After work today, I was going to work in the garage, but the wind was cranking hard as I was driving home. The crew was texting and I changed my mind. I got home, loaded the truck and headed to WPB.
The wind seemed a little lighter and the waves were a hair smaller than yesterday. I decided to pump up the Reedin 3.6 and see where it fit in. The rest of the gear was the same as yesterday (HS1550, chopped 300 rear stabilizer). Roland inflated the Ensis 4.5 and Kalani was on his 5.2
The wind had a lot more north in it today as well - so there was a larger wind shadow in the inside. I had to swim the board and wing out pretty far out before I got to the wind line. Yesterday on the Ensis 4.5, I felt that I had plenty of power and could have used the Reedin 3.6 - which is the primary reason I took the Reedin out today. In the wind line the Reedin had really good pull and I didn't feel overpowered. I did find myself expending a lot of effort trying to find the sweet spot - seemed like front hand more forward, back hand further back and sheeting in was the motion required to get the wing pressurized.
I got 14 miles in and was out for just over an hour and a half. I wanted to try a different setting for tracking speed during the session - so I used the "run" app on the watch. The run app records speed in minutes per mile (see graph at the bottom). I think I'll just use the "bike" app.
I was out from 4:30 to 6pm. There were a couple of lulls where I was schlogging, but I mostly felt well powered on the Reedin. With more north in the wind, I had a harder time jibing while regular footed and luffing the wing while riding waves. I got on to a few bombs and the wing would want to twist and flip. On one run to spun around twice. In general today, I could have just as easily used the Ensis 4.5 - and in the past before my tendinitis I would have probably looked at this wind and pumped up the Ensis 5.2. The experiments I've been conducting to see how small of a wing I could use is opening my eyes to what can be.
So if iwindsurf.com is predicting gusts in the red band, there should be enough power for me to use the Reedin. The higher the better for the Reedin (25 to 35+) - lots of whitecaps and smoke on the water. If there are more holes in the wind, or if it is closer to 20mph in strength (so call it 20 to 30), I'll use the Ensis 4.5 - so steady whitecaps. 17 to 25 is 5.2. And 14 to 20 is 6.0
I was able to stay up on foil more than not again today. Good session!
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