17.
January could very well be one of those moody days. It was Friday and forecast
was cloudy with rain and temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius. But there was
also a relatively promising wind forecast - SE wind 10-15 knots. So I decided
to take a day off from the office and drove to the coast (spot Seca) with my
friend Matjaž. Forecast was ideal for my new equipment - the 7,8 Fluido T3 sail
from Challenger and the Fanatic Shark 120L board.
We arrived at the spot at around 9.30 AM and at first
it did not look good. Sea was too calm and wind was - well it was blowing but
not nearly enough for the 7,8. Since that is quite common situation with the SE
wind in Seca we decided to set up the equipment and go in anyway.
My first time rigging the Fluido T3
I have never rigged a sail with cambers. My old neil pryde
does not count since it rigs much the same as any other nocam sail, so I had my
doubts about it. But I got some really simple instructions from Tine Slabe and
following them step by step did the job. The sail was set up in minutes. First
look at it - well it looks great :-)
We put on the wet-suite set up the bard with 43 cm free
ride hyfly fin and went in ...
First time on the Fanatic Shark
Fanatic Shark seemed to me much bigger than the Syncro
so I was really surprised when I tried first beach start. I stepped on it as if
it were a 160l board ... I soon realized that the volume is really much the
same as the syncros so I turned on the light feet mode. I had to ride a good
100m to get to the windy area of the bay and then the fun began.
Shark went on plane really fast. The foot straps were
in just the right place - I slipped in and went ... it accelerated and gained
really good speed. This board is darn fast but really a lot brings the sail to
this joy ...
The new combination that brought a smile on my face
I had some problems with the turns in the beginning
because I was not yet familiar with the board. It has a bit different volume
distribution than Syncro ... but got over that. After a few rounds the wind
picked up and I had a blast. Board was pinned to the water and I could pull the
sail all the way down so it almost touched the water surface. I never could do
that before. I was flying. Sail goes through gusts and lulls incredibly well.
You don't even know they are there and all the time the sail feels really light
and balanced. I was really impressed and it was my first time using the gear. Unfortunately
at 1:00 PM we had to wrap it up. Went out of the watter, put gear in and on the
car and went home – this part is really not so interesting, but to sum this day
up - we had a blast :-)
Seca channel - where the wind blows from
