09-03-16 2 sec adjusted as this was no doppler speed yet.
08-12-10 RTO: As requested by MvM session adjusted by Timekeeper to Doppler speeds.


Original comments: Speeds non doppler. Sorry for the delay in posting. We couldn't find an internet connection and got home late last night.

Doppler max 50,462 10 sec max 48,510. Max speed 10 sec shown on dial 49,89 consistent with findings of a new high precision device still in testing phase. Intersting food for thought about accuracy levels but if you allow me I'd rather tell my story than focus on tech details first.

Last Friday we (Annemarie, my girlfriend and me) decided to go to Southend. Dave and his wife Sally took great care of us and we had a pleasant evening together, thanks for that Dave. Dave was busy with the timing system for the official Southend event brought to him just that day.

The next morning we went visit the ray. It's an amazing sight to slowly see the bank getting exposed. You can run two nautical miles in a row set at two two different angles. I decided to go for the 5,1, the Speed Pro 60 and the trusted X2-21. Most others were on 5,8-6,0 since the wind wasn't all that strong. The very first run the angle was relatively tight. I was powered up but easily could have used a bigger size. Still I felt I did a great 500. It turned out to be over 45 knots with a max speed of 47 knots. Given the angle and the relaitve light wind I am perhaps even more stoked about this than the run I did a couple of hours later. The wind backed off a little and my speeds got down because I was clearly underpowered. All off a sudden the wind swung Westerly in a fierce and unsailable rainsquall.

It seemed to back of for a while so I deceded to walk to the shore to get some food. The Ray includes a fairly long walk so it took me a while and soon I found out I'd better stayed. All personal bests were sailed during that period. Bummer... I managed to do a couple of high peak speeds but my averages were well below the speeds Bob was sailing and I thouyght I lost the day, still happy with the first run.

At the end only Dave, Bob en me were out and I got really tired. The tide got up and we only had half an hour left when I thought I'd at least give it another go for the day result. Bob was smoking and gave me the needed push to keep on going for a couple of runs. I shortened the boom 4cm to get more juice in the sail on the broad course and got one decent run in. As I sailed upwind to go to the shore I noticed a thick cloud coming towards us. I waited and when the wind filled in I got to the course. I was very broad and the chop built only 2 metres from the shore. Bob was sitting at the beginning of the course barely able to hold his sail down.

I was nearly overthrown by the force the sail gave while accellerating but managed to hold on. I passed Bob accellerated further into the course and all got very smooth. The sail was a little small but I felt this is the run of the day. Dave was at the end of the run and I raised my arm before I stopped. Looked at the dial and thought I saw 89,89km as a peak speed and 83,49 as my ten second. I was a little disappointed and thought the sail was too small once again to get a decent 10 and 500 in. On the shore it turned out to be 94,49. Needless to say I was very pleased with the result.

When I downloaded the file in the cafe with some riders present I noticed I probably lost a very fast 500 speed because I didn't sail enough. the track shows 8 seconds of accellerating and decellerating phase within the 500 metre run. I feel confident 50 over 500 can and will be broken here the first time it's truly windy. When more people are just as lucky as I was today and get similar magic carpet rides history will be written here during the official "driven by wind" attempt.

It was a great trip and many riders set personal bests. It was great to have a sail with them and the atmosphere was very sportsmenlike. Thanks to all present and see you soon.