First Sail - January 31st
I've decided to name the boat Windburn and here are my first impressions.

Wind and ice conditions were marginal. The wind was blowing between 5-8 mph and the ice conditions were 3 out of 10. Lots of rough stuff with a very thin layer of crust and snow covering most of the surface. Not ideal conditions for working the kinks out of a new boat.

There was enough wind to get the boat moving but the rough ice made it difficult to successfully complete a turn without stalling. I was using a North Sail Tonic 7.0 sail, Fiberspar carbon boom and a 490 North Sail Stinger 30% carbon mast. I don't think I had a long enough mast extension at the bottom of my mast and I was unable to get the sail downhauled properly to the tuning marks. I don't think my sail was developing its potential power in the light conditions. The sail is a Freeride camberless sail and I think it takes some wind to fill the sail and give it the proper shape. A cambered sail would probably work better in light conditions.

With the above disclaimer there were several DNs and Renegades out and once they got going they were moving along quite well and kicking my butt. I was never able to reach the point where I was making my own "wind" or generating high levels of apparent and it was sort of slugging along.

Other tuning considerations that could have been leading to the poor light wind performance were the sail rake and the alignment of the runners. Although I was quite careful to get them aligned. I also think my plank is unnecessarily stiff. I left a lot of material on it because I was afraid to take to much off. I'm going to shave it down removing weight and hopefully improving performance a bit.

Second Sail - February 8th
Wind and ice conditions were much better. The wind was blowing 15-20 mph and ice conditions improved throughout the week with some warm weather and rain. A 5 out of 10. I put a longer mast extension on and was able to get the sail down hauled properly. Sail shape looked much better. I didn't change anything else on the boat.

It was a blast. The boat seemed to accelerate well and reached top speeds in a hurry. Unfortunately I was forced to avoid a lot of hard frozen drifts and rarely found a long straight line that allowed me to really get the speeds up.



All the turning helped me get used to the foot steering and the fact that your center of gravity is much higher sitting up as apposed to laying down in a DN. You need to be ready for high speed turns or you feel like you are going to get tossed out of the boat. The seatbelt is a must have to keep you planted. The platform seemed very balanced and stable. On a couple of occasions the front runner slid in the turns and steering authority felt slightly light. Not nearly as bad as I've experienced in DNs. I think my runners need to be sharpened and I'm going to try raking my mast forward another notch.

I only sailed for about thirty minutes before my homemade steering chock started to let go. The weld where the threaded shaft enters the top of the chock was inadequate and started to wiggle. Luckily it didn't come apart before I noticed it. The ice was still rough and all of the turning stress exposed that problem early. I've re welded it and it's good and strong now. I also lost a pin in the front block and was sailing with the sheet looped around the pedal axle. I'm very happy that the steering chock was the only structural problem in heavy air... so far.... The hull held together fine.

Hopefully, now with the little bugs worked out I'll get a full day of sailing Friday the 13th. It's supposed to be windy again. I've shaved the plank down and finished it. Fixed the steering chock and replaced the pin on the front block. I'll keep you posted.

Third Sail - February 13th
Wow! It was rippen. I don't have time to right a full review but here is a short video.

Launch Video