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GPWC Regatta – Downhauled to the Max
By Scott | June 24, 2009
The June 21 Grosse Pointe Windsurfing Club regatta was a grueling one day event. There were ten Prodigies which was an excellent turn out and no one was a novice competitor. Usually the winds in late June are more often calm then strong on Lake St. Clair but not this day. It was hot and sunny and oh so gusty. When I got out on the water I knew the racing wasn’t going to be fun and I downhauled and outhauled about half way to maximum. Still I was battling not getting back winded about 25 percent of the time during the first three morning races. I was getting wore out arm wise and was concentrating more on just keeping upright than sailing the course. After the start of the third race a super long gust hit that leveled me about 4 times and everyone else also. Finally before the last race of the morning I went all the way on downhaul then some getting the top of the Comp 8.5 one design sail more floppy than I think I ever seen it. Likewise I had a firm outhaul setting but with that amount of downhaul the sail is already flat. I was using the Prodigy Comp One Design 510 mast. That floppy top made a big difference and I wish I had went to that setting before the first race then backed off if need be. I actually sailed the course nicely that last morning race but my arms were so burnt out I couldn’t really hang in there on the up wind legs.
During lunch I rigged up my Sailworks Retro 6.5 which is a no cam sail. It’s not very competitive but there was no way my arms could battle those gusts with the 8.5 again. As Murphy would predict the winds dropped off after lunch and I was underpowered for the first two races after lunch. Still I was finishing ahead of a couple others that were battling what I’d call medium sized gusts with their 8.5′s.
During the third race the winds came up big time again. I was almost at the finish line when I notice 9 and JDX were swimming after their boards way out past the leeward mark C. I yelled at the committee boat to go get them which they did which canceled that race. Without a rider the Prodigy with it’s high deck is more proned to drifting away in strong winds than longboards are. If you didn’t get that simply said, ”The Prodigy can drift faster than you can swim even without a life vest on”. In high winds you really need to be cautious and not fall off backwards and boost the board away with your feet as you fall. If you do fall … don’t hesitate getting back to the board … swim fast and hard before the board gets turned downwind and picks up any drifting speed. If you come across a boardless Prodigy rider in the water usually it’s best to go to their board and drop your sail. Setting there you’ll cut the speed of the drifting Prodigy in half. Now if the rider has been swimming a bit and has no life vest you should go to the rider and try to get them to hang on using one hand on each back strap and then sail to their board. If you can’t get to the board then start waving your arms in an X motion to signal another person you need help. If your that third person go stop that runaway board! If you have a tow rope you might even be able to pull that runaway Prodigy upwind or at least stop the downwind drifting.
The last race of the afternoon got started about 3:15 and it was blowing hard and handling the 6.5 was work but fun. I finished 3rd overall in the fleet and bested all the other Prodigy guys who struggled with their 8.5′s in the heavy winds. For scoring purposes they divided the Prodigy group into light and heavy weight divisions and I ended up getting a trophy for 3rd in the heavy division. It was one of the nicer trophies with engraving I’ve seen in a while.
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