Fuerteventura OFF!

Fuerteventura has been cancelled.

I don't know where this leaves the Speed Tour. The European Championships are due to be held in France October November time, this should go ahead the French have a huge following. Weymouth will take place, Sweden and Germany are saying they are good to go at the moment.

The economic melt down has reached speed sailing. Doom and Gloom doesn't stop there, we haven't had strong winds in Guernsey all year.

Time to turn it around a bit.

Guernsey has had sailing conditions, mostly 8m and 8.8m on large slalom boards. It's still windsurfing and great to be out.

I had a photo session this morning with Pierre to get some shots of my sails logo'd up with Flying Object stickers. Great conditions, sun out and 15 knots of wind.

I'll keep you posted on the competition news. If contest comes up I'll have to take a trip to Tarifa to get some GPS speeds nailed.

Fuerteventura World Championships

Fuerteventura world championships are coming up.

The Speed World Cup has changed its ranking system for 2010 to your best three events to count for the overall title. Something I agree with 100% however in doing this it means that my 2009 ranking would of given me automatic entry into the World Champs easily but now my ranking is based on Karpathos last year and Weymouth where although I placed fourth was judged as a non counting event due to the small number of sailors who sailed fast enough in those conditions.

Other sailors have jumped over me with entering non events in Holland and Belgium and sailing in what must be the smallest event of the year in Ireland.

I'm still inside the the 40 places allocated however that will change if more people enter.

I hope I get in, I've put too much into it to miss out.

Pembroke Bay speed session

Good wind angle at Pembroke on Saturday but by the time the wind picked up the tide was way too high. Pembroke has a 25' drop from the car park to the beach level, at low tide you are 350m away fro the wall but at high it could be as close as 10m. When I sailed it was about 25m away and hence a great big wind shadow as you came in close. Pleased with the speeds though, they keep creeping up. This sail will easily do 34knots max and average well over 30 in its correct wind range.

Sail size and predicted speed for each sail listed below

Hotsails GPS 8.8 34 knots
Hotsails GPS 8.0 37 knots
Hotsails GPS 7.3 40 knots
Hotsails GPS 6.6 43 knots
Hotsails GPS 6.0 46 knots
Hotsails GPS 5.5 BALLISTIC KNOTS

These are what I predict for each sail.

Guernsey is a fantastic place to sail and train but for flat out speed we are limited. Pembroke bay is our best spot, a sandy bay measuring 650m from one side to the other. It's only good at low tide in a SE to SW wind direction. You could count the number of SW winds we have had in 2010 on one hand yet it is our prominent wind direction.

Sponsorship news

It's official, I am now sponsored by FLYING OBJECTS through the UK importer Seasprite.

Check out their website www.flyingobjects.com

Really good quality boards bags and accessories which will ease my travelling this year.

Press release to follow once I have my sails stickered up and some pics taken.

Great news for my existing sponsors as well with more exposure coming our way.

Stay tuned there is one more in the pipeline which should make the second half of the year very productive.

May 24th

Still waiting for wind over here, slight chance tomorrow and also on Saturday but no storms moving through. Training is going from strngth to strength, 11 mile bike ride Thursday with my son, 11 mile run Friday, Sat off, 3 mile run & 1 mile swim on Sunday. Today I'll have a rest day and hope for sailing tomorrow.

May 17th

Yesterdays forcast didn't come through as well as planned.

We eneded up with 13knots SW wind. Lovely and warm and a fun sail but no where near powered up. I had to pump to get on the plain and pump out of every gybe. Ended up with a max speed of 29.66 knots with the 8.8m2 and 121 Starboard Isonic. Super efficient sails with a great deal more to give.

Fuerteventura is going to be very interesting. Fitness levels are way better than last year, things feel really good. I just need some strong SW winds, it doesn't look good for the next week but I'll keep you informed.

May Update

For as long as I can remember we have been having NE winds blowing down from Iceland.

Tomorrows forcast is for WSW force 4 - 5 which will be warmer and great for a coast sail up the west side of Guernsey.

I have had so many days out with the 8.8m and 8.0m on the 122 ltr Starboard, I am dying for a proper speed sailing day. It won't happen tomorrow but I am still looking forward to it.

Ran 3 miles this morning, 12 miles last Wednesday and 3 on Monday. I am running less days but a lot more miles, feel great.

The World Championships can't come quick enough for me. The new Hot Sails GPS are super fast, a new Starboard Isonic 58 for 8.0m and 7.3m weather will be fantastic in Fuerteventura for the worlds. I am going to travel with three speed boards, no slalom. The Isonic speed 49, 53 and 58. The 53 is going to love the Fuerteventura strip with 6.0 and 6.6 sails, I'll take the 49 just in case conditions get epict but it will have to be super flat and 5.5 -6.0m weather.

There are a couple of interesting sponsorship deals in the pipeline as well but I can't let on anything till its been signed but stay tuned.