Riding CHS Fluido T3 6.6 in combination with Fanatic Hawk 93 board

On 16 8 2014, I was windsurfing in Punat at island Krk in Croatia

Watter was a bit choppy for this spot which in a bit lower winds has almost no waves.

First I was riding Fanatic Hawk 93 with Challenger sails Konda 4,7. Then the wind dropped and I changed to my Fluido T3 6.6m2 sail which I got resently. Sail has 3 cams.

I was riding this combination for the first time. My fin was a freeride 36 cm one and I was a bit anoyed by it. I would prefer a freerace or a slalom fin which would keep better direction. Freeride fin in combination with freerace or slalom sail does not work. You put a lot of preasure on the fin when riding such sail and the board turns instead of holding direction.Well I didn't have a freerace fin of that size at the time :D

GPS tracking with www.sports-tracker.com

Here is something I wanted to do for a long time. Track a windsurf session with a GPS.

I used an android phone in waterproof bag. Application is as you can see from the title the Sports Tracker. It was a recommended free app for windsurfing. I think it is enough for a start.

I was at Seča a few days ago. Wind was really strong. On land we measured between 25-30 knots but was even stronger on watter - up to 35 knots I think.

I went in with my 4,7 Challenger Konda and Fanatic HAWK 93 with 31cm fin. I was overpowered most of the time. After I changed the fin to 28 cm it was much better.

The ride was at moments really fast. Watter was choppy that's why the speeds recorded felt even faster I guess.

Well, all the data can be stored, shared and edited at the portal of the sports tracker. This way it is really easy to keep a sort of log.

Here is the session: http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/gregorpi/545a69b9e4b08e603ce5feb9

My first ride with Challanger Sails Fluido T3 6.6m2

After a long time there was finally a good wind-forecast for north Adriatic region. NE wind at Krk / Punat region was promising winds well over 20 knots. Saturday was the day. 

We, my girlfriend (also my camera girl :-)) and me have departed from Ljubljana somewhere before 6.00 AM. The highway to island Krk was opened recently so the ride wasn't that long. We were there before 9.00 AM which includes mandatory coffee break.

When we got there the wind was really great. On the water were mostly sails around 5m2. I really wanted to test my new Fluido T3 6.6, the smaller brother of the 7.8 which proved to be a splendid sail. So I set it up. 

This was the configuration:

• Mast:  Rushwind Strike SDM 430cm 85% Carbon CC
  this is an older mast model I managed to get last year. It was new and I got it really cheap.

• Mast extension:  North Sails Power XT (short) - yeah I bought me one :DI had one few years ago - sold it just to find out that I miss the option of easy and exact trimming.

• My good old Amex Core Monocoque Aluminum boom ...

I prepared my Fanatic Hawk 93 board with 31 cm fin ....

... and chickened out ... ha ha

I was watching guys on water which boiled at moments and decided that just maybe 6.6. sail is pushing it a bit. So I assembled quickly the Challenger Sails Konda 4,7 sail and went in. It was a good decision. I had some nice rides with it. It has been a while since I rode such small sail ... and it felt like a toy. After some time the wind had receded and I was just wading in the water with the 4,7. Now it was time to change to bigger sail :D ...

I just changed the sails quickly and went back in. Although the sail was a 6.6 I could handle it well when the wind picked up at 20-30 knots again. I had to really hang in there, pull it down as much as possible and then I was flying. 

While the sail was OK I had some problems with the board. It was way too agile. I was riding a 93l board with a free move 31 cm fin and free race/slalom sail. The problem was obviously in the fin. The hawk is known to have slalom capabilities but with this fin it was more of a free move board. Unfortunately I didn't have a slalom or free race fin in this size. I was riding this setup for the rest of the day. It was some workout. I felt every muscle and felt great at the same time :-)

This was the end of one great surfing day. 

Unfortunately not much later it started to rain so we decided to go home instead of doing some sightseeing. And the trip home turned out to be a travel of 6 hours due to traffic congestions on the highway and border crossing but ... that is another story ...

P.S.: And yes, later I will post a movie that my girlfrend took :)

Changed the Aerotech Freesped for the Challenger Sails Fluido T3

I am really satisfied with the ChallengerSails Fluido T3 7,8 so I decided to buy another one in the 6,6 size. This way I would cover all my range of the Fanatic Shark 120 and the Fluido T3 6,6 I can use also on the Fanatic hawk 93. 

I did not get to rig the sail until we were on vacations (Peljesac, Perna, Croatia). Here are some of the photos:

When I assembled the sail I noticed that there were numerous small dents in three monofilm windows (not visible on the photos) so I disassembled it and packed it away. Fortunately this year was really a bad one wind-wise and I was sailing only the 7,8. 

Now I'm waiting to meet Tine Slabe so he can check the sail and exchange it for another one. I'm puzzled about how this could have happened because the sail was factory wrapped when I opened it.