Training in the waves-sorry no photos:(

Saturday was a training day and test day. I sailed the Expedition Windsurfer® out Bunses Pass near Ft Desoto into the Gulf. At 12:30pm winds were out of the NW at 24kts gusting to 29kts. I sailed until a little after 4:00pm with my maximum boat speed of 17.4kts with an average boat speed of 6.6kts. I may have been able to get more speed out of the board if I had focused on that, but my main goal for the day was to see how the board would handle the waves.


As I sailed out into the Gulf, the seas were a mess. There was a SW swell from the day before and the strong NW winds were kicking up a new swell causing the mouth of the pass to be in a state of confusion. On the south side of the pass is a shallow sand bar that seemed to be the least chaotic. The sandbar blocked most of the new swell coming in from the northwest. I headed out on a WSW heading pushing through the small waves on the inside. The waves at this shallow point were tame and easily managed, as I sailed further out into the Gulf the swell became rather large and a bit foreboding. I sailed out to where the large southerly swell was breaking on the outside and decided that I did not want to push things too much since I was sailing alone. I jibed and came back into the pass on a beam reach, racing with the 2' waves and having a blast. The Expedition Windsurfer® handled the waves with ease. It would not be the board of choice for wave riding but I was able to demonstrate that it is possible to get in and out of a shore break of moderate size. More wave testing to come though.

I am pleased with the new dagger board gasket I installed. I used 5200 and it is holding better than the "super glue" I used the first time. The new material seems to be working as well; I did not get as much water blowing up into fin well as before. And it was considerably cheaper.

I had hoped to get some video but my camera stopped working on me. I hope to get some video this weekend.

I am sending the sail off for some alterations. I am having two zipper panels installed to meet the sail reduction rules for the Everglades Challenge.

Great Adventures,

Trey

Bottom of the EXPW2010

Here are a couple of images of the bottom of the Expedition Windsurfer®. It looks rough from use and I am replacing the fin well gasket. I'm trying to use a different gasket material and different glue. We will see if it works. I hope the photos aren’t too clear so you see all my flaws.

Although it is impossible to build a boat that will do everything and does it well, I think we have come pretty close.

Our goal was to design a board that we could use for long multi-day camping trips, similar to what you would find on a real expedition. To do this we wanted the board to paddle well in all conditions. We accomplished this by designing the bow with a V, similar to a kayak. We also gave it enough rocker to make it easier to turn. We also recognized that length would be important to paddling efficiency so we kept it in the 15'-16'range. An added feature that improves this boats performance over other sit-on-top kayaks is the dagger board. In a cross wind or when paddling the dagger board helps in tracking. To make it a good windsurfer we designed the tail section to be flat and giving the outline a proper shape was also important for shedding water. From the first prototype we discovered we needed more freeboard to keep the rider dryer and also enable the board to be packed with gear easier. We also found from using the first prototype that we needed a retractable fin to get the loaded board through the shallows and up onto the beach without getting into the water to remove the fin. So far I have been very pleased with the results.



I will be out on Tierra-Verde Saturday to hopefully get some video and some action in the waves.



Here is the National Weather Service forecast:



SATURDAY

NORTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. BAY AND INLAND WATERS

CHOPPY.



SATURDAY NIGHT

NORTH WINDS AROUND 15 KNOTS. BAY AND INLAND

WATERS CHOPPY.



SUNDAY

NORTH WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. BAY AND INLAND WATERS A

MODERATE CHOP.



Great Adventures-Trey

I've been trying to get in as much training in as possible before the Everglades Challenge in March. The Everglades Challenge is a 300 mile expedition style race down the west coast of Florida. It will require both sailing and paddling. I will be the first person to enter on a windsurfer. Of course no one has ever entered any race on the Expedition Windsurfer®, this will be a first- I like firsts. Time and work responsibilities are keeping me from getting in as much training as I would like, so I do what I can. On Thursday I was able to get in a 6 mile paddle on the Peace River.

The water level is higher than normal for this time of year. With the El Nino weather pattern we are in, we are getting rain and wind with each front that passes by almost twice a week keeping the river up. If this pattern keeps up the Everglades Challenge will be a real test of endurance and fortitude.

Here are some nice photos of the Peace River in the middle of February, yea I know it's nice!

15.5 kts- Great day at Tierra Verde

I have been watching the cold front all week hoping that work and family responsibilities would harmonize with its arrival. It did and what a great time it was. I unloaded the Expedition Windsurfer at 1:30 on the east side of Tierra Verde with winds in the 2okt range. There was four or five young guns on short boards giving the old man some weird looks as I sailed off the beach, but that’s ok, I did not take it personal. I had Britt of North Beach Windsurfing in my corner and he kept the kids at bay.


The Expedition Windsurfer performed beyond my expectations. It was stable, of course, but even when the winds picked up to 25+ tacking and jibing was simple and I never felt like I was out of control with my 7.5 Zenith. What I was most pleased with was its speed. In winds in the 25kt range I maxed out at 15.5kts and it felt like I could get more out of it with some adjustments. The biggest issue affecting top end speed is the tail fin box. At high speeds, water was forced into the well creating a rooster tail causing drag on the board. I have a dagger board gasket I will apply and we will see if we can get 20 knots out of her. I think we can. The board also goes to weather well, even with the old 1980s blades I am using. Matt Layden has done a great job on the design.



Totally STOKED!

Everglades Challenge-a personal commitment

I have been trying to enter the Everglades Challenge since 2004, when I made it to the first checkpoint in my sea kayak. Since then I have allowed one disaster after another get in the way. In 2005 I was still putting things back together after the eye of hurricane Charley passed over my house here in Wauchula. In 2006 I had just started my own business and did not have the time or the money to enter the race. In 2007 I was still caught up in building my business and working on the first version of the Expedition Windsurfer. Then in December of 2007 my son and I were in a car crash that broke three of my ribs, puncturing a lung and shattered my left wrist, requiring a metal plate to keep it together. I also suffered a compound fracture of the right ulna and damaged the ulna head, requiring a metal plate to hold it all together. Oh, and I also broke the #5 cervical requiring me to wear a cervical collar for 3 months. Fortunatly, I did not have any damage to the spinal cord. As a result of those somewhat annoying injuries, I was in no condition to enter the EC in 2008 or 2009.
I have been spending time this past year doing some extra paddling on the Peace River and building the second prototype of the Expedition Windsurfer and trying to get my mind right for the challenge.

I am ready to go. 2010 is my time, I will sail and enjoy each and every challenge that the race can throw my way. I can hardly contain myself.

Sail test

Here is a shot with the sail and both the retractable fin and dagger board in the hull. (click on the image to enlarge)I am having some problems with the dagger board. The gasket material I used seems to be too stiff and does not allow the board to rotate up into the hull easily. I should be able to make some minor modifications to the dagger board to improve it's function. The winds were out of the NNW at 8-10kts with an occasional gust to 12kts. I was concerned about stability of the board with the changes we made to the free board and width. We narrowed the board down from 33" to 30.5" and at the tail we reduced the width from 25.5" to 23.5 and increased the free board by two inches. I had concerns that these changes would make the board less stable. Although we did not have much in the way of waves the board felt very stable. I went out into the mouth of the pass and the left over swell from yesterdays cold front allowed me to get a feel for its stability in waves. I sailed from about 12:30pm to 2:45. From the GPS my trip was 9 miles and max speed was 10.6kts and average speed was 4.6kts. I can tell that this new design is much faster than the first prototype. I cant wait to see what it will do in 15-20kts. I sailed up to the beach and asked a nice Canadian couple to video me as I sailed the board. The video is not too good, I think lighting had something to do with it and the fact I was too far away.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

The new board is done "EXPW2"

After way too much time working on this thing I finally put it in the water. Here are some images of Jared taking it for a spin on the Peace River. Click on the image to enlarge it.
I will try to do some sailing on it this weekend and then a camping trip the following weekend. I will post video as soon as I can.

I like the looks of the design and shape. I just wish I were a better boat builder, I made lots of mistakes. I hope none of them will affect the performance of the board.

Please leave comments and let me know what you think