Shark vs. Kite/foil

[jgordon]

On Seneca Friday with wind around 20 I chased Scott on a few speed runs to see who was faster. Here’s what I found:

Scott’s rig – 7.5 w/ guessing a ~175 liter slalom board (?)

Me – 9m with 2016 Lift high aspect (non-race) foil

Result – Scott was faster by 2-5 mph on each run as my foil definitely had a top end speed lower than his

I will rig my race foil and retry

[Scott]

Ohh! I was wondering who that was? I was on my 115 liter Fanatic Ray, wish I’d brought it for the lighter air yesterday after that big blow on Seneca.

I was on a parallel course with you at one point getting closer and closer when suddenly you FLEW off your foil! I was dropping down to give you a tow! Nice to get some last late season warm weather sailing in this week at Seneca even if it was frustrating at times.

 

[jgordon]

That was fun Scott! Thanks for being part of my experiment. And yeah I’d get peeled off the board when a random wave would put a warble on my wing. At full speed (and in general) I think it best to just bail rather than overcorrect and potentially hurt myself with that floating weapon.

Speaking of fun, today will be ginormous on east end of the big lake. I can already hear the haunting lines of Gordon L’s “Wreck of the Edmund Fitz” playing in my head. Be safe all ye sailors!

[windydoug]

Interesting conversation to follow you guys.  Jay, does the foil get to wind any better than a typical board set up for you  guys?  I was coming up behind a guy with a colorful Slingshot foil board on Saturday and he actually made me back off the gas because I could not get any higher than his point of sail into the wind and he had right of way.

Also, this is the perfect time of year to reflect on the lakes fury with The Wreck of the Edmund Fitz.

Here is a version of the song by Canadian band The Rheostatics setting the tone for a 2009 Webster Park session of Ed Schmitt and Rick Griffin.  It’s on the vid page, and the Youtube link below.

[Author]

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