(no subject)
Jul. 29th, 2023 02:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scrottieGot the Mistral windsurf rig out a few more times. Mistrals are vintage now with a solid following still. The boards are long and narrow. This thing clocks in over 10 feet long. Of course the reputation is for being easy to sail all day with ease. The bottom is mostly just completely flat but it does nose up a bit. The centerboard was missing and can't be had and I didn't get around to fabricating another one, but the helpful people in the Mistral FB group insist that being a "freeride" board, it doesn't need the centerboad. People mostly sail without it and only get it out for going upwind in light airs.
I'm staying in this sheltered but narrow space for now but did manage to get upwind and managed some tacks on this tippy, narrow board without falling in tho mostly I'm just falling in. Trick seems to be not even try to step across until the sail is well on its way to being on the other side, then quickly drop it forward and start sheeting in to complete the tack and for balance. This is really forcing me to counterbalance off the sail rather than trying to balance on my feet.
The loong straight edges dig in like a snowboard. My tacks have a long way to go. Unlike the big wide heavy Bic board, this thing wants to GO which makes the narrow space frustrating but I'm not confident enough yet to venture further, except maybe to canid beach if I tow the whole mess over behind the 'yak and rig the sail there. No huge hurry. Trying to do a billion tacks should hopefully force me to improve. Oh, and for reasons beyond my keen, even with the sail angled well forward which should drop the nose off and put me on a broad reach or run, sometimes it just decides it's going to sail backwards. Never saw that once on the Bic, the CSC boards, or the Delta Windsports novice board. I don't think I had the main backed? Is it somehow related to the lack of a centerboard?
I'm staying in this sheltered but narrow space for now but did manage to get upwind and managed some tacks on this tippy, narrow board without falling in tho mostly I'm just falling in. Trick seems to be not even try to step across until the sail is well on its way to being on the other side, then quickly drop it forward and start sheeting in to complete the tack and for balance. This is really forcing me to counterbalance off the sail rather than trying to balance on my feet.
The loong straight edges dig in like a snowboard. My tacks have a long way to go. Unlike the big wide heavy Bic board, this thing wants to GO which makes the narrow space frustrating but I'm not confident enough yet to venture further, except maybe to canid beach if I tow the whole mess over behind the 'yak and rig the sail there. No huge hurry. Trying to do a billion tacks should hopefully force me to improve. Oh, and for reasons beyond my keen, even with the sail angled well forward which should drop the nose off and put me on a broad reach or run, sometimes it just decides it's going to sail backwards. Never saw that once on the Bic, the CSC boards, or the Delta Windsports novice board. I don't think I had the main backed? Is it somehow related to the lack of a centerboard?
