Maui Vmax GPS Speed Sailing

NEW HOME for the Maui VMax Speed Series

2010-11-15T06:45:00.000-08:00

All future updates for the Maui VMax Speed Series and Maui VMax Speed Ladder will be posted on the Black Project Fins website.

Vist the BlackProjectFins.com website.

The Black Project Fins SPEED LADDER 2010

2010-08-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

The SPEED ladder records the fastest 100m recorded tracks in Hawaii this year. To have your name added or update your fastest speed please email Tom.

Click to enlarge.

Aloha and thanks.

Chris Freeman

The Black Project Fins Maui Speed Challenge 2010 - RESULTS

2010-08-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

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.

NB: 2010 Speed Ladder to follow...

Thanks and Aloha

Chris Freeman

Results Black Project Speed Challenge August 28th 2010

2010-08-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

This year we had a long wait for good speed sailing conditions, but it was worth it! We had a good tide between 1-2 feet and solid trade-winds. Things started out a bit light but soon picked up and a small wind-swell was breaking on the reef helping to improve the water condition.

	Maui Vmax 2010 Speed Meeting August 28th

Pos	Name	Class	100m Speed	10 second	Max Speed	Points
1	Peiter Bilj	Open	38.9	38.0	39.4	15
2	Peter John	Open	38.2	37.8	38.8	11
3	Dan Ellis	Open	38.0	37.7	38.2	9
4	Tom Hammerton	Open	35.8	35.5	36.0	7
5	Jacques Pauvert	Open	35.4	35.3	35.7	6
6	Anton Blijlevens	Open	34.7	33.4	35.7	5
7	Chris Freeman	Open	33.7	33.4	34.5	4
8	Matt Wicks	Open	30.2	29.7	30.8	3
9	Sam Bockius	Open	30.1	29.8	30.7	2
1	Chris McNeil	Wave	34.1	33.5	34.3	15
2	Carl Grundy	Wave	30.0	29.8	30.7	11
1	Tamara Bockius	Women	25.6	25.1	27.1	15
1	Casey Rehrer	Junior	26.3	26.1	27.4	15

Photos of the event by Jimmie Hepp on Facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000830216933#!/album.php?aid=15128&id=100000830216933

The Black Project Maui Speed Challenge 2010

2010-08-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

When: Saturday 28th August 2010
Where: Spreckelsville, Maui
Time: 11am – 3pm
Organiser: Tom Hammerton
Photographer: Jimmie Hepp

This weekend marks the return of the Maui VMax GPS Speed Series. Many of Hawaii’s fastest sailors are currently dusting off their speed boards and GT-31 data loggers in preparation for the first speed meeting of the year. The format is the same as in recent years with the fastest 100m runs counting towards the overall result. Last year’s Maui VMax series winner and overall fastest sailor with a speed of 38.3 knots Peter John has confirmed his attendance as have former world speed record holder Eric Beale who placed third in the series last year logging a best 100m run of 37.7 knots, PWA slalom racing Brit Dan Ellis and fresh from his victory on the PWA in Turkey, current world # 3 Micah Buzianis.

The results will also count towards the HAM Speed Challenge which pits teams of sailors and kiters from The Gorge, New England & Hawaii against each other in search of the fastest 100m, nautical mile and Alpha 500 speeds.

How fast can you go?

This is a FREE event if you own your own GT-31 or GT-11 data logger and for a small fee you can rent one for the day. There will be divisions for Men, Women, Wave & Under 18 so if doesn’t even matter if you don’t have speed or slalom gear you can come down and have some fun. The weather forecast is excellent with 20-30 knots of wind expected; this combined with a high tide should mean that the course (between Spreckelsville and Camp One) will be at its flattest and fastest during the middle of the day.

New for this year is the support of Black Project Fins, the newest fin company to come out of Hawaii who are currently putting their 2011 line of fins through a rigorous testing regime.

More to follow...

Maui Vmax Speed Meeting 4 Sept. 19th 2009

2009-09-22T00:06:00.001-07:00

Speed Meeting 3 video

2009-09-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Maui Vmax Speed Meeting 3 from Tom Hammerton on Vimeo.

Maui Vmax 2009 Speed Meeting 2 July 26th

2009-07-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

After a few days of light winds the speed gods blessed us with some nice moderate 25 knot tradewinds. As usual the wind was inconsistent coming and going as it pleased promptly dropping as soon as the course opened. The Iwindsurf site showed a couple of gusts over 30 mph, but these were not to be found on the speed course. Most sailors rigged something close to 6.5. Unfortunately at the most advantageous tide the wind was not co-cooperating and when it did finally fill in the tide had come up and the course started to get bumpy. The trick at that point was to find a stretch of flat water in amongst the lumps.

Image Courtesy of Iwindsurf.com

35 knots seemed to be the number of the day but then Erik Beale came in with a good run (wanting to get it logged in just in case of mishaps later). Eric's 37 knoter motivated the boys to get back out there and try a little harder. By 3:30pm the chop was getting quite bad and it seemed clear the best runs of the day were behind us. When Alex discovered Peter John had just beaten him by 1/10th of a knot he headed back to the water in a last ditch attempt to find a puff and velvet before the course closed at 4pm. Alex was unable to overcome the rough water and had to settle for his earlier 38.2 knot 100m run behind Peter John's 38.3 knot run despite having the highest peak speed of the day of 39.1. Erik held on to 3rd followed by John Smalley with another 0.1 knot margin over Tom Hammerton.

This was a very impressive day with the highest speeds of the year in all divisions. Carl Grundy put in an impressive 30.7 knots in the wave division and Tracey Harrap - the only women's competitor so far - just snuck over 30 with a 30.1 on some gear borrowed from Terry Alkemade. Chris Freeman competing in his first GPS contest in the wave division rewarded himself with a forward loop at the end of every run when he went faster. A good time was definitely had by all. Unfortunately everyone was having so much fun we forgot to take photos!

It was a very international fleet with visiting sailors from the Southern Hemisphere Chris Adamson (AUS) and Terry Alkemade (NZ) as well as fellow Kiwi transplants Tracey Harrap and Peter John. The UK was well represented with 5 sailors, Erik Beale, Carl Grundy, Chris Freeman, Tom Hammerton and John Smalley. Olaf Sutor was the lone European competitor waving the flag for Germany. The fleet was completed with the two American sailors Matt Daniels and Alex "wear-a-hole-in-the-ocean" Aguera. Thanks to everyone for coming down and making it such a successful fun day.

For full results go to Results

Peter and Alex move to the top of the speed ladder bumping Pieter Bijl down to third in Open with Carl Grundy moving to the top of Wave: Speed Ladder

Thanks to Dain, Marc, Ayesha, Chris, Liz and Anne for keeping an eye on things.

Weather Forecast For Maui Vmax Speed Meeting July 26th 2009

2009-07-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Although trade winds are temporarily diminished for the next couple of days they are expected to strengthen through the weekend.

Image Courtesy of Iwindsurf.com, used with permission.

A weak low pressure disturbance is expected to develop west of the islands and may shift the winds to an easterly or south-easterly direction. This is caused by some locally strong upper level winds not associated with the main jet-stream and should dissipate quickly. Worryingly this is a similar pattern to the one seen in the spring that killed the trades for an extended period of time. The good news is that the overall trade flow remains strong and the air should be dry and stable on Sunday. Given this I have to be optimistic and say there is a good chance of some decent trades in the 20-25 knot range assuming the flow does not become too easterly.

The tide looks favorable with a low at 11:04 in the morning slowly rising to an afternoon high just over 2 feet at 5:24pm. Most rocks will be covered by a good fin length's worth of water by the time the course opens. A small 2 foot NW swell is showing up on the models which would be ideal if it shows up.

Image Courtesy of Iwindsurf.com, used with permission.

We will meet at Sprecks on Sunday no matter what the forecast. Please assume racing will begin at 12 noon. If the conditions prove unsuitable this Speed Meeting will be postponed 2 weeks to August 9th.

HAM (Hawaii AMerica) Speed Challenge

2009-07-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

HAM (Hawaii AMerica) Speed Challenge

In the great tradition of the America's Cup, The Army/Navy game and the July 4th hot dog eating contest comes the HAM Speed Challenge. A fight to the death, dog eat dog, gloves off challenge of epic proportions to settle the age old question, does Maui or the Gorge have the fastest windsurfers in the country? In the far west corner drifting off the US Pacific coast you have the Big Wave boys of Maui who brave monster swells and fin eating coral reefs to lay claim to fastest windsurfer over 100 meters. Lurking up in the top left corner of the continental US are the Big Wind warriors of The Gorge, legends in their own lunchtime, but holders of the current 100 meter record of 44.5 knots.
The challenge is simple, from July 1st to December 31st, the 5 fastest 100m GPS speeds from Maui and the 5 fastest 100m GPS speeds from the Gorge will be posted to see who really is the fastest.

The prize: bragging rights and the ability to thumb your nose at the losers knowing you are the fastest windsurfers in the country.....oh, and a nice little trophy!

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rules apply:
Best 5 100 m. windsurfing GPS speeds from 5 different sailors for each team
Average of 5 best 100 m. speeds wins.
Speeds for Maui team can be anywhere in Hawaii.
Speeds for Gorge team anywhere on the Columbia River.
Speeds in doppler from GT-11 or GT-31 GPS units.
All GPS tracks posted to the Speedreader at WWW.KA72.COM and details of run sent to the timekeepers for each team, Tom Hammerton tom@ocean7design.com in Maui and Roo in The Gorge roo@speedsailor.com

Results and details at www.gps-speedsailing.com & http://www.mauivmax.com/
Open to any windsurfers, pro...amateur...current & ex world record holders...any nationality...any sex...any colour...any weight...any height...any speed!

Maui Vmax 2009 Speed Meeting 1, June 14th

2009-06-15T22:48:00.001-07:00

Hanging out on the beach waiting for wind. Sound like a windsurf contest?

After what seemed like an eternity the trade winds finally returned to Maui just in time for the first race in the Maui Race Series. It all looked very promising for the first speed meeting scheduled a week later. Indeed the trades did blow all week and some very good sailing was had. Sunday however proved the wind to be very fickle.

Peter John - photo Bob Gilbert

The light and patchy winds proved to be a bit of a spoiler with many sailors who had intended to compete deciding otherwise. The field then was a small band of speed enthusiasts determined to enjoy the day no matter what the weather did.

Tom Hammerton - photo Bob Gilbert

At 11am things looked quite promising and many sailors rigged with the idea that things would pick up and fill in later. The first two hours produced the most productive winds with gusts up to 20 knots. Huge holes kept everyone on big boards and the event became more of a wind hunt than anything else. Competitors sailed everywhere in sight trying to find the elusive wind. There was more wind further out but the water was rougher making it a bigger challenge to find speed. In the end the lower reef proved to be the fastest, and those he found a good gust went fastest.

Wind Graph July 14 courtesy of Iwindsurf.com

Once more Alex Aguera proved to be the fastest after putting in a long day with many runs. His top 100m speed of 34.08 knots was very impressive given the conditions. Nipping at his heels was Tom Hammerton with 33.92 knots set in the same spot just 89 seconds after Alex’s winning speed.

Alex Aguera - photo Bob Gilbert

Mark Nelson - photo Bob Gilbert

The conditions waned somewhat after that, but kept teasing the sailors back on the water with each gust that passed through. A very determined effort from Peter John secured 3rd place with 33.05 knots. Jacque was struggling with his biggest sail, a 5.8 which clearly was far too small for the conditions. Very gamely he gave it a try and appeared to find a few puffs and some good speed. We thought he had a 32 knot run, but he left before the end of the meeting and timekeeper Tom Hammerton was missing in action and did not record his speeds. Eventually we got hold of Jacques tracks, and after deleting the 47 knot runs he did in his truck he placed 4th with a 31.56 knot run.

Kai Hopf decided late in the day that he might as well get wet and took to the water with a 122 litre board and a 9.0 freerace sail. We managed to stick a GPS on him just to see how fast he could get this monstrous gear moving. In the end he hit a peak speed of 29.01 knots. Not quite the 31.77 knots fellow North Sails rider Mark Nelson got out of his 7.0, but impressive nonetheless.

Thanks to Bob for coming down to shoot some pictures for us. Unfortunately we did not provide much action for him. Next time I promise!

Results Maui Vmax 2009 Speed Meeting 1, June 14th

Video from the Speed day.

Weather looks Good For Speed meeting 1!

2009-06-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

Today, Saturday the wind blew all day. If we have the same again tomorrow we should have a good competition.

This is the wind today courtesy of Iwindsurf.com (used with permission)

The tide should be perfect for the Speed meeting, although with no real swell it may have little effect on the chop.

This is the tide for tomorrow courtesy of Iwindsurf.com (used with permission)

Tradewinds forecasted for the weekend

2009-06-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday June 14th forecast

It finally looks like we we be back in a proper tradewind pattern. The forecast looks very promising for the first speed meeting of 2009.

See you at Sprecks!

Welcome to the Maui VMax blog!

2009-06-10T01:03:00.000-07:00

Aloha everyone and welcome to the blog. This is where we'll post news. results, pictures. stories, questions, and discussions related to the Maui VMax speed sailing competition and GPS speed sailing in general.

We welcome written and photo contributions from speed sailors around the world. If you've got something interesting, send it to speed@mauivmax.com and we'll post it and credit you.

Also check out www.mauivmax.com for contest rules, dates, and information. See you on the water!