold even with polypro. Then the TIKI-heatpads are marvelloes.

The new fence

The fence to the neighbour is completed. Well, maybe a few boards need do be replaced some day, but I think they will do the work until next summer or even until 2013. That´s the upside with sailing on Carbon Art. The boards are so extremely well built, that they stay in shape even if I use them a lot. It will be interesting to see how the slalomboards works. I get sometimes a bit tired of some sponsored sailors that on different forums raise all their boards to the stars. Some of them have no idea what quality is and what boards works best. But myself I have definitely found my home now. I will never ever sign any top contract again and race with boards that not perform 100%. Carbon Art does not sponsor their sailors. (But I do not say that I never ever will ride other boards!).
I know that some are saying that I have too many boards. Yes I admit I have. I think there are about 25 boards around in my house, garage and trailer and I use only about ten. But some boards cannot ever be sold. I will write a blog post about those boards when it becomes colder…! By the way, my wife got more books this week than I have Carbon Arts, read about that here.

The new RIB is all about speedsurfing

Only a few speed spots in the world is safe when the wind is hauling with 40-50 knots. 

On many spots that we are sailing at, it is offshore winds and it is often 1000 km to the next shore. And some spots are not accessible with cars. You either have to walk for hours or sail very far. Some spots needs to be pre-checked before you do a + 40 knots run. Some spots needs the obstacles to be marked before you sail. Sometimes you need to put out buoys to mark gates for speed-courses. And sometimes when you arrange an event the wind is at another part of the country. It is like the same idea as when you see Robby at Jaws on a jetski, it is nice with support and resque. That why we, the serious speed sailors, need boats and that’s why I bought a new RIB. But it took a while before I found it. 

First checking the Internet of used Zodiacs in Sweden. But they where all quite expensive. It ended up in buying a brand new. The local dealer offered me a Zodiac 550 Pro Open, with Evinrude 90hp and a trailer for over 35.000 EUR. But checking around on the web, I found Chas Newens Marine in London and they offered me the boat for a lot less. So now I have the tool for exploring new spots. The west of Sweden has 10.000´s of small islands…! (The RIB might be use for family trips too!)

2500% CARBON - MASTS, MASTS & MASTS

I have to admit that I sometimes have a little too much gear. But when it comes to masts it is good to collect a few. The basics are to use the mast the sail maker recommends.

But here is a big but. No sail is developed for all conditions, sailor’s weights, riding style or intend of use. Most sails are tested for slalom, some brands have only heavy sailors, some have lighter. Many are doing the test-work at Kanaha on Maui. I guess some avoid the 9,5m2 days, and they never have flat water. 


In the eighties I was sailing raceboard with sails from Tushingham, their racing sail was terrible and the only mast that made the sail work OK was Serfiac Pro Lite with the top cut off 30 cm. Took a while to find that out and hard and expensive to get the masts from France.

The last years when I was sailing Naish I found out that the sails worked better with softer masts, especially in the top of the sail. That may sounds weird since I am a heavy guy, and when it was possible I used RDM even on the big sails. Now when I am on The Loft Sails, where all sails comes with both RDM and SDM-cambers, I thought RDM would be perfect for me, but the SDM-masts are faster on all kind of sailing. (So far).

For most sailors the recommended masts will do the work. Especially if you are into slalom and not are committed to find the extra knot on the top.

The general rule is light riders - soft masts, and heavy – stiffer. But remember it could be the opposite. When it comes to tuning the sail, it is good the have some ideas and basic knowledge in sail design. You also have to know what you are looking for. Low-end acceleration, middle-end acceleration, top-speed, control etc. I.e. the right mast can give you the turbo-kick you want when the gust comes!

Don’t be afraid to test softer or stiffer masts in your sail. Sometimes you find a golden nugget. That nugget could help you mentally when you race. And if you think that you are fast, you will be fast too!

POLYPROPYLENE - read my words!

Polypro also shape up the body...!

I live in Sweden. It is a country where one third of the land area is above the Artic Circle. That means that it is pretty cold most of the time. Still I windsurf everyday when it is no ice on the sea. (And there is enough wind off course). We never sail without a wetsuit, even in the summer. For me the most important part of the windsurfing equipment is the wetsuit (or wetsuits to be correct). Until now. By a coincidence I passed Quiksilver´s outlet in Melbourne in January, and I happened to pick a black rash guard. What I did not know was that the material wasn’t Lycra. It was Polypropylene. Probably not a blockbuster in Australia because it is extremely hot. And when I tried it at home under my Neil Pryde Elite I almost was boiling even when I was surfing in water with ice blocks. A week ago I also bought a pair of Polypro shorts from Billabong. They where not is thick as the Quik-rash but still quite warm. Yesterday I sailed for 3 hours and when I went in it was snowing a lot. I guess most people would consider it a cold day. But with polopro, nothing is cold anymore. My advice; Polypro are very very very good products! 
Extremely much better than a neoprene rash vest and another universe compared with a Lycra vest.

The truth about the weight vest

Cutting chops at Devils Bay

The human tennis ball... I use some extra floating.

When you have tried everything else to get speed, you eventually end up with yourself. How could you change yourself as a rider? The weight vest might be the answer. Weights have been in use since the late eighties at the PWA-slalomevents. When I shared house in Maui with Svein Rasmussen (he sailed for F2/Thommen/Guy/Wild Winds) he was using weights. Svein was (and still is) about 15 cm shorter than Anders Bringdal, Bjorn Dunkerbeck and Phil McGain but he was competitive in the slalom-discipline.

Today most guys in slalom are tall and heavy, and I must say that both of them help also in speed. I would say that a ”perfect speed body” is around 100 kg and around 190 cm. (220 Lbs and 6´3´´). We can’t do anything about our length but we could work with the weight. A normal vest is carrying about 6-10 kg. Most top sailors, even if they are tall and heavy are using about that amount. But I heard of some fast speeders that have used up to 18 kilos... For myself, I found weights good when sailing in high wind (+40 knots). The heavier I am, the easier it is to cut the chops with the narrow speedboards. Also it prevents tailwalks. It gives confidence and might you able to take another 10 knots wind. For a few runs I used it in Luderitz. But using a vest a full day is not to recommend, the back and the arms will tell you when it is enough!

Slide in the weights into the pockets

What vest are the best? Well I use a Pro Limit that I think Martin van Meurs have developed. It looks like a copy of the Liberty but is not so solid and well manufactured. Still it is OK and for sure better quality than the one I have seen from F2. Anyone that can recomend a premium vest? 

What weights should you use? Well, I use lead plates that I have bought in a metal-shop and then have sealed with duct-tape (lead is a poision). But the best weights are the ones that you get by exercise, windsurfing and protein!

PS I have to raise a warning finger before everyone is buying a vest. Anders Bringdal got a serious whiplash when he hit a sandbank some years ago; he got the weight package in his back head. He was really bad for almost a year. And sailing with more than 2-3 kg´s is extremely tiring ;-)

Fins, fins, fins, fins and some more fins...

Some of my Tuttle-fins...

I ordered some new fins from New Zealand yesterday. I really need them. This time nobody talked me in to buy them. Well nobody really are trying to sell fins to me by hard selling, but if someone is saying something like "I love this fin", I probably will order some different sizes a few days later. I newer get any discount and the prices are around 150-250 dollars per fin. Plus shipping, toll and VAT... Still I am very pleased every time I get a package. Why? Well for some reason the fin-makers always are short of stock, and I almost have to beg to get them. C3, Deboichet, Black Diamond and Hurricane are harder to get than for example Tectonics, Lessacher and Choco. If I really like one fin very much I sometimes buy an spare in case of hitting a stone. I wonder how many fins more I will buy this year, and what make.

Sold some before Christmas, room for new!

If you don´t speedsurf you might wonder why I have hundreds of windsurfing fins? Well, we use different fins for different conditions. Depending on water depth, weed, chops (small waves), boards and sails, we use different fins. Later this winter I might blog about windsurfing in icy water (I can tell you already that you should not have a straight fin when you hitting an iceblock...)

PS If Larry Tuttle got one dollar for every fin with Tuttle-base he would have been very rich...
PS 2 (Be cool, I have more fins than on the pictures, the US-box and powerbox fins are quite a few...)

2008 - Learning to speed

2008 was the first year that I sailed speed with a GPS unit. I bought four new slalomboards from Naish; SP80, SP95, SP110 and SP128 litres. And camber sails, Naish Stealth 5.8, 6.4, 7.0, 7.8 and 8.8. I had no idea what fins I needed but Choco Mach 1 and Fireblade and Lessacher Chamelot looked alright. I was very happy with my wave-booms from Chinook, so I bought also the racing-booms from them, but they where far too soft.

In early March something terrible happend. I had some kind of infection in my ear and became deaf and lost my balance. For 4 weeks. God I was depressed. But slowly I begun to get my hearing back and in May I was on board again.

The second obstacle, on the way to the first speed contest all my new boards fell off the roof on to the highway in the middle of the night. 4 broken boards, not a good start...

The third problem, how should I tune this stuff? At the first slalom contest I used a 30 cm fin to the the 7.8 sail. The whole run was a big spinout. The first speedcontest I used a 6.4 sail on the 80 liter and did runs of 32 knots. Every one in front of me uses either 7.0 or 7.8 and was sailing faster. I had simply no idea how to trim the gear and had no top Naish-sailor to ask. 

What the hell should I do? Well what I did was spending almost 70 days on the water at home trimming and tuning. And when it was time for the Swedish Championship in October I had found the speed in some of the boards and rigs. I won one heat and did well in the rest. I finished 5th that year overall in the Swedish Speed Tour 2008.