Tomorrow looks quite warm with southwest air, anyone up for a little lake?

Looks warm at Wolf tomorrow. Need a bit more wind to make the trip from Wisconsin worth it for me. Enjoy the day!

There is a good chance for some wind over Wolf, I'm up for some sailing.

I'm heading up to Silver around noon today, will report on how it goes!

Silver was pretty nice, ended up almost 70 degrees and the wind was around 10kt but occasionally nice puffs in the mid-upper teens that were enough to get briefly on a plane.

The lake actually still has weeds, must be leftover from last year. The beach is kind of a mess and I'd be careful about stepping on debris when launching. Still a really nice place to park, launch and sail.


There was another windsurfer out flying around on a slalom board with a 10.5. I tried my new 8.0 Retro and found it kind of tough to get used to. For whatever reason the board wanted to turn up into the wind when planing or not. I'd set the harness lines by the "hands" method (8 hands away from the boom clamp) and it was awful until I moved them forward. For whatever reason the 8.0 Retro seems to want lines in the exact same spot as my 6.5 Legacy. I have a couple questions about setup.

-If the center of effort is further forward than normal, wouldn't that mean the board would be easier to bear away than my smaller sails? This is the biggest sail I've tried yet. The mast foot had actually slid forward to the front of the track (oops) but wouldn't that make the board want to bear way not luff up? It was a weird feeling, worst at low speeds but also present when getting sped up. I kind of feel like the trick here might be getting the rig fwd a bit but not certain.

I was able to get into the front footstrap today which was cool, but I am defintely not fast enough at getting OUT of the footstrap, as the puffs were short enough that once I got to speed it just meant I was about to hit a lull! Definitely swam today.

Anyway, was great to get out on the water again.

You should have come to Wolf, Silver sucks in my opinion. I had a good time on my 110/7.5 planing at least 50% of the time between 12:30 and 4:00. I could have given you some pointers as well-like trying your kit on the water and telling you if something is wrong with the setup. Well, the season hasn't even started yet properly there will be another opportunity soon I'm sure.

Ady is right but it looks like you had a good time. That;'s what matters!

My 2-cents regarding your questions:

Harness lines should be positioned so the load on the back and front hands are the same. If there's more pull on your front hand then move the lines a tad forward and vice versa.

Keep your harness lines a hand-width apart on the boom - no more. This helps better control and maneuverability over the rig.

Find the right spot for the lines by holding your rig on the grass in the wind in an upright sailing position and try to hold it balanced with your hands on the boom very close together. When balanced, wherever your hands are is where the center of effort is and where your lines should be located on the boom.

Keep your mast base in the middle of the mast track. Moving the mast base forward will help with board control in chop and high wind while moving it 1 or 2cm backward helps with release in light wind. I don't think you should mess with this for now though.

Compared to a 6.5, an 8.0 or above will feel heavy, more physical and less maneuverable. It also needs more sustained power to take full advantage. Unless you have a great pumping technique, using a large sail in marginal barely-planing conditions won't provide any significant advantages. Until you can comfortably plane in straps and harness, a 6.5 will be more maneuverable and enjoyable to use in very marginal conditions.

Finally, try to go sail in a spot where the wind is more stable than at Sliver Lake with a larger body of water (like Evanston) or fewer hills around (like Wolf), you will find it more enjoyable and it will make you progress faster.
Cheers

Thanks for all the help guys, would love to try Wolf next time if you're heading up (down?) Ady. I picked Silver as another Windsurfer I know was heading that way and when possible I like to be on the water with others.

Regarding the harness lines I will set them your way next time, for whatever reason the "hands trick" that worked on my Ezzys did not apply to the Retro. I wonder if I had too much downhaul on as the sail was tuned to their recommendation but the sail seemed flatter than the Ezzys with the draft much further forward. The mast base was just a mistake, didn't have it tight enough so it wandered.

Greg the note you gave that probably is #1 for next time is stable wind. For whatever reason it the puffs were quite shift and had a big difference between the lulls and gusts. Would be great to have solid breeze to work on footstraps.

Guessing it's partly rust after not sailing for almost 4mos, but trying for the footstraps yesterday was a lot harder than any of the other skills I picked up last fall. For some reason I thought it was going to have a learning curve like getting into the harness lines, but I think it's a) harder b) far more conditions dependent and shifty/puffy might not be ideal. Was cool for the brief times I was in the strap; felt like I was standing on the side of the board and not on top; could push the front foot hard to keep the board heading downwind until the wind faded. My calves are in a world of hurt today, anyone got a good stretch?

Also, if you were curious about Insta360 mounts, I can say with conviction that the Utility frame+alloy strut+regular gopro shoe is NOT that secure, this pic is more or less the moment the strut came out of the shoe. Even with the leash (outhaul tail) I was feeling lucky to have the camera at the end of the day.

KM wrote:
Other reasons why an 8.0 might be a handful would be the size/volume of your board, the additional weight of the rig will make a low volume board even more difficult to plane, diminishing or no return on a board less than 120L. It took me quite a while to get comfortable with 8.0 on my 120L 70cm wide Fox, the whole setup has very different feel and dynamics, feels like sailing a rig with a board attached. Needs a lot of skill to get the benefit of it, used when I'm desperate to sail.
Also, be careful about falling into the sail or if you ever use the sail in shorebreak on Lake Michigan. Everybody I have ever known with a Retro has gotten bummed out about broken battens, seems like the tubes are more fragile than other sails, even those that also use tube battens.

Great point from David. Same experience with my Bolt 125 / 76cm wide. Works great with an 8.5 but using my 9.4 doesn't mean more power, faster or early planing. The 9.4 is a lot harder to pump on that board.
On the Bolt 125, my fastest sail is a 7.0, then a close second is a 6.0. 4 to 5mph slower is my 8.5.

Interesting points on the big sails. Certainly wasn't the kick of speed I was expecting! The board is a very wide 135 so I don't think it's overwhelmed, although I did find the nose underwater more than once, especially coming out of a tack.

Regarding Wolf lake: how bad is the bottom there? I've heard people refer to rebar underwater mines and thick mud bottom.