being "trapped" here in Switzerland with no workshop, no wind and no speed course, i took a lot of time to think lately and i thought it might be a good time to write some of those thoughts down ...
a lot of thoughts become a lot clearer when you write them down and anyone who reads these posts is of course welcomed to comment and contribute to it. just remember this is my own highly opinionated view on this topic. feel free to disagree and argue.
most of my experience is in windsurfing, so this is my main focus right now, but i always look at the other branches of speed sailing for some concepts and ideas that mighbe able to cross over either way.
the whole GPS speedsurfing movement has made a lot of performance related data visible.
we can now hear first hand and on a regular basis from the riders about their experiences on the course. we have access to information like the location they are sailing, the conditions like wind speed + direction, water state, the riders weight, the gear used. and of course the vast amount of information if you analyse the tracks themselves.
and if you are looking long and hard enough there are certain patterns emerging. not always clear cut and certainly not straight answers, just patterns for now.
Those patterns fall in line quite nicely with most well known facts or principles most speed addicted windsurfers are aware of. some of them are not that well known or are on new territory.
even if stating the obvious, here is the most basic and obvious principle:
- to go faster you need either more power or less drag or a combination of both
the increase in speeds of windsurfers since the early nineties have been more or less incremental, nothing like the big jumps in the early days, but still, there there is a steady progress.
the gear is going through recurring cycles of optimisation, but big break through changes in gear or set-up are not likely with the current geometrically limited configuration.
i don't think there probably will be any big changes, because it very quickly produces a craft which is not a windsurfer any more.
what are the elements where windsurfers could gain more power?
what are the elements where windsurfers could reduce the drag?
more soon...
