Hanging on for dear life

jingebritsen · Joined: 21 Aug 2002 Posts: 3371

konajoe, i want to be as knowledgeable about gear as antione albeau. i am exposed to lots of gear, but only a fraction as much as him.

there are are racer heads dispersed aropund the windsurfing world that can help people tune most any sail. sounds like there are none near your venues? too bad. find some local (ish) races. go and mingle.

PeconicPuffin · Joined: 07 Jun 2004 Posts: 1830

Sailboarder · Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 656

There is merit to what konajoe is saying.

The typical good sailor around here doesn't want anything to do with longboards. The few that don't frown on it have experience with raceboards. The Kona with it's rocker and step tail doesn't behave exactly like a raceboard so some of the advice is not great.

Same thing with the sail, the Kona sail is not exactly typical. In non-planing low wind, it is best rigged with close to zero dowhhaul...

I learned my way with a mixture of on the beach expert advice coupled with specific information from the Kona site. I also participated to a Kona regatta and learned a lot there too! I think racers are a different breed as they seem to be more open to what will work well or not.

boardsurfr · Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266

I just sailed the Kona One a couple of weeks ago, and initially had problems getting it to plane nicely. It took me almost three days before I was really comfortable on it (I've been planing for more than 30 years, initially and still occasionally on long boards).

What worked for me was to pump the board a bit to get it to release onto a full plane. Then, getting into the straps seemed easy, and the ride was comfortable and fun. The technique is quite different from the one I use on my 110 l freestyle board, where I often get into both straps before accelerating. I had no problem with the default fin (46 cm, I believe), but I'm close to 200 lb. The only time the board really wanted to kick me off by railing up was when racing towards the finish line with the dagger board down and a big gust hit.

Sail & board trim was based on Steve Gottlieb's suggestions, with the boom further down than I'd usually have it (slight above shoulder height), and the mast base about two inches from the front. No problem with control, but hooking out was harder than usual. I was on the 9.0 Kona rig. The trim instructions were for light wind, though - I'm not sure how much they'd change for planing conditions.

For trimming the Matrix, staying close to the recommended settings should work well (assuming you have a mast with the correct bend curve). I have & love 3 Matrix sails (5.5 - 7.5), and they need very little adjustment when the wind changes. That's different from other Gaastra sails that need more adjustment when the wind picks up (older Manics), or even a lot of adjustment (Pilot).

Sailboarder · Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 656

Nice short blog entry that sums it well.

konajoe · Joined: 28 Feb 2010 Posts: 517

So, Michael and jingebritsen, are you saying that it's better to get advice from someone on the beach about Ezzy sail rigging than it is to take advice from David Ezzy himself? Or ask someone on the beach for rigging advice on a Sailworks sail instead of asking Bruce? If so, tell us why.

PeconicPuffin · Joined: 07 Jun 2004 Posts: 1830

xander.arch · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 217

Maybe its time to move this to the 'My Mast is Bigger than Your Mast' thread.

PeconicPuffin · Joined: 07 Jun 2004 Posts: 1830

xander.arch · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 217

Well as long as you guys are finding some common ground. I just hope that all this is helpful for the original poster.