Topics

76

Technique / Invitation to critique my race paddle stroke

« on: June 07, 2015, 06:08:06 PM »

I stuck my GoPro camera on the end of a dock yesterday and made some passes on my raceboard- sometimes just cruising and sometimes as part of 200 m sprints I was practicing.

My technique sort of works- enough to win some of the less competitive local races -but it's fairly ugly, imo. Some possible problems I've identified from watching myself on the video are:

1. Hunching my back too much; not bending at the waist enough.
2. Poor reach / catch phase of stroke
3. Deep, power part of stroke coming too late; paddling past my feet

The video is naturally pretty boring, but if anyone would like to add their own critiques or suggestions on fixes, please be my guest. Thanks!



PS- My 200 m sprint time, with no running start, is somewhere between 1:15 & 1:11. (It was 1:11 going with the current, and 1:15 going against the current.) I don't know how the pros can do < 1 minute times at Lost Mills. That's really impressive.

77

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Tips for Florida Heat and Humidity?

« on: May 23, 2015, 02:01:04 PM »

I live in SW Florida, where it's pretty hot and humid all year, but especially in the summer. This will be my first summer as a SUP racer, after getting into it last fall.

As it has gotten hotter this spring I've noticed that there seems to be a threshold somewhere between 85 and 90 degrees, above which my endurance drops significantly and a new kind of exhaustion supersedes my normal tiredness.

Does that sound familiar to anyone? Are there any good ways to train for the heat or dress for the heat? Does it help to get down to really low body fat? Is it better to wear a wet shirt or go barebacked? Hat/visor or no? Max distance that it's reasonable to go without a camelback?

78

Gear Talk / FCS Touring 9.0 fin - The one that comes with 404's

« on: May 05, 2015, 09:40:59 AM »

Is the FCS Touring 9.0 fin that comes with 404 race sups any good for racing? It looks like a pretty good shape for shedding weeds and tracking but it's plastic construction.

My other race fins don't fit in the FCS finbox very well. Had to sand the sides of the box to get them to fit at all. The other problem is that fin base sticks up above the surface of the board at the back of the fin because the slot for the pivot dowel is too wide or too near the surface of the board.

79

Downwind and Racing / New 404 v3 - Tail rocker & finbox question

« on: April 29, 2015, 05:48:54 AM »

I've been racing a 14' Fanatic Falcon (27.25" wide). My typical 4-mile flatwater race speeds on the fanatic are around 5.5 mph, but last week I had an exceptionally good practice run at 5.74 mph. I almost wish I hadn't had that great run, because I had already committed to buying a new 14' 404 v3 raceboard (24" wide).

I rode the 404 yesterday and went faster than I usually go (5.72 mph) average, but not quite as fast as my PB on the Fanatic. So I've got that feeling of I might have just spent a lot of money for a board that's the same speed. It seems like the narrower width and sleeker nose on the 404 ought to make it significantly faster, but maybe it requires a different riding style or something. Another thing I notice about the 404 is that the overall rocker is pretty flat but it has a pronounced tail kick after the fin, which worries me coming from a windsurfing background where we know boards with lots of tail kick stick to the water and don't plane. I used the stock FCS fin on the 404 because the finbox was way too tight to fit any of my other fins.

I'm sure some of y'all have been in a similar position of struggling to figure out if a new board is truly faster or not. How do you do it?

Anyone have opinions of the speed / relative speed of either of these boards?

80

Downwind and Racing / Quantifying Board Size/Shape Effects on Speed

« on: April 11, 2015, 06:47:47 AM »

I'm interested in what kind of real world data there might be that quantifies the effects of different aspects of board size and shape on flat-water speed potential for a typical racer.

At the Florida State Paddleboard Championship last week (http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2015/04/florida-state-paddleboard-championship.html) the top 3 guys on 14' boards had an average time of 0:51:30, and the top 3 guys on 12'6 boards had an average time of 0:55:27. That works out that the 14' boards were 7-8% faster. Is that a widely used rule of thumb?

I also heard from a good racer that each 1" reduction in board width increases speed by about 0.1 mph, so a 24" wide board should be 0.3 mph faster than a 27" wide board. How is that for a rule of thumb?

Are there any other rules of thumb in use? How about the effect of a downwinder-style rocker vs. a flatwater rocker on flatwater speed? Or a concave hull vs. a flat or vee hull? Or a last-year's model board vs. a current year's model board? This is the kind of stuff I think about when I wonder if I can justify buying a new board.

81

Technique / Reverse steering during wave rides on raceboard

« on: March 26, 2015, 06:18:32 AM »

I have a fanatic falcon 14' that I mostly paddle in flat water, but sometimes in ocean chop and small waves. I'm trying to learn better tuning and technique for waves and ocean conditions so I can be more competitive in some of Florida's ocean races.

Although the board is pretty fast in rough water, as per the design intent, it's definitely tougher to ride than a surf style board. One thing I notice when catching a small bump is that it has reverse steering- I tilt it one way and it steers the other way. On a larger wave where I get further back on the board I might expect it to surf more normally, but in those conditions it seems to just not steer at all, except by my dragging a paddle. Are there any particular fin setups or techniques I should be using to get better directional control on waves and rough water?

82

Downwind and Racing / Slower in shallow water- Imagination or real effect?

« on: February 18, 2015, 07:53:28 PM »

Obviously it's slow if it's so shallow that your fin bumps the bottom or you can't stick your paddle all the way in.

But sometimes I feel like I get slowed down crossing shallows even when there's safe clearance.

Would there be any hydrodynamic reason for some kind of increased resistance occurring when paddling over shallow water?

83

Wind Powered / Windsurfing mods to 10'4" Angulo Surfa

« on: February 17, 2015, 11:36:38 AM »

Thought I'd share this with y'all-

A while ago I modified my 10'4" Angulo Surfa to change it's windsurfing performance. It already came with a mast track, so I could sail it as soon as I bought it, but I made various changes for various reason.

Change #1- I added a finbox in the middle of the board to give it a "poor man's daggerboard". This helped a lot with its usuability as a beginner board for my wife. When I use the board myself I remove the dagger fin.

http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2012/04/adding-center-fin-to-sup-for-better.html

Change #2- I created a flat-rocker section in the tail to allow the board to plane. This was quite an elaborate change, because I had to add two finboxes in the new tail section.

http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2014/01/sup-windsurf-modification-mufin-wave-fin.html

It works in waves

http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2014/03/angulo-windsup-and-exocet-cross.html

http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2014/08/mast-mount-cam-windsup-session.html

And in flat water

http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2014/05/zipping-on-step-tail-twin-fin-windsup.html

I think that if my totally uneducated hack-job of a modification can have results this good, that there's a lot of potential in the design concept. (Twin fin swallow-tail step-tail windsup.) I'd like to see others try similar experiments.

84

Downwind and Racing / Squeezing flatwater speed from 2014 Fanatic Falcon 14' - Tips?

« on: February 08, 2015, 07:43:30 AM »

Hi Y'all- First post on this forum. I'm trying to get my 2014 Fanatic Falcon 14' (the 27.5" wide model with the bulbous nose) going as fast as possible in my glassy flat water Florida river. After a couple months of practice and tuning I'm hitting a plateau around about 5.5 mph average over a 4.5 mile course. That has been good enough to get me second place in our small local races, but the top guy gets about 5.8 mph so he's way ahead of me. I'm looking for tuning/training tips and techniques that might help me close the gap. Here's some more specific info on me and what I'm doing now:

35 years old, 5'10", 170ish lbs, windsurfing background
Pretty fit- do some jogging and calisthenics but never did any real athletic training

Paddles- I usually use a relatively short Angulo carbon fiber paddle with a narrowish 97 in2 blade, but sometimes I use a heavy adjustable aluminum Epic brand paddle with a fatter 107 in2 blade. It's easier to do a fast cadence with the former, but it's easier to get a good catch and smooth pull with the latter and my speeds are about the same with either one.

Standing position- I'm not sure how much of the round nose of the Fanatic should be in the water. I get more of the nose in the water when my toes are about 2" in front of the carry handle, but I kinda feel like I'm plowing water then. I suspect I'm faster when my toes are mid/aft of the carry handle.

Fin- I'm using a small windsurfing weed fin.

Specific Questions- 1) Is my type of board (27.5" wide with a bulbous nose for ocean conditions) a lot slower than the 24" wide pointy-nosed recessed-deck type flatwater boards or do I still have a chance against them? 2) Is fast cadence short-stroke paddling the only way to go really fast?