The Black Project Fins Maui Speed Challenge 2010 - RESULTS

As sailors arrived at Spreckelsville they were greeted with 15 knots but it looked promising upwind. Most but not all competitors gambled that the wind would increase and rigged 6.0m to 6.5m sails. Not long after the course opened at 11am the wind had built to 25 knots as expected. What wasn’t expected was the larger than normal summer swell and the reef protecting the course was going off, well if you were riding your wave gear. Six to eight foot ramps were rolling in which made for some sketchy moments as sailors headed back through the break and upwind at the end of their run.

Dan Ellis sets up for his first run.

Peter John powers down the course.

Tamara in her first speed event worked really hard in the dificult conditions.

I couldn't find the speed he was looking for, maybe I was a little distracted by the surf!

The results table below illustrates that there really was two competitions going on in the Open class with Peiter, Peter and Dan in one group way ahead while the others were left to fight it out for fourth and below. It was great to see a few new faces out recording times today with their GPS units with a few others checking out the action it seems that the numbers could grow at future events. It was very interesting to watch the vastly different styles of the top three. Peiter (Neil Pryde Tester) on one hand arrived with a stash of fins to try and sailed in a very precise and calculated manner. Dan Ellis fresh from the PWA slalom circuit blasted down the course time and time again, it looked like he was training and his speeds were extremely consistent. Peter’s relaxed attitude to speed sailing is amazing and he uses his extreme strength to good effect, just think how fast he would have gone if he’d bothered to fix the whole in his sail! In the end Peiter took the honours with an impressive 38.9 knots which was one of the fastest ever recorded 100m tracks on the course, only Eric Beale and Anders Bringdal have gone faster.

Chris’ speed on a wave board is quite remarkable!

It was great to see Tamara at her first speed event, I know that she can go faster and I look forward to seeing her tracks at the next event. I would also love to see a few more of the girls from the Maui Race Series out there, it is great training!

The ever smiling Casey worked hard to improve his speeds, he’s not exactly the biggest sailor in the world, but I am confident that with a few more speed events under his belt he’ll get faster. Again, I would love to see a few more younger sailors at the next event.

No date is currently set for the next round of the series but hopefully we’ll get at least one more before the onset of winter waves distracts everyone! Tracks can still count towards the 2010 Maui Speed Ladder and/or towards the HAM Challenge so if you get a better speed than you current best above please email Tom. If you did not attend the season opener but want your tracks to count towards the ladder please also get in touch. Thanks must go to the event organiser Tom Hammerton for his hard work putting everything together.

All pictures (c) 2010 Jimmie Hepp

NB: 2010 Speed Ladder to follow...

Thanks and Aloha

Chris Freeman