Chew on this

After three weeks of heat and no wind punctuated by a day or two of brief frontal activity, the upper Chesapeake is finally going off. We've had two days of 20 plus winds and it looks like we'll get a couple more. The excellent conditions have brought sailors out of the woodwork.

I arrived at my favorite 'secret' spot yesterday to find every parking space filled. This is a place where there are usually two cars on a good day. I managed to park on the sand and was happy to have so much company. Unfortunately, when I walked to the water, I discovered that there was not one windsurfer to be seen. Everyone was on kites or trying to be. Of all the kiters there, only two could actually handle their gear in the 20 mph wind. The rest were being dragged down the beach or busy untangling their lines in preparation to being dragged down the beach. Observation: A novice windsurfer is usually only a hazard to himself. A novice kiter is a hazard to everyone on the beach.

I rigged and got out on the water in moderately powered conditions. After about an hour, the wind came up a few more knots, and I was really feeling good. The tide had started to go out against the wind, and nice rollers were marching all the way up the Chesapeake from Norfolk to break in the mouth of the South River. Much to my amazement, the remaining two kiters had packed it in as too much to handle, and the whole gang of them was standing around on the beach either rigging short boards or wishing they had one. I took a break and talked to the two kiters who had actually been on the water. They both made comments to the effect that now the wind had filled in they could put away their stupid kites and have some real fun on a shortboard. I have heard similar comments from expert kiters before.

Now, here's the interesting part. Of all the Formula sailors on my private mailing list, only one showed, and both of us elected to shortboard.

Here's what I conclude from all this:

1. Kiting is like the stock market two years ago. There's a lot of irrational exuberance and it's a dangerous place for a novice. Once the new wears off, we're not going to have to worry about them crowding us out of launches.

2. Formula is going nowhere in the U.S. in terms of general recreational interest (fun sailing). Where the wind is suitable racers might keep things going, but there will probably be as many unregistered Formula style boards raced as official Formula boards. The official Formula format will be largely ignored. Competition is too expensive, and no one is going to sail Formula for fun in anything over 20 kts. All is not lost though. Beginner wide-style boards will popularize windsurfing for more people, a small percentage of whom will move to more performance oriented shortboards.

3. When there's enough wind, nothing beats a shortboard and a few nice waves.

4. If sailing gear were stock, right now, I'd be selling kites and Formula and looking to long term but slow growth in more accessible and user friendly bump, slalom, and wave gear. The gear that's going to stick around for the long haul is going to be fun and easy to sail, have a wide wind range, and not be subject to trends. If the new Hypersonic lives up to the hype (Is it a coincidence that hype is part of the name?), Starboard could sell a million of them.

Frank Weston

Always trying to start a controversy, eh? Actually, I agree with you, Formula is not for general recreational sailing. I don't think it will save windsurfing in general or get a huge following. But, I like racing. I started racing in college; slow heavy college-style dinghies of course. Now, I race a 505, which planes upwind, jibes downwind in anything over 10 knots (ie it is faster to sail reaches, planing and jibing, than it is to point it straight downwind), and is a lot of fun to sail. I like racing dinghies from the faster end of the spectrum, because they require more athleticism, quicker reflexes, etc. than slower boats do.

One problem is that the 505 is doublehanded, and is difficult enough to sail well that sailing consistently with the same partner is nearly a necessity. This makes logistics a lot harder, so I end up sailing less than if I didn't need a partner. I used wish there were singlehanded boats that provided the sort of sailing that the 505 does. There have always been a few, like the Contender, the International Canoe, the A-class cat, but they are raced in so few areas in the US. (No, the Laser is not high-performance. Try going upwind in one.)

I see Formula boards as a viable high-performance single-handed racing boat. Its costs are similar to or less than those of the singlehanded boats mentioned above, but the gear is easier to store and transport. There is a lot less boat maintenance with Formula than there is with the above classes. There is a national racing circuit. I don't race Formula now, but I hope it is around when I get my chance in the future.

So, I think there are a lot of people out there who don't know what they are missing. I think if Formula sailors and manufacturers showed up at sailing clubs and gave the Laser and V-15 sailors a few lessons and rides on Formula gear, they would get a lot of converts, and Formula racing would grow faster. I really think marketing to recreational windsurfers is missing most of the market.

Nicely thought out post, but for one thing: You have never tried to race Formula so you don't know the deep, dark, dirty secret.

Here it is: On 99% of all days in 99% of the U.S. you can race a 505. On 90% of the days in 90% of the U.S. you can't get a Formula board on a plane, so you can't race it. If Formula could be raced reliably, everyone who races small boats would be a convert. Unfortunately, that's not the case, and even if sail sizes go to 15 meters, it will still not be the case. If we showed up at a yacht club and tried to give demos to hard-core dingy sailors, on most days, we would be laughed off of the water.

On the up side, kites suffer from the same light wind problems and they're impossible to race.

Frank Weston

P.S. I've raced 505's and it's a great class, but no fun in 20 kts.

Fair point. I think there are enough places in the US with reliable afternoon sea-breezes to support the existence of Formula racing. I agree that that there are many more places where dinghy sailing is viable and Formula is not.

Only the wankers have no fun in 20 kts.

Gee Frank, those are pretty high statistics. And, what you are leaving out is that on good Formula gear you can sail (NOT RACE) very effectively in 7-9 knots of wind. You'll be planing nearly all the time can go upwind a bit, and downwind pretty far too. Try this on slalom gear..... not going to happen. So, invest in a sit down boat, trailer, property taxes, registration, yacht club fees etc., and it cost a whole bunch. I think Formula boards with powerful recreational sails (not 12.5 or even 11.0 Race sails) gives most recreational sailors far more 'bang for the buck' than any other type of sailing. What other craft will scare you with it's speed in <10 knots? None that I know of. And, if you really work at it, you can easily sail the wide formula boards in over 20 knots. Little less sail, lots more speed, and can be very scary, but rarely harmful. Hope this helps,

Talk is cheap. Theres plenty of 50's around here, but I never see them because when I'm on the water, there's more wind than they want, and when they're on the water, I'm mowing my yard.

Frank Weston

Sorry Frank, I thought you added the P.S. as a joke.

Shortboarding in 20 kts is no fun. I see people try to do it and they just end up falling in the water a lot and then swimming their gear back to the beach. Talk is cheap, so what people say here is probably BS.

says...

We have a few around the south end of the bay and although you hardly ever see any except on race days, one day when we were all on 5.0's (the sail) there was one 505 (the boat) that was flying full sail including a spinnaker. I was impressed. I don't know who those sailors were but they had more guts than I did. I can sail that on a board but I'd never consider it in a sailboard, especially something like a 505. Those were real men!

Ummmm Stergios, Guess you haven't witnessed the new generation of windsurfing instruction, using the latest US Sailing Instructor Certification Techniques, wide boards like the

Start, Exocet Cruiser, Bic Nova, Mistral Prodigy, RRD Easy Rider, F2 Discovery,

Fanatic Viper 90, and lightweight beginner friendly rigs like the Sailworks Retro Ripper and Starboard Start rigs. It takes < 10 minutes on the simulator, < 10 minutes (usually, can be conditions dependent) on the water to have 95% of the folks we teach out there sailing across the wind, tacking, and coming back to where they launched from. The usually have to uphaul less than 3 times, and can complete faster tacks at the end of the first 30 minutes. The success rate is the same in 5 knots, 10 knots, 15 knots or 20 knots. Stability is no longer an issue with these wide boards and light weight rigs. So all that's left is to teach them 'rig balance', proper stance, and 'power control' and this can be taught to virtually anyone 50 lbs. to 250 lbs. 5 years old to 75 years old and more. Many of them are going right to the local shops and buying complete wide boards and lightweight rigs, and we seen them a few days later doing things it took us

weeks or months, sometimes even years to master on the old tippy, heavy beginner gear from the dark ages of windsurfing. The statement that 'you can learn to windsurf in less than an hour' is not BS. There are about 500-600 new sailors out there who can attest to this fact. If they were on the water for an hour, they were having fun for 55 minutes of that hour. Take a look around, come to an 'A Taste of Windsurfing Event'. It's happening, and the numbers are growing.

Yes, this might be true, with dark ages gear, or gear that's not suited for their skill level, combined with dark ages teaching technique. Windsurfing is not intuitive, but a little first class instruction goes a long way toward making it easy, and fun to learn Regards, Roger

There's nothing sweeter than a smooth wave face in 15 knots of wind. I think quite often the wave sailors in the group are speaking in these terms.

I agree with Frank..

FT.