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

2006 Olympic Pre-trials

Pretrials day 1"2 races in light to marginal conditions 7-10k, then dropping below 7. I was struggling upwind with my angle. Lighter guys are able to point a bit higher and maintain speed. Both races I was far back in 5th and it didn't merit even worth pumping.Up in front Ben in sailing away with Mark and Bob further back. Seth, in front of me in 4th. 4 women are competing to make the US RSX fleet at 9 boards total.
Pretrials day 2: Is there success through failure?
Sub marginal to marginal conditions today on the racecourse.3 races in diminishing conditions: choppy 7-11, then 7-8 the finally in race 3- under 6 knots. 5 men in the course in 2 lap windward leeward races. In first 2 races today Ben, Seth and I got off the line on port tack with track back planning conditions then the wind died and back to track forward displacement mode. In the last race, it was light- light and I was in there within striking distance for 4th. My back was in a lot of pain – upwind no pumping but downwind I was doing the butterfly pump at a good rate and caught Bob for 4th- otherwise 2other races today I was too far behind in 5th to even merit trying to pump to catch up. In the front of the fleet, Ben got 3 more bullets, Seth moved up to 2nd.Pretrials day 3:Somebody please put the wind back in Olympic windsurfing!
2 races in very light conditions in 3-5 knots of breeze. It was critical to maintain an upwind pump to get any angle at all- without it, I found my angle was way off and not in the game. For me this just isn't windsurfing – more like airs rowing with a giant paddle but these are the conditions similar to the next Olympics in China. This is one of the first times I'm ready to walk away from a challenge. My heart does not seem to be in the game nor am I interested in pumping the course and calling it windsurfing but my respect goes out Ben who is going for it all the way and walking away with 7 bullets so far. I think I've got a chance for 2nd or 3rd but at this point it's not worth it seeing the amount of time and effort required and the diminishing returns I am seeing. The other 3 guys have stepped it up a level but aren't yet close to Ben in first. I'm finding it hard to let go of this Olympic dream but sometimes better to do what your good at than what your not!
Pretrials day 4: The End is near
The light wind streak continues. I got out the racecourse for a 1 pm start only to find 3-5 knots on the course. Now instead of racing to the south of the harbor entrance like the previous 3 days, our course was position a ¼ mile in front of the entrance causing a lot of confused chop around the course. I got off to a decent start near the pin with Mark just on my hip to windward. I was able to hold him off by pumping just with my upper body but the whole motion just wasn't there, as I couldn't get by back to do what I wanted. Mark tacked off but soon it was apparent the right side was favored. So much for protecting the right side! I was in for a bit but soon enough got shot out the back door into 5th where it was apparent I wasn't going anywhere fast. Back up wind, Ben was leading the race for his 8th victory with out much challenge. The real battle was Seth trying to hold off Mark and Bob for 2nd place. Despite being a good 25 lbs heavier he's really working his ass off for 2nd place. Hopefully it will pay off for him the long run. As for me, all I needed was one race to know I was finished. I told the RC I was retiring and heading in.