Foiling Friday

Just came form the Club, nice 8-10knots South East, I went out first with the Exploder and a F20 was out, Mariano Heuser, Nacra dealer and one of our best F18 riders, caught me on the water and told me to test it again, as I mainly filmed and shoot the boat till now.  ( Sailed/foiled with Fer but with 5-6knots.)

Today we had perfect conditions, no waves or chop. The first thing that impressed me was how high the 20 foils, with the FP at Carnac crewing for Outteridge it felt high , but this was like being at the top of  Empire State building!
The second aspect was the power of the F20 we already reported, this time I sailed no spi,  I started crewing and the main sheet had little loads and the boat responded nicely to the trim.
Mariano was grabbing the traveler while helming, but it wasn´t necessary (although a good resource for the helm when your crew is a rookie for ie)

We were going +18knots and 2mts high!? It was like c’mon are you kidding me? The height of the ride was pretty amazing. Honestly it was a little scary! I do not remember being that that high on the FP.
Later Mariano raised the board and the foiling height was reduced, for me was more comfortable this way.

Afterwards I grabbed the helm and the boat foiled in no time, quite sensitive and responsive. The rides while helming were a blast too, and my F18/A hours payed a lot as you can feel the boat and handle the tiller while at the trap and the bar while seated with precision and easy refined movements, although I maintain and confirm Nacra needs to take out the rubber connections for this kind of boat. Downwind while seated when you drop the tiller the whole system rebounds on the tiller weight/angle/height dragging behind.

Mariano also has long hours by now on the boat so it was a super stable ride, no pitching whatsoever, all good as seen in videos I published last week, solid stable.
But the ride felt more lively & powerful than the FP, in the sense that I remember well and reported how the French boat at Carnac has a full auto mode that lets you almost do nothing in 8-10knots of wind like today.

The 20 goes perfect too, not much work either, but you need a somehow more accurate handle.
In the end, Really nice feeling on the Nacra F20 with more wind than sailed with Ferdindand, a real beast and super powerful boat.

One of my best rides on a cat ever without a doubt.

The tests against the FP next week are going to be some of the biggest events ever.
After the F20 ride I went back to the Exploder, we switched boats again on the water, wind came up a little and I started foiling the A too, now the flight height of the A seemed a kids game, so I pushed the boat harder putting the foils on its tips many times.

What a great day of sailing, no pics, as I was on the boats sailing today, but I wanted to share these rides. Stay tuned for more FP / Nacra F20 & A-Cat footage coming days.