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Here is a really interesting video of what happens when a squall hits you and how much time you get. Seen in real time.

Hint: when you see that kind of sh!t unfurling in the sky ... batten the hatches. Like hardcore.

This was this past Saturday, during a regatta on alpine Lake Leman, Geneva. The biggest, by participants, inland race in the world. Storm warnings were out 24h before. So everyone outthere knew. But still, when it hit...

Kudos to the great seamanship out there. 212 yachts abandoned the race, 49 dis-masted, 3 sunk, gusts of 60 knots measured. No casualties among race participants.

One woman died in the squall. Not part of the race but on a "pleasure craft", near Geneva.

Vid is 8 mins. Watch 'til the end. It's kind of funny. The crew handles it very well... until...

For the 4 min version watch the first few secs and then skip to about 03:45 when it really starts to honk.

Sail world article for more info:
   

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You'll see why...

"Stock" 14' boards still in the game.

Interesting that Josh Riccio got 5th in Molokai-2-Oahu on a 14' "stock" board. 8 stock 14's in the top 25.

As cool as it is that stock 14's are holding their own I'm not just a die-hard old-school guy. I'm totally jonesing for a foil. So small, so simple, so damn fast.

So cool Kai Lenny rides strapless for ocean cruising.

A talk from about a year ago. New rapid cycle in innovation. "Not waiting around 40 years for the perfect thing to come".

It's science, but understandable. The talk is about an 1h long, followed by 40 mins discussion

https://youtu.be/KkpqA8yG9T4?list=WL

Oh! And, just BTW, from last week...

http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-newly-formed-company-launch-novel-approach-fusion-power-0309

Funded by the Italian company ENI (used to be AGIP) it seems.

OMG

Clog city!

"The doctor" race in oz

the everpresent question...

Allwater type nose vs displacement nose: Which is faster for a flatwater distance race?

For anyone following the racing in Copenhagen (ISA worlds) I think we have our answer. It's all about the paddler.

Annabel Anderson won on a [borrowed] Allstar. A fleet of Sprints coming in behind her.

OK, it's Friday and feeling provocative.  I haven't griped about this as much as I've felt like.

May I suggest we refer to windspeed in knots? Or Beaufort scale.

Two things:

Any seasoned waterman talking wind on water talks windspeed in knots (or Beaufort). It's the age-old standard thing to do before and even since the world went metric. It does have the advantage of having a common reference for wind between watermen living in imperial measured countries and those in metric countries. It just works. Sorry to say but anyone referring to windspeed on water im mph or kph does come across as kind of a landlubber.

Some of the world has moved on to a metric system of measurement. I looked it up. This might be news to some: all but the nations in red on the below map have moved on. Yes Virginia, that's ~ 95% of the world population.




Before watermen tended to use Beaufort scale as it is a great scale for eyeballing it, but now that we have accurate measured windspeeds so readily available  the tendency is to talk in Knots.

I get to choose a color for a new board. A light color is always good so it doesn't heat much in the sun. I'm thinking of getting white.

Is white a lot easier to repair eventual dings?

Several airlines get 4 days to implement a ban on laptops, cameras, and other electronic equipment on flight. UK quickly follows suite. Bet more will do so too, just to follow suite.

What a drag for travellers. If flights are down-time work-wise that's a lot of time lost.

The classic "trick" for employees with company laptops to get an upgrade that the boss was refusing was always to simply check them in to as checked baggage. Ooops, broken, need a new one. Worked every time! This requirement to put them as check in baggage is going to create a lot of damage.

So here's the question, IATA regulations prohibit passengers to put LiPo batteries as checked baggage in hold. So which devices have the new LiPo batteries and what is one supposed to do with them. (other than the logical "discharge" them thing).

Can someone sensible please take charge. [pun unintended]

Looks like Trump and Ajit Pai will do away with Net Neutrality. Obviously there is big money to be made as sites will need to pay to have quality of service guaranteed. The corporations will take over. Also, I suspect, Trump will use this to shut down independent news and opinion outlets. He clearly has a deep need to control news about him. Scary stuff.

I presume this also affects internet users sitting outside the US but  accessing a US based site. Like this site. Right? The bandwidth at the source will become less available [for those who didn't pay].

What an easy way to control what information people can receive, while still pretending it is available. This can't be healthy.

If it happens, what's next? A massive move of site hosting to outside the US?

What are the wind limits that a drone can be flown from a boat which travels downwind with SUPs?

If the waves get pretty crazy is it too hard to launch and land the drone?

Let's just say big bidget stuff. what are the limits possible this year?

Mushpling

That "itch" is growing. The fun doesn't really start until way later in the season when we can do the big lines.

Anyone who's a skier, here's a little something to get the butterflies going in your core. My back yard:

   

Like wind and waves? Foils maybe?

Anyone following the Vendee Globe solo round the world race with crazy fast foiling monohulls? The pack following the leaders are coming into 50 to 70 knot winds and 10 meter waves. Helllooooooo. Batten down the hatches.

Anyone have any idea what that's like? Well that's between beaufort force 11 and 12.

Let's hear some wind stories.

[In Knots or Beaufort please. If you aren't accustomed to it get used to it. This is a watersports forum. it's really weird to hear people talk about wind in mph or kmh, means nothing to a waterman. Miles and Kilometers are for landlubbers.]

Plenty of wind scales available. Here is a good one:
   www.windfinder.com/wind/windspeed.htm

Dugout style is so popular for those races. Top 10 it looks like.

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http://www.supracer.com/2016-king-of-the-cut-results/


I’m still not a fan of dugouts, I’m in this game for the planing feel and love to carve turns while downwinding. But I keep my eye on this trend and stay curious.

I know Titou also used to prefer an Allstar to an Ace when with Starboard because he like to work the planing. To see him in a dugout now means theres a good reason for the switch. Hmmmm.

Young gun (15) Clement Colmas, 2nd, looks set for a bit of career. He was on a custom Ace it seems. I know he’s proved that one can carve an Ace DW. In the video (yellow shirt) he pulls the most elegant glides. I hadn’t realised his father, working at Starboard, was on the Ace design team.

A 14’ took line donors. There’s some chatter with a lot of top racer support to have more racers in unlimiteds for this race. Strange this race favours dugouts and yet racers are keen to do it on unlimiteds. Anyway, between planing 14’s, dugout 14’s and unlimited the paddler still makes the biggest difference. 1st woman was on a Naish Maliko.

watch:

Nairobi governor elections.


A little pre debate banter: [hey, just warming up]
   

Debate
   
   
Remind you of anything?

</duck>

Clean stroke

... and great interview
   

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As a sailor I know turbulence is the telltale sign of something slowing you down. Standup paddling is pretty damn simple: all we have is the contact with the water. Any turbulence with our contact with water leaves a trace.

I've always noticed how smooth Kai Lenny is. One see's here how he doesn't bounce the board (a la starboard flex theory). What is amazing with this footage is that his paddle doesn't leave the slightest trace in the water. Not once. Even in that last all out stretch.

Think about it!

I'm putting this in the DW and racing section as it's always a good idea to have this with you but the more experienced riders rarely do since they feel safer.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/660538636/restube-ultralite-inflatable-life-jacket-and-swim

I use the classic Restube. Keeps my local law enforcement happy even though it's not a full lifejacket (they are just happy we make an effort). They check a lot more and insist more the last years.

So small and out of the way I've just gotten in the habit of always carrying it. Which, at the end of the day, makes all the difference. The fact it's with you.

To be honest I will still prefer the simple tube. The likelyhood I'll use it to help someone else or to use as a visible signal is still greater than me needing a lifejacket. Just the visibility of the tube floating behind you is a very valuable thing in case of the need to swim in. Even if I carry a phone I'd most likely just be swimming in (knock on wood).

edit to add: the more experienced riders set the example. Once they all carry one then the intermediates begin too. Then beginners. It's a natural cycle I've witnessed with helmuts in biking and skiing.

Swiss lifeguards use the classic Restube and it has proved a valuable tool to save lives. I know Switzerland doesn't conjure up images of huge beach breaks which is the classic lifeguard image. However the interesting statistic is that there are more deaths from drowning per year in Switzerland than by avalanches. Yet we get skiers flocking here from the world all over doing what seems to be their best effort to kill themselves in avalanches. I lose 1 or 2 friends/acquaintances a year to avalanches and despite being a waterman in summer I don’t know anyone who has drowned. So that stat really speaks to me how dangerous water can be. And, yes, I am a certified lifeguard.