Topics

1

Downwind and Racing / Squall! Seen from the inside

« on: June 17, 2019, 11:42:25 AM »

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:
   www.sail-world.com/news/218697/Bol-dOr-Mirabaud-2019--An-epic-edition


www.facebook.com/skippers.ch/videos/2214719831947528/
 

2

SUP General / Congo, check it out

« on: March 12, 2019, 11:34:55 AM »

You'll see why...

https://youtu.be/uYjsDFrPWlQ

3

Downwind and Racing / 14' vs unlimited

« on: July 31, 2018, 03:56:40 AM »

"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.

4

Random / Fusion, are we there yet?

« on: March 13, 2018, 02:42:11 PM »

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.

5

Gear Talk / clogs

« on: November 27, 2017, 04:18:40 AM »

OMG

Clog city!

"The doctor" race in oz

6

Downwind and Racing / Allstar vs Sprint

« on: September 04, 2017, 05:17:42 AM »

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.

7

SUP General / Windspeed

« on: August 11, 2017, 06:20:50 AM »

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.

8

The Shape Shack / White board easier to fix dings?

« on: July 25, 2017, 12:37:12 PM »

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?

9

Foil SUP / [double] race foils

« on: July 09, 2017, 09:34:42 AM »

https://youtu.be/PramoQsIMwQ

10

Random / Who needs a paddle anyways

« on: May 02, 2017, 01:53:24 PM »

https://youtu.be/8Y8eGw1t-UY

11

Random / Batteries and flying

« on: March 21, 2017, 08:10:46 AM »

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]

12

Random / Fight for your rights [net neutrality]

« on: January 25, 2017, 03:49:14 AM »

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?

13

Downwind and Racing / Downwind drone filming

« on: January 12, 2017, 01:40:48 PM »

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?

14

Downwind and Racing / "only just" planing: new term competition

« on: December 25, 2016, 09:58:28 AM »

Mushpling

15

Random / Winter stoke

« on: December 13, 2016, 05:32:26 AM »

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: