no wind so cal

So I made another trip down to southern California for the SoCal Cup
but alas there was no wind- or not much of it compared to the summer we've been having in the SF Bay. I havn't had much success with sailing in Long Beach with last years Olympic pre trials and this years no wind calcup.
Makes me realize how good we have it in SF with a great organization and plenty of wind!
Nonetheless with just the slightest breeze near shore- we had to sail up to the breakwater- nearly 3 miles out to get to the wind-line with 11.0s.
There was plenty of motorboat chop in and out of the harbor and the moored freighters provide a bigger wind shadow than you would expect. I did get a chance to test out a new 70 cm soft fin and also got a chance to find out some light air settings on my 11.0 which I havn't sailed since May!
Some light air settings that I found useful were:
higher booms,
mast track back 2-3 cm,
outhaul on upper clew grommet,
longer harness lines ,
a forward raked fin,
as well as a really loose outhaul setting to get going when beginning to pump.

These are all things you can do before going out and on the water to get better low end from your kit. Of course having a broken batten doesn't help at all. After realizing this I came in and de rigged and watched a handful of so-cal sailors- along with Eric Christianson from the Bay area sail 2 laps around a set course in marginal conditions. Oh well- sometimes you've got to learn the lessons when you can!
Meanwhile back in SF, the kite fleet held their first national championships with 59 kiters racing 16 races over 3 days and a big air day and boarder cross on the w-end! Local crissy kiter Anthony Chavez took the honors while all around waterman- Seth Besse- placed a respectable 26th in the gold fleet. A complete report can be found here on Kimball's Sail magazine blog site.
Well at least nobdy was killed- a plus for the kiters in their 3rd season of kite racing on the Bay!Thanks to Chris Ray for the pics!
For results- check out the StFYC site or here
Also some great videos of the kiters in action at crissy during their nationals:

As well as the new all time record for hang time- nearly 12 seconds:


For more kiteboarding racing check out the video section at www.myhuck.com

With one more week before the US Nationals in SF, the pressure is on.
Several top notch sailors will be coming from around the US, South America and Europe.
Looks like the action will be in Formula and slalom but several RSX sailors will be there in preparation for next year Olympic games.
If you cant make it down to crissy field to watch- check out the action on the exploritorium web cam