well with this talk of thursday and friday..have you seen sat...howling ivor me thinks.....i'm sure my leg could hold up in the flat
water
mmmmm.. if the forcast still looks the same by Friday - I might be tempted out of retirement for a cheeky session on saturday. Low tide at 2:30 though, so might make a leisurely start mid afternoon.
Tides are quite big as well for the weekend.. Might have to have a speed session with the GPS on the falling tide mid morning.
Al.
ah gentlemen.ok thats Col and Spooks; a remind of your promised donations to help get Steve off them poles; bar and lines and a board
if i recollect gents then i can get it all set up ell in advance of out trip to Tiree see youz at the weekend. 
wot's the situation with the estuary, access etc
we have sleet, hail and snow in Sheffield this afternoon.
Was hoping that we would see some decent weather this weekend.
Hope to get friday off work but if my gaffer aint avin it, I'll be up friday night.
Last time I was at Ynyslas, the fences were gone bar from a small enclosure near to the centre. No issues with the kitesurfing though.
Thats my plan Al, mid morning dropping sound ideal. See if I can keep up with you! Got a new board to try as well
I am up for a speed session on Saturday. Board and sails ready to go. Pity my new fin has not arrived yet.
Bugger, No go for me, just tried my board on in the shop and it hurts like hell, and thats just trying to put my feet in the foot
straps.
So No go for me this weekend, just as it's howling as well.
have a good one people
Ivors been out to play all day, I was gutted as I couldnt get out and the rest of the crew where on the water all day, and I had to watch!!
Me too... Loads of wind, loads of sun, but loads of work to do and annoying things to sort out.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Al.
With the wind being an easterly is the plan to park up on Ynyslas beach and fly in the esturay.
I thought it was super gusty this afternoon, even for the Estuary. One minute 25 knts next thing nothing.
Hopefully the wind will be better tomorrow.
So is the estuary parking now fully available ? Have all the gas contractors cleared off ?
Some of them are still there, but there is access.... It was electricity BTW not gas... We don't have gas here! 
Al.
ok so now i might be coming...neil i might take you up on your offer!!
Nice out there today. 30 knots of wind and gorgeous sunshine on the seafront and not a soul in sight... Managed to clock a top speed of 35.8 knots as well beating my previous best of 34.5 knots... Yeeha!
is it me ....everytime you have a top speed session there's no one there..
i did 50knts yesterday with a triple s'bend to blind..but no one was there either ..
funny that!!!!!!!
Thats because there's never anyone here... I'm almost always out on the water on my own.
If I had a cable to connect my eTrex to my computer I'd be able to prove it though! 
Al.
We were in the Estuary Al, and it was blowing dogs off chains!
To be honest I don't trust the GPS readings, there's windsurfers on the lake claim to be that quick, but I can alway catch up with them
in my boat. That has a max speed of approx 30 knts.
I did read on another forum, that a kitesurfer had a GPS reading of 57 knts, now I'd be impressed with that (If it was properly
recorded down a speed run). I think its only a matter of time before a kite takes the record.
More wind tomorrow, see you in the Estuary.
Dunk
[Edited on 17-4-2008 by dunk]
[Edited on 17-4-2008 by dunk]
The GPS readings Are as accurate as you're going to get, and they are REALLY accurate. obviously though the top speed recorded is only
over a short distance (2 second average) so it doesn't equate to anything like the 500m record, but as recreational sailors it is the
closest we can get to affordably recording our speed.
As far as catching people up in your boat goes, then of course you will... We might be recording max speeds of 35 knots, but we'll be
averaging a lot less than that.
The accuracy isn't in question, they are without a doubt accurate, its just that we only hit these speeds for a very short period of
time. To account for the odd anomaly I make sure I reset the max speed now and then so that I can repeat the speed a few times.
Yesterday almost every run was around 35 knots, a couple of 35.2's, a 35.5 and a 35.8.
I posted somewhere else about the problems of using GPS readings versus a proper 500m course. Basically a windsurfer / kitesurfer
normally takes a curved path across a 500m course so by the time they have moved between the two lines which are 500m apart they have
actually covered more than 500m, so if you try to correlate a speed over a 500m path taken by GPS then the person wouldn;t have
copmpleted the full 500m of a speed course. It isn't the accuracy of the speed / distance that's the prolem its the fact that someone
on a 500m speed course actually travels further than 500m to complete it.
I still have no idea how they can get close to 50 knots over 500m though.. close to 36 knots felt pretty fast over chop!
Al.
What time were you at the estuary Dunk? I popped down there around 11am and saw two girls packing up as it was too gusty and then went
back down again later and there was no one there.
Were you there at low tide? Was the channel big enough to windsurf in? It was difficult to tell from the beach.
Al.
Al,
Here's the GPS readings etc,
Name : Sebastian Cattelan
Kite number : 69
Sponsor(s) : Genetrix Prolimit Xelerator
Home spot : South Africa, Mac
Height : 184 cm
Weight : 80.0 kg
Age : 31
Session info
Date : Sunday, February 03, 2008
Spot : Laguna 2, Luderitz, Namibia
Board : Custom xelerator
Kite : Genetrix Hydra 9.0
Fin : Home made xelerator 5
Average speed : 51.46 knots (51.9 51.8 51.6 51.4 50.6)
Max. GPS (display) : 57.5 knots
Max. 2 sec. (software) : 57.3 knots
100 m run : 56.2 knots
250 m run : 51.9 knots
500 m run : 49.2 knots
Impressed??????????
Yesterday, I got on the water just after 4pm. there was just enough room in the channel to windsurf.
Dunk
Cool... As you say it only a matter of time before the kiters get the world record.. Its bound to happen, the boards are smaller and
therefore there's less drag and even more importantly they can go in very shallow and therefore very smooth water which is what really
makes the difference. Just a tiny bit of chop cuases problems once you have some speed up.. Although wiping out at that speed in inches
of water will end up with a hospital visit for sure!
Not only can windsurfers not go in such shallow water, but in order to get flat water the rider needs to be close to an upwind obstacle
such as a sea-wall which however small creates turbulence in the wind. For a windsurfer this has an effect on the wind they are using,
whilst for a kiter they can be in the lee of such and obstacle in flat water whilst their kite is in cleaner air.. The offiicial 50
knot world record will have to fall soon.
As far as I'm concerned, anything over 30 knots is fast, 40 knots would be good but scary, 50 knots plus is just stupid!!
My balls aren't big enough for that!
Al.
Well I recorded 47.9 knots on my gps going through the boarder cross park at Serre Chevalier the other week on my snowboard.
I was following Neil and Craig at the time, so they must have been going faster. It was certainly fast enough for me !!!
I agree a Kite will soon take the world speed sailing record, it is just a matter of time. They just have far less friction to overcome than windsufers and the kite developement is pretty new. I have read on certain websites that the kite GPS speeds are not straight line speeds and the term "sling shot" is used quite often by those that dispute the readings. It sounds like these guys basically swing under or along an arc created by the kite and lines creating a very impressive peak speed. The is still no disputing that the 500m times are right up there with the best. Kites are continually getting speeds over 50knots peak so it is just a matter of time and place before they officially get the outright record.
I have a confession to make...
I had more time to set up today so checked a few settings on my GPS and noticed that yesterdays top speed of 35.8 knots was a somewhat
less impressive 35.8 mph!!!... Only a pathetic but still quite scary 31.1knots!!!
What an idiot!
Oh well, at least I beat it today with a top speed of 31.5 knots.... or 36.25 mph if you prefer!
Al.
Numpty!!!!
There I was thinking you were starting to challenge the speed table. I was actually getting quite nervouse to sail along side in case
I get wooped by 10 year old sail and super cross board. Who knows maybe I will tomorrow!!!!
yea me too it was in light speed
quote:
Originally posted by Impi
Numpty!!!!
There I was thinking you were starting to challenge the speed table. I was actually getting quite nervouse to sail along side in case I get wooped by 10 year old sail and super cross board. Who knows maybe I will tomorrow!!!!
Not bad going Grampa. Modern kit is really good. Time to spend a bit of money. The only thing that let me down today was me and not my kit.
what a great weekend in the estuary; sunday morning not so gusty ;should have had someone out with a speed gun to check out our runs
when it got flat......sure Big Col, Tony and myself were knocking on some record doors at some point........well it felt like it
anyway!
All in all a good 5 days for me.
You should of come out first thing Neil, when Men were Men! he he
Anyway, what'd you think of the Ozone? were you powered on the 7? I was glad I changed up when you went out as it dropped off a
little.
Dunks
ahh Mr Dunkster ; bit tired in the morning after driving all the way there and being in the pub most of the evening celebrating.
the ozone? well i didnt come in after a few minutes like i have done with some kites; well powered on it, maybe delivers more power
than its size suggests way more than my 7 yarga, certainly has a great deal of lift!!!! still found it hard to adjust to the slack back
lines although that might be down to tuning and me not used to it. you cannot fault ozone re build and design ; i remember their
products from my paragliding days and i also have ozone frenzy's, a 10 and a 7.5 . strutts were very thin and so is the leading edge,
maybe thats why they have that L.E. support for the 5th line. certainly worth the look, i have tried the 13 mtr original instinct a
year or so ago and i remember being being well impressed then, dont think the back lines were so slack on that one.
anyway thanks to Col for the trial. and what a great weekend, good to be out with the massif after such a break on the snow and bad
weather.
me and tony were only going fast as we had our braces caught on neils board....great fun blasting up and down, and with a dodgy knee
and ankle as well. managed a few small jumps and rotations....
i'd like another day with those winds in the estuary with a fully fit leg..i can get hold of a gps to measure the light speed!!!!!
I think well have to invest in gps col, so we can compare ourselves against al, hey!
I thought you already had one Shem?
Go on get a GPS and see how fast you are. They are great for mountain-biking too. The
Forerunner 305 is a really nice piece of kit. Or
just the basic Garmin eTrex which is what I use
whilst windsurfing.
Don't forget to buy them through these links if buying a
GPSr from Amazon. It doesn't cost you
anything extra but FON gets some commission which all helps pay to keep the site running.
Let the games begin!
Impi has the record at the moment with 37 knots recorded at West Kirby, I'm not sure what his fastest at Borth/Ynyslas is though. My
fastest speed so far is 34.5 knots, but I need some faster kit to improve on that!
Al.
No been meaning to get one, but never did. So will have to bite t bullet and get one, will I need a water proof aqua pack style thingy as well Al??
They are supposed to be waterproof to a certain extent, but I still put mine inside an aquapac to be on the safe side. I've got one of
those aquapacs that you can wear on your arm, but if I take the neoprene band off it it fits onto one of the straps on my harness just
fine.
The eTrex (or even the Gecko which is a little smaller) should be fine for you Shem. Or the wrist worn
Forerunner 205 which is the same as the 305 that I
had on last night, without the heart rate monitor.
Al.
put of pic of all 8 vans parked up this sunday at borth; look in the gallerries in Happy campers
I just did - nothing there!
http://www.forces-of-nature.co.uk/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-857