With almost 6 weeks of time off the water, I jumped back into things yesterday- getting my feet wet again. This time it wasnt in the warm waters of Brazil, nor the cold waters of Holland or the San Francisco Bay but in sunny Miami Florida. I arrived to the great hospitality of old friends and quickly we found ourselves lining up on thew water with the new 2008 equipment.
Every year we begin the same cycle again- getting to know and tune the new equipment and its only by the end of the year that you really begin to get things dialed in and comfortable with your settings. This year is no different.
New sails, new boards, cut outs or no cut outs, adjusting things so they work just right.
Immediately off the bat- I was really impressed with the new north formula warps. It was blowing a god 14-20 knots as we lined up the first time and the 11.0 had plenty of power and drive. It wasn't too much- even as the gust were approaching the upper teens. I really love the feeling of a new sail as you pump it for the first time: so crisp and powerful. I was riding the 2007 F2 formula board with a 70 cm xs kashy fin.
Against the other boards I felt pretty fast except for lining up against Jimmy. The 2007 f2 board was going well upwind- a little hard to control compared to the L7 but off the breeze, the thing really flies. I was acting as the constant while Jimmy changed a bunch of settings on his new board and sails. Little by little we found the things that worked and at the end of the day I jumped on the new 2008 F2 board. What a difference- more control, better upwind performance and great downwind performance. By the end of the day, I was well beat after the long flight from Europe.
Thursday is another day to warm up and then we begin racing on Friday through Sunday.
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