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Old 02-01-2011, 11:24 AM
kent kent is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 430
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Yes, I'm guessing that if we were on the other side of the bay that we would have gotten a race or two off. In truth, 6 mph is totally fine but lulls to 4 will kill us. We were really interested to have a chance to ride with Heiniken in the light wind as we just spend nearly 2 weeks with him in 20-25 in Baja. It is obvious that Tri's are competitive up wind and maybe even better than quads off the wind in the rough stuff, but now we need to find out if they hang with quads in the light breeze.

The good thing is that there are several competitive production race boards out on the market and fins are getting easier to find. Florida is a hot bed for training as some of the best guys live here and most are eager to share some info and provide tips.

Gebi, Garry, and I went out before work today and rode 16's in 8-15 mph. We were reaching speeds of 25 knots near shore in this breeze. Learning to tack and jibe will take some time, but the learning curve it pretty steep. In truth, I don't really care one way or the other regarding the Olympic designation because it's tons of fun and I can do it 3-4 days a week even in the summer in Miami. Lots of water time and a good work out. It can be a bit techy in the early stages, but things have calmed down quite a bit now. It's pretty cool to see several of the worlds top dingy sailors choosing to race on kites now. The sailing community is even starting to give us a bit of respect. I'm sure that we will see some clinics starting to pop up around the country so if you are even slightly interested, give it a go.
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