| |
|
|
|
| |
Lanzarote 05: The Moves that Mattered
 Read
|
| |
|
| |
Winning Matters: The Matt Pritchard Interview
Read |
| |
|
| |
Speed Kings: Sotavento Speed and Slalom
 Read |
| |
|
|
Dan Ellis recently competed in the Fuerteventura speed and slalom World tour event. 7 days later, he walked away with the production board speed title and an 8 th place overall in his first ever PWA slalom event. He accomplished a child hood dream of beating Bjorn Dunkerbeck E11 in a heat and still has the smile to prove it. Here is Dan’s perspective on the event…
Why did you do so well?
I’ve been really concentrating on slalom this year. With the 5 AWT (Asian Windsurfing Tour) events UKWA and IFCA Euro’s I have had the opportunity to find my weak spots and work on them before Fuerte. I am also lucky that with Fanatic and Naish I have a really fast and easy to sail setup. If you’re not fast it doesn’t matter how good your race tactics and skills are you’re simply history. I went into the competition with a lot of confidence in my speed after testing a lot with top Israeli Arnon Dagan in the run up. This self-belief makes a huge difference.
The Fastest Guys
| |
|
|
 |
|
Being forced to use production boards has made the speed differences a lot smaller than they used to be. Once in the final, the speeds were really similar between all the men. Getting the start right and gybing well made the biggest difference. Finian was probably slightly faster in the lightest winds whilst Bjorn and Antoine had the edge in the stronger winds.
Ben van der Steen, Peter Bjil, Arnon Dagan and myself were also all going pretty quick and when in front nobody really had enough speed advantage to overtake. Micah had good speed but the reason he won was more to do with very consistent racing. |
| |
|
|
The Equipment
Equipment is now limited to 4 sails and 2 boards. The boards have to be recognised production shapes, but sails are allowed to be custom, mainly because of the difficulty in ensuring that a sail is a standard production design and not a re-cut.
"Finian was probably slightly faster in the lightest winds whilst Bjorn and Antoine had the edge in the stronger winds". Because all the racers used production boards it meant the speed of the top 15 or 20 were really similar and that everyone had a fair chance of being competitive. With previous PWA rules, it was much more difficult to compete against the ‘old guard’ who had dedicated shapers and plenty of
custom boards to choose from.
| |
|
|
I registered a Fanatic Falcon 120, which is 74cm wide and 120ltr. I find it works best with a 40cm fin, and Fanatic Falcon 90, which is 60cm wide and 90ltr, I only used a 32 cm fin here but sometimes use 34 when less powered.
My 4 sails were Naish Stealth’s 8.2, 7.0, 6.5, and 6.0. I never used the 7.0 as the 6.5 was faster for me in hindsight I should have registered 7.6 instead of 7.0 as it’s a good change over sail which I can use on both the Falcon 120 and 90 and therefore has a massive wind range. I didn’t register the 7.6 because I hadn’t tested it before the event and only found out how good it went during the speed! |
|
 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
The biggest outlay now-a-days is for fins, which can give you that vital edge in speed and control. Fin choice in the top10 was pretty evenly split between Tectonics and Deboichet, with only Kevin Pritchard using C3. I had a fantastic 32cm Vector for my Falcon90 but used Deboichet for the bigger fins. When testing I found that the Deboichet are really strong in the light winds and bigger sizes (36cm-42cm) and the new shapes are improving in high winds. But the Tectonics are really easy to ride in the rough conditions because the fin is G10 and not carbon. This makes it a bit softer which gives extra control. There is a feeling that as new carbon lay-ups are developed they will eventually be better. |
| |
|
|
The Sail Sizes and Wind Strengths
| |
|
|
 |
|
With the limit of 4 sails it means that the wind range window of each has to be massive and the new sails have been designed to make that possible. Where we now have 4 sails, last time the PWA did slalom in the late 90’s you would have needed 10. The wide luff sleeve is a large contributing factor to the big wind range. In Lighter winds it gives the sail more power and then also makes the sails more stable when over powered. In Fuerte my largest sail was 8.2m which I used from 12-13kts all the way up to 20-25knots. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
My next sail down was a 6.5 which I could use from18-20 kts up.
Antoine paid the biggest price for making a wrong sail choice. He registered 4 small sails 7.2,6.7,6.2,5.8. In the old days, these where normal size gaps which may have been why he chose them, however new slalom can be run from 11kts. With the forecasts before the event all showing light winds in the middle of the contest, it was really surprising he didn’t give himself a big option. |
| |
|
|
Bjorn Dunkerbeck
| |
|
|
 |
|
Although being out of the race game for a few years it was proven that he is still the best racer, although Micah Buzianis may disagree! Through being aggressive and making the right decisions before anyone else can think of them, he was normally one step ahead. It has to be said that both Bjorn and Micah were willing to win at any cost. It seemed they had the self-belief that they deserved to be in a final even if they were knocked out.
This was the first time I’ve raced against Bjorn and even though I’ve got to keep training to win overall, the fact that I beat him in a man-on-man heat was the realisation of a childhood dream for me. Now I just have to do it again in a final! |
| |
|
|
In the 4th round semi final most of the sailors in the heat were a little early on their run up and headed to the pin end to kill some time. I was right at the top and headed down a little before hitting the line on the gun and heading for the first mark. Bjorn uncharacteristically was late in his run up which meant he was last off the line. Apparently he then fell in on a gybe. Anyway to cut a long story short he didn’t make it through to the final and decided his best chance was to say I cut him up at the start (which is illegal).
| |
|
|
 |
|
"This was the first time I’ve raced against Bjorn and even though I’ve got to keep training to win overall, the fact that I beat him in a man-on-man heat was the realisation of a child hood dream for me."
When I got back to the beach and was being congratulated by the boy’s for making another final, I was called to the jury where Bjorn had protested me. Luckily Ben Van der Steen saw me at the start and backed up my story and Bjorn’s witness Jimmy Diaz turned out not to
|
| |
|
|
have seen anything. So it was chucked out. But 'not one to be beaten easily Bjorn' tried to reopen it the next day with apparent new evidence from the race officer, but it turned out that he also didn’t see anything! Walking back up the beach after the protest, Bjorn casualy mentioned to me that "next time he’ll just crash straight into me", but hey what can you do……?
Starting Techniques
| |
|
|
"Slalom starts are the make or break of your race."
Slalom starts are the make or break of your race. If you don’t hit the start with full speed and on the nail then you can say good by to the race. Previously starting was one of my weaker aspects so I’d put a lot into improving it. |
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
To get consistently good starts, you need to have a solid routine that you always stick to and then you need to be sharp and ready to adapt to situations when you're confronted with. This is where experience comes in. Bjorn Micah, Steve, KP, Antoine and the other “old timers” have done more starts than I’ve had hot dinners and this is one of the main things that make them so consistent.
"the 'old timers' have done more starts than I’ve had hot dinners" |
| |
|
|
Speed Technique
When the conditions are “normal”, I always set my kit up for maximum speed. When, like in the 1 st couple of days in Fuerte, the conditions are extreme, I was overpowered and it was choppy as hell, it is much more important to set the kit up for control. In maxed conditions, having control will get you around the course much quicker than having a higher top end but being too out of control to use it.
| |
“In lighter winds you have a higher boom and shorter harness lines this gives you more lift making the board freer and faster. In stronger winds you want to keep the board in the water and use the fin less so you lower your boom and lengthen your harness lines” – Ross Williams |
|
Gybing Technique
| |
|
|
|
|
There is an easy formula to slalom gybing: come in to the mark wide, crank over the sail and come out close and with lots of speed. However, with 7 of the worlds best around I could only wish it was that simple. Again, like with getting the perfect start, you have to be ready to make split second decisions because you can never be certain of what the sailors around you will do.
With all the pressure of a race situation, gybing becomes a point where sailors who have not dropped a gybe in 10 years end up eating it. |
| |
|
|
The Crashes
Lots of people were falling at the gybes, but I can’t name names as it’s not fair on Ross, Arnon, Gonzo, Steve, Bjorn etc etc...
| |
|
|
| Before the competition proper even got under way I had myself a good old smash. On my 6.0, fully wound, lining up with Arnon before the first round, for the 1st time in years I went over the handle bars, snapped my board in 2, bruised my ribs and had to get 3 stiches in my foot. Not the ideal start but it turned out ok in the end! |
|
"I went over the handle bars, snapped my board in 2, bruised my ribs and had to get 3 stiches in my foot." |
| |
|
|
The Future Of Slalom
| |
|
|
| Most sailors understand the thrill of going past someone, regardless of whether its your 1st lesson or your 1000th trip to the beach, it just feels good to be faster! This means the slalom spirit is in all of us and it makes sense to put on an exciting show that people appreciate and want to see.
| |
|
|
| |
“I think its going in a really good direction, its so much better and fairer now with production kit than when I first tried to break into the PWA in the late 90’s and the top guys could buy so many custom boards we had no chance of being competitive. Slalom is definitely coming back and encouraging lots more participation and is rising up, the only threat is the competition organisers have a tendency to complicate things and don’t show windsurfing on the high level it should be on.” - Arnon Dagan. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
“2006 should be an interesting year for me, I’m looking forward to it. It looks like the way the sports going with slalom and super X, makes the racing higher impact and more exciting, whilst being easier to understand for spectators, which is all good. However, I really hope this is not the end of upwind racing as that is the most technical part of the sport”
“I also think slalom is easier for normal windsurfers to appreciate, so this may bring back the racing spirit. It’s easy for a guy who wants to compete to ‘jump on and try a competition’ so it will probably make the racing scene bigger around the world.” - Ross Williams.
|
|
| |
| |
The women
Unfortunately our Lucy has swapped her Slalom board for an RSX in order to bring the UK some Olympic glory in 2008 so our strongest chance of glory was missing. The UK representation came from Zara Davis who was really in Fuerte for the speed. This was her first ever slalom comp and she jumped in at the deep end but I think even after a few stitches in her nose she had fun. The girls fleet was small but Karen Jaggi, although she didn’t win all the races, did enough to win overall and prove she is the best all-round woman in the world.
|
| |
"Karen Jaggi proved she is the best all-round woman in the world."
I was in Fuerte primarily for slalom, but after the Weymouth Speed Week last year, which was my first introduction to speed, I was also really excited about the prospect of taking on the world heavy weights of speed (suddenly at 95kg I was a light boy!!).
| |
|
|
 |
|
The speed course was about a mile downwind from the race site and to be honest was not the mirror flat speed heaven you would imagine. With 2 foot waves rolling in sideways across the course and the run almost dead downwind just getting too the other end was tricky. In the storage tent my pit was next to our speed legend Dave White which mean I could get some sneaky tips about what kit to take which really helped, even though he basically just told me to take a stupidly big sail!
This was essential advice. All of the top guy’s had caddies, or other sailors to sail 2 or 3 sets of kit down to the course. I unfortunately didn’t have this luxury so by just going big and taking a weight jacket |
| |
|
|
I avoided the biggest speed nightmare of being underpowered. As it turned out in both sessions, even though I’d taken a bigger sail than most people, I had to ditch the weight jacket to be powered up.
| |
|
|
| "The sessions are very tiring." |
|
|
| |
|
|
I found to get a good run meant timing the start to coincide with a big gust (it was super gusty) and then going as broad as possible on the first section. You also had to line up on a good swell which if timed perfectly, could take you about half way down before you had to move onto another one. Doing years of Formula racing really helped with this as you get used to riding swells to get the most angle and speed downwind. My other technique was simply to get as many runs in as possible, a lot of guys were stopping in between runs bit I just kept going round and round as I new it would only take one really windy run to shoot up the rankings.
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
They are one and half hours long and the whole time you are going full power down the run and then being overpowered going upwind to the start. Luckily for me the less than perfect speed conditions allowed slalom boards to compete against the custom speed kit. This allowed me to win the production title on my Fanatic Falcon 90.
Bjorn won overall because he was the most ready for the Fuerte conditions. Finian got the fastest overall time but struggled along with Antoine in the lighter wind. Bjorn, even though he’s about 110kg, won fairly convincingly.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Bjorn moving fast! |
|
|
| |
|
|
Article written by Dan Ellis.
|
|
 |
|
Print
Main
Page 
Win [3.38MB]
Mac [3.54MB]
