Accessories

If you think boards, mast bases, mast extensions, masts, booms, sails and fins are enough, your are sorrily mistaken :-( There are plenty of other things that can make your windsurf life MUCH easier or more pleasant.

Because windsurf equipment - especially boards are NOT small, there needs to be storage and transportation considerations... If you live in an area where things get "colder", you can extend your season with what I call "rubber suits". There are also all kinds of little gadgets, which are handy to carry in a kit or bag.

Storage and Transportation: If you windsurf at a lake and have a chalet, the basement is usually a good option. Personally do NOT recommend leaving equipment outside. A tree lost a branch causing a repair on my old F2 Comet 330. This was considered lucky since my much softer shortboard was less than ten (10) feet away. In the garage people use racks, hooks, etc. In apartments, I imagine you need an extra corner or racks, hooks, etc. For transportation a vehicle is useful, as are racks, quiver bags, etc. Personally have a van with roof racks and a sail / mast quiver bag for the roof to move all the stuff with family about. I have seen forum discussions about people like Robby Naish using a hearse to transport his stuff, etc. Naturally there are always the crazies with Smart cars, carts with bicycles, etc... Just make sure nothing blows off the top of your vehicle nor punches a hole in your back window !!! Use the good straps and not the cheap ones !! Mine came from a kayak shop and I see windsurf shops in the area are now starting to carry them as well...The following is NOT my van, but shows what lengths people go to ...

and here are some garage storage ideas: {once again - NOT mine in the image}
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Board-Gear-racks-for-the-garage/

Special clothing: Naturally people go to all kinds of extremes here, and there are always the minimalists. Please do NOT go windsurfing naked. You are bound to upset someone and may get a ticket. Booties at the very least can help your feet when on rough or yucky terrain. Bathing suits tend to keep the curious and nibbling fish away as well. T-shirts and sunscreen help the ever more powerful sun rays. Some like the sunglasses as well - strongly suggest some kind of attachment. Personally have an old pair of prescription glasses that I wear sailboarding. As it starts to get cooler, people like to wear shorties. When it gets cold, the "rubber suits" come out. There are wetsuits and drysuits and some seem more suited to windsurfing than others. Personally find wetsuits of a 4/3 thickness are more than enough for my local conditions. Get information from others in the area and from shops, forums, etc as well. Gloves and hoods are recommended as well when required. BTW/by the way, if you have never put on a "rubber suit", be forewarned, they are NOT easy to put on AND need to be peeled off inside out !! Since I have started reaching faster speeds and hit my head a few times, I am now a true follower of the helmet religion. In light winds, I may not use it, but mid winds with 7.0 and down I strongly recommend a helmet...Here is an image of a special pair of gloves that make a lot of sense. If you have ever used gloves windsurfing, you will know what I mean... (image disappeared - i need to download images and then upload from PC rather than using links %^&*()_)

gloves with nothing on palms or 

                a system whereby you blow warm air on your hands seem BEST!!!

Did I forget to mention "life jacket" or PDF/personal floating device? Personally, hate em! Apparently there may even be a law - enforced? It does help when learning water starting AND when you are panicking while stuck in the harness lines under your sail :-) Don't panic - wear a life jacket.

Harness: Personally do not consider this a piece of clothing, but a necessary piece of the planing setup. There are seat and waist harnesses with different types of hooks. They used to say seat harnesses were for racing and waist for all the "cool windsurfing" like wave, free-style, bump n jump, etc. Those ideas do not hold water any more and people use whatever they are comfortable with or have always used. One cannot stress enough that the harness MUST be comfortable for YOU... The same goes for harness lines. People can suggest putting them back 1/3 on the boom and close together. You need to put them where you feel comfortable and then gradually move them about... Seats like the following are almost a mix of the seat and waist harness in the sense there are fewer seat harnesses with the uncomfortable straps...

Tool kit or bag: In a Windsurf Magazine article they showed all the goodies inside Bruce Peterson of Sailwork's toolkit. Many items were to ensure he could get back on the water no matter what - like Ding Stik for board repair. Others were to help setup for the day - like a marine lubricant called Sailkote. See  Bruce's Tool Box Gear Guide In my tool bag I have screwdrivers for fins et al., Sailkote, one handed down-haul tool, measuring tape (metric and imperial), sharp blade, lighter for nylon ropes, hex keys for battens, markers to mark regularly used lengths,electrical tape, triple pulley with hook for older sails, bungee cords, light gloves and some spares discussed in next section. In the van I keep the keys to the chalet and my windsurf prescription glasses. Other suggestions are peroxide and band-aids. Some people just have a first aid kit in the car. I have a list of things to bring when I go windsurfing that are NOT in the bag, like money, cell-phone, and my favourite suggestion: sunbath. You fill it with water and leave it in the sun. When you have finished sailing, you take a nice warm shower - very useful on cooler or colder days/daze !!! A really handy thing is to have a list in the tool bag of what you need to bring to the water. I break it down by light, mid and heavy wind as I do not have enough space for everything at once. {when it is time to go, I am usually so excited that I would forget a critical piece without my list(s) !!!} My wife says i love windsurfing more than her. Just do not understand why she gets so upset when I don't argue the point :-(   :-) One thing I always forget to put in the bag AND forget to put on is sunblock. Have had to stop windsurfing becuz I was too burnt :-(
Also use a waterproof bag called drypak:

Spares: Cannot stress enough NOT to lose the nut from the mast-base OR make sure you have spare %^&*( Nothing worse than missing a session because you lost it !! If the harness lines are getting old, put a new pair in the toolkit. I carry a spare mast-base as well. If the tendon on one breaks, I am back on the water in no time at all... I also keep a six (6) foot length of down-haul rope in the kit. Also have a really old up-haul cord - JUST IN CASE.. Other suggestions include the screw that goes in the fin. Personally have never had an issue with this {did i just jinx myself %^&*(}

Repairs: I have used Chinook ReDek , SolarEZ and MarineTek for board repairs. On sails I used to use duct tape, but that is NOT a good solution. You can buy monofilm rolls and they are not expensive. My fins are repaired in the off-season and as such I do not carry files, sandpaper, etc.

Others: Some things not mentioned and which I do not have include: mast base pad, mast base tendons and/or universal joint , washers and/or O-rings, water starter pad, easy-uphaul for the back and perhaps even spare footstraps. A fun thing to have (for some essential) is a wind meter. There are hand held digital versions and i used to use a ping pong ball on a compass where degrees determined wind speed. There is an app on the ipod that seems to have gained popularity as well.

If you have too much money and jump too high, perhaps you need a shadowbox ?

You think you are too fast? Get yourself a waterproof GPS - people log their speeds all over the world.

In 2019 I lost my windsurf van - it died. All I had after was a Prius C and they don't make REAL roof racks for this car $%^&* It purchase time - this was not even a consideration ... Now I am wondering... how many people have tried this ?? will ask on iwindsurf ...

Jim Drake's Windsurf Physics

By chance I came upon this and felt it would be better presented if the figures were in the document. Jim Drake is synonymous with windsurfing and now works or consults Starboard. The original link was drake_chronicles.

Although this discussion is toned down for the masses, it still makes me smile cuz for me it's simple - water, wind and I :-)

================================================================

An Introduction to the Physics of Windsurfing
Jim Drake – 2005 

All sailboats including windsurfers use the wind for propulsion. Windsurfers differ greatly from all other sailboats, however, in three respects. First, the forces that are captured by the sail and that drive the board forward all go through the sailor -- literally. Second, the weight of the hull, the sail, the mast and everything else is far less than the weight of the sailor who controls it. And finally, even in zero wind the sailor can make substantial headway by “pumping” the sail from side to side, using it as an “air oar” or, more accurately, like a bird’s wing. The first two features are explained in this paper. The last, “pumping”, will not be further be treated except to note that current Olympic competitors use this technique extensively in the often light wind conditions that seem to plague the Games.

In Figure 1 Kevin Pritchard, the 2004 World Champion, demonstrates the first of the features described above. He literally holds the wind in his hands and directs the sail’s power to the board through his arms and legs. He controls the force and direction -- throttle and steering wheel -- with his grip on the boom. In this way he is both motor and pilot. This paper will discuss the physics of windsurfing in two parts. Part I summarizes the forces and moments that act on the board and rig as a whole. This section is intended for a general audience and is not as complete or as careful as some might wish. It trades precision for what I hope is improved clarity. Part II translates the forces described in Part I into velocity vectors. This necessarily requires additional background for its understanding in the field of fluid dynamics. Thus it’s not for everyone though the figures in this section can give a degree of insight even if the theory behind them is likely to be opaque to the general reader.

Part I – Forces and Moments
Kevin is back again on Figure 2. It shows the kinds of forces that nature confronts him with. His natural skills allow him to sense and react to these forces without really thinking about them. Most windsurfers are the same way but some, like myself and those to whom this paper is aimed, find that an analytical understanding is fun in itself and often helpful on the water.

The main forces can be grouped roughly into five categories:

1. Hydrodynamic lift acting upward on the bottom of the board,
2. Gravitational weight acting downward through the center-of-gravity (c.g.) of the combined mass of the   board, rig and sailor,
3. Hydrodynamic side force acting sideways almost entirely on the fin (or fins in the case of a board with a centerboard) in reaction to sideways component of the
4. Aerodynamic wind force acting on the sail at its center-of-pressure (c.p.) and
5. Hydrodynamic drag on the board balancing the forward component of the wind on the sail.

The sideways component of the aerodynamic force on the sail is called heel; the forward component is referred to as drive. A useful method for the analysis of forces on a body (in this case the body is the combination of board, rig and sailor) is that if the forces and moments acting on that body in two orthogonal (perpendicular) planes sum to zero, the body is moving at constant velocity. This is called “steady state” and is by far the easiest case to analyze.

This method is applied to a vertical plane perpendicular to the direction of travel in Figure 3. This is also called the lateral plane. The forces pictured on figure 2 that Kevin has to cope with and which have a component in the lateral plane are those shown. Note that the sail’s heel force has a slight vertical component. The lever arm between the heel force and the force on the fin – 106 inches – can be measured directly from the equipment sitting on the beach. The c.p. of the sail is about 40% up the mast and about 35% of the distance from the mast to the trailing edge of the sail.

The lever arm between weight and lift varies, of course, with the strength of the wind, the size of the sail and other factors. However, it can be measured for a particular condition from a photograph taken from the rear such as Figure 4.

This isn’t Kevin but one of his colleagues and it gives a really dramatic view of how the sail and sailor combine to drive the board forward. Knowing the width of the board allows an estimate of the horizontal distance between the centerline of the board (i.e., the lateral center of lift on the bottom of the board) and the c.g. of the board-rig-sailor combination, namely 29 inches. {The locations of the each component’s c.g. can be estimated by eye with adequate accuracy and then combined by the well-known method of summing moments and dividing by the total weight.}

The next step in the analysis is to make an estimate of the total weight and the breakdown between major components. An example of this is Figure 5. This is helpful in estimating the c.g. position needed on Figure 4 but crucial, as we will see, on the figure to follow.

The weights of each component can vary depending on many factors but lie generally within the range given for each component. Data like this can be obtained from manufacturer’s specifications and brochures, easily found on the web.

Note the dramatic difference between the Formula windsurfer (the one pictured in Figures 1,2 and 4) and another very fast and exciting boat, the Hobie 14. The equipment – so called dead weight – of the Hobie 14 is seven times that for the Formula. (And that doesn’t even include the trailer for the Hobie 14.) The leverage this gives the sailor is the main reason why windsurfers have held and now again hold the world speed record under sail. 

The weight estimate from Figure 5 lets us complete the balance of forces and moments introduced on Figure 3. Figure 6 is the result. Knowing that the weight of everything is 233 lbs and equalizing the moments around the intersection of the lift force and the  lateral fin force unlocks the puzzle by yielding a heel force of 63.7 lbs when the sail is  angled from vertical to windward by 15°. The horizontal component of heel is 61.6 lbs and thus is the force on the fin. The vertical component relieves 16.5 lbs of weight and lowers the lift required from the board to 216.5 lbs. The purpose here is to illustrate the process. The numbers change, of course, with different circumstances.

Estimating the hydrodynamic forces – lift and drag -- of marine bodies is an art more than a science. This is because the boundary between air and water, where most watercraft operate, is complicated by waves, chop, spray induced by the body, etc. And the task is quite a bit more difficult for a sailboard hull. Its small size magnifies the effects of waves and chop and its trajectory is in no sense “steady state.”

None-the-less, there is a happy feature to the drag of a planing hull, indicated in theory and born out in tests as illustrated in Figure 7. It is that the ratio of drag to lift, once planing occurs, is pretty much constant over a fairly large range of speeds provided that the board’s angle of attack is trimmed to minimize drag for each speed. That’s the job of the sailor. This feature of a planing board happens because, as speed increases, the board rises out of the water, reducing the size of the patch of water it rides on. This reduction in size more than offsets the increase in friction drag per unit area of that patch caused by the increase in speed. Other effects, spray, waves, etc., increase with speed, however. The net effect is that a well trimmed sailboard’s drag/lift ratio is around 0.15 for speeds from about 6 knots to well over 20 knots. Of course, different designs and different conditions can change this by a lot, perhaps ±0.05, but the phenomena of relatively constant drag with speeds above planing is a reasonable assumption. 

Figure 7 also shows the drag/lift ratio for the Hobie Cat mentioned above. At low speeds
-- below the windsurfer’s planing speed of about 6 knots -- the Hobie has the advantage. Its long slender hulls part the water gently and leave very little wake. This reduces energy dissipated in the wake, minimizing what is known as “wave making drag”. However, its hulls are not designed to plane and thus, as speed increases, “wetted area” stays the same and friction drag increases dramatically.

This flat drag/lift feature of planing hulls eases the next step in the analysis shown on Figure 8. This is another vertical plane but now parallel to the direction of travel,  referred to as the longitudinal plane. The weight and lift forces and the vertical component of heel are taken from Figure 6. Knowing that drag/lift is 0.15 over a wide speed range tells us that Drag is about 32.5 lbs. And the figure also shows that Drive is 32.5 lbs and that by equalizing moments around the sail’s c.p. the center of lift applied to the bottom of the board is 13 inches forward of the c.g.
 

To repeat the cautionary remarks from above, these estimates are only illustrative and can change with circumstances. Perhaps the most important of these is the sailor’s trimming of the board’s angle of attack relative to the water’s surface to minimize drag. The sailor does this by adjusting the longitudinal position of 1) his c.g. and 2) the sail’s c.p. while keeping all the forces illustrated in Figures 6 and 8 in balance. No small trick, as any beginner will tell you.

Figure 9 completes the three dimensional description of the steady state forces by viewing them on the horizontal plane of the combined board-rig-sailor body (omitting the sailor and rig for clarity). The interesting feature of this perspective is that all the horizontal forces interact at or behind the tail of the board. This feature is also unique to windsurfers as compared to all other sailing craft.

Part II – Velocity Vectors

Until this point there has been no need to specify the strength or the direction of the wind relative to the board or the speed of the board itself or the size of the sail. It’s been possible to ignore them in estimating heel and drive forces -- 63.7 lbs and 32.5 lbs, respectively -- because 1) heel forces are a reaction to the leverage produced by the sailor, whose weight and lever arm are known and 2) drive forces are equal and opposite to drag forces which, in turn, are assumed constant over the speed range of interest.

These forces are generated by what physicists call momentum transfer, that is, energy transfer between the air and the water. The agent of this transfer is the board, rig and sailor combination acting as a whole. A less precise but more understandable way of saying this, however, is that the sail and sailor “lean” against the approaching wind as the board and fin “lean” against the oncoming water. This process slows the wind and  accelerates the water.

There are three speeds of interest in the analysis to follow:

1) the true wind speed as felt by someone just floating in the water

2) the board speed as felt by the wet parts of the board and the fin and

3) the apparent wind speed as felt by the sail and the sailor.

These three form a triangle or a “closed” vector system. If two are known, the third is

also. {More correctly: a triangle has six properties, three sides and three angles between them. If
any three of the properties are known, the other three are determined, though some cases are ambiguous and others are impossible.}

Taking up the apparent wind first, Figure 10 combines the heel and drive forces in their common plane, which, recalling Figures 6 and 8, is canted at 15° to the horizontal. The result is an aerodynamic force vector of 71.5 lbs at an angle of 64.7° to the direction of progress. {The magnitude and direction of this combined force is, in the real world, under the control of the sailor up to a limit placed by the strength of the wind. Before going out he will choose the size of sail on the basis of the wind’s strength and the contents of his sail quiver. On the water he controls the sail’s force through the trim (rotation) of the sail with his hands and harness lines, adjusting it to balance against his degree of windward hike and gain what he perceives is the maximum drive he can in the direction he has chosen}

This force is the net of all aerodynamic forces on the sail, the board and -- importantly -- the sailor. The combined force can also be estimated in another way using established aerodynamic formulae. This can be used as a check on the “Force and Moments” method of Part I and as a guide in equipment selection and/or sailing technique. And I think it’s interesting in its own right. It needs information on wind strength and direction, sail size and trim angle, namely, the same factors the sailor deals with. These aerodynamic formulae can also be used to calculate, say, the sail and board trim parameters needed to generate the combined force estimated by the “Force and Moments” method as a function of true wind direction, and along the way calculate the three speeds defined above. The next steps use this approach.

It is the convention in aerodynamics to divide forces into 1) forces perpendicular to the apparent or “local” wind but perpendicular also to the plane of the sail and 2) forces parallel to the direction of the apparent wind. The first is called the normal force because it is normal to the airflow, (normal being another word for perpendicular in fluid  dynamics.) It is analogous to the lift force on an airplane’s wing. The second is called the drag force. These two force vectors form a right triangle and add together with the familiar square root of the sum of the squares.

To illustrate, take a case where the true wind speed is 15 knots and where the sailor (a better than intermediate one) selects a sail size of 8 sq. meters to suit. Out on the water

Figure 11 shows the resulting relations between heel, drive, aero drag and aero lift.

The aerodynamic drag force is seen to be 10.7 lbs and normal force is 70.7 lbs. These vectors combine to provide the 71.5 lbs that the above Force and Moments analysis say is required to generate the required heel and drive. 

The aerodynamic drag in this example consists of about 4.5 lbs of drag on the sailor with the remaining 6.2 lbs divided between what is known to aerodynamicists as “induced” and “profile” drag. This is illustrated in an expanded scale in the lower left. Note that the sailor is, so to speak, a real drag on the system. Note also that the direction of the apparent wind is now known since, by definition, it is perpendicular to the normal force – aero lift -- and parallel to drag, namely 36.1° from the direction of travel.

The relation between aero drag and aero lift is considerably more complex than shown but the general relevance of the estimates pictured here is aided by the fact that the ratio of the aero drag to aero lift is always small for most points of sail and in any event doesn’t vary very much. Thus the estimate of angle between the apparent wind and the direction of travel doesn’t change much either.

Figure 12 completes a typical velocity vector diagram for the case of the board on a beam reach, namely with the true wind of 15 knots at 90° to the direction of travel. Solving the vector triangle results in a board speed of 20.3 knots. This board speed is well within the range where the assumption of constant drag/lift ratio applies. Also, the apparent wind is increased from the true wind speed to 25.2 knots by the board’s forward motion.

This is where Jim starts takin’ us for a ride :-)

------------------------------------------------------------------

The equations shown on Figure 12 are simplified versions of more complex relations used in fluid dynamics. The first says that the normal force on the sail (Lsail) is the product of a lift coefficient (CL – a function of sail trim and shape) , sail area (S) and a group of terms that represents the “dynamic pressure” of the air , i.e., air density (ρa), over twice the gravitational constant (2g) times the speed of the apparent wind squared (Va ²).

NOTES:

• The optimum lift coefficient, (CL)opt , is that associated with a well designed (and rigged) sail that is trimmed properly for the direction of sail and strength of the wind. It can vary up to over 1.0 for downwind sailing. It is proportional to the angle of trim -- β -- in this case 6.8°
• Dynamic pressure is the kind of pressure you feel on your hand when you stick it out a car window when traveling at high speed. The pressure increases as speed increases by the square of speed.

The second equation says that the lift force on the bottom of the board is the  product of another lift coefficient (CLb) , the square of the board’s width (b2) and the dynamic pressure of the water flowing past the board, i.e., water density (ρw), over twice the gravitational constant (2g) times the square of board speed (Vw²). {Vw squared - is that a lotta Volhswagons ? :-) sorry, I cannot resist}

NOTE: This lift coefficient contains terms for static lift and dynamic lift and is a function of the angle of attack (trim angle), the width of the board, the length of the patch of water the board planes on and board speed. It can vary from around 0.01 for a short wide board at high speed to 0.6 for a long narrow board at low speed.

But, of course, the wind isn’t always perpendicular to the course. Another important case is when the desired course is upwind. That case is shown on Figure 13 where the course is 60° off the wind. This reduces the apparent wind slightly to 22 knots but reduces board speed by about half to 10.3 knots, still enough to plane, however. Also speed-made-good-to- windward reduces that by half again to 5.15 knots, still a great deal better than almost any other sailboat in a 15-knot wind. The sailor in this case has to sheet in another 2.1° from a beam reach to maintain the 71.5 lbs required force in the slightly less apparent wind.

The last case, sailing well off the wind while still maintaining efficient airflow on the low-pressure side of the sail, is illustrated on Figure 14. By this estimate, board speed increases to 24.2 knots even though the apparent wind reduces to 15 knots but still at 36.1° from the direction of travel. This reduction requires the sailor to sheet in 12.4°from that required on a beam reach. The resulting lift coefficient (CL) of 1.1 is close to the maximum a sail can generate without stalling and causing a large increase in aero drag.

The case illustrated on Figure 14 is probably optimistic in the levels assumed for both board drag and aero drag but not by much. It is a good illustration, however, of the changes that occur as the board heads well off the wind. The most interesting observation in this case is that the board travels down wind faster than the wind itself. That is, the speed-made-gooddownwind is 16.2 knots compared to the true wind speed of 15 knots. Tacking downwind has been the preferred tactic for many high performance sailboat designs but the above property of a windsurfer is rare among sailing machines except those that sail on solid water, i.e., iceboats. {Now Jim has me excited - what happens on ice ??}

                                  ---------------------------------

It’s clear that the Physics of Windsurfing is a three-dimensional puzzle a lot like Rubik’s Cube. The difference is the scale is larger, the moves are more complicated and it’s better exercise – physically and mentally.

References for Jim Drake

For those readers interested in a more professional (and lengthy) explanation of the fluid dynamics involved, I would suggest two highly regarded sources: Fluid-Dynamic Drag by Sighard F. Hoerner, Library of Congress Catalog Card  Number 64-19666 and Fluid-Dynamic Lift, by Sighard F. Hoerner and Henry V. Borst, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-17441.

The fundamentals of forces and moments on the movement of bodies and the manipulation of vectors are well explained in any elementary level physics text. A request by email to the author, olliedrake@aol.com, for a suggestion will be promptly honored.

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I never wouda thunk the physics of windsurfing could appear so complex. It is after all, NOT as bad as it seems. When I sail boards or boats there are plenty of factors not discussed like tides, currents and generally watching out for all kinds of obstacles. For a race one wants to put everything on your side, butt in everyday sailing, I wonder how many people actually analyze angles to the wind ? Many entries on forums where people speak of speed and sail performance, I have seen such discussion. Perhaps I will try and pay more attention to that myself :-) Do NOT worry, there will be NO impact on my fun factor :-)

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ANOTHER good article on this is - The Science of Speed:

http://boards.co.uk/how-to/how-fast-can-we-go-the-science-of-speed.html#6li5y5WChVpfkGuS.97

and still ANOTHER !! speed windsurfing, modeling and numerics

http://www.math.ualberta.ca/ijnam/Volume-4-2007/No-3-07/2007-03-14.pdf

and how about ONE MORE:

http://cmst.curtin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/05/gourlay_2011_02_aero_hydrodynamics_of_an_RSX_Olympic_racing_sailboard.pdf

 

... and in FEB 2024 ... I found these videos:

 

Blogging

BACK UP , BACK UP and BACK UP - i should already know that $%^&*(

This is my first experience with blogging and it seems to be okay so far. My issues are that I have spent too much time on something that was supposed to be for windsurf journalism and it is not flexible enuff. In other words I do NOT want to lose it. Yet the export blog feature only seems to export the posts and not pages. Will try one more time, butt if that does not work, I will revamp this blog #$%^&*( Also, pages do not seem to show up in search gadgets nor do they allow labels. As one article says, static pages are more trouble than they are worth - so, I will revamp this blog and try to make it more like a webpage - with a main page and then links - one for sailboards, one for journal entries, etc ... Hope it all works out :-)

First I will try to make this the first post no matter what and put links to all the other posts and pages. The pages will becomes posts after. That seems to be working .. Just for prosperity - what i did was in the post options - post date and time with option automatic - AND edit this post last ie after EVERY new post - not too bad of a PITA


Now I will try to move a page to a post and put some labels ...
I copied the html and it seems to be working...
Now I will delete a "static page" - better work &*()

The menu will look like the following...
Journals: journals.html
How I started Winter Sailboarding: how-i-started-winter-windsurfing.html

enjoy having a menu on the first page - however, had to compact it to fit on portable screens - not as pretty
changed layout a bit and looks MUCH better

now if only i could put some heavy musak on the webpages @#$%^&*

what's bugging me now is the margins and padding - hard to set up like next line indents %^&*()_ trying with tables here

• Player Name
• Sachin
• Gilchrist
• Dhoni
• Ponting

• Country
• India
• Australia
• India
• Australia

• Ranking
• 1
• 2
• 6
• 10

okay - the table seems to work in the history of windsurfing

now - how about excel and iframes ??




iframes give too much and have issues cus it's java - why not just cut n paste into paint and import pic ?

did some mods in html and lost my ggogle translator %^&*(
will put a copy here in case i do that agin

also try to put original log here:


I do not like the speed of the blog loading - found this link:
http://wpgarage.com/tips/38-ways-to-optimize-and-speed-up-your-wordpress-blog/

one day blogger was down
so, i did some tests

registered myself on the wordpress.com http://joewindsurfer.wordpress.com and discovered that there were labels, but no tags - i thought the labels were tags $%^&*() to be investigated

-----------------------

new issue --> putting pics on the blog %^&*(OP
if linked to outside - if original moves - link dies
put stuff from blog on iwindsurf - too high a resolution
try to take stuff from hotmail - keeps doing OPEN WITH ^&*(
PITA $%^&*()
how about this one then ??
#######<iframe title ="Preview" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" frameborder="0" ###style="width:320px;height:214px;padding:0;background-color:#fcfcfc;" #####src="https://skydrive.live.com/embedphoto.aspx/xxx/DSC^_9202%20copy.JPG?###cid=c6db8ade6b0c768c&sc=photos"></iframe>
###

so now - i put stuff in adobe PS 4.0 {OLD i know} adjust size and quality and put here $%^&*()

embed sail calculator

###

embed 2011 winds by date

How to make all links open in new windows

This request to make all hyperlinks pops up every now and then so might as well make a post for it. To make all links open in new window is amazingly simple. Just sign into
DASHBOARD > DESIGN > EDIT HTML
to open template editor

Use keyboard shortcut ctrl+F to find <head> and immediately after that, add a single line <base target='_blank' /> so that it become

<head>
<base target='_blank' />

notes to self ---

board quivers - one board vs two board vs 3 boards - and will stop there

ahd vs bic vs exocet vs jp vs SB vs fanatic vs rrd vs goya vs naish vs tabou vs angulo

ahd - stagnant and quality
bic - cheapest in $$ and quality/stiffness
goya and naish - hard to get in mtl
SB - $$$ and quality issues as per forum
jp - $$$
leaves fanatic vs exocet vs tabou vs rrd vs angulo

boards will be in 125 to 135 range - based on board quiver analysis
1) angulo - Magnum 132 is too wide - Kihei 125 ?
2) exocet - Nano 125 or 135 vs Scross 126
3) fanatic - hawk vs shark
4) rrd - Fireride 125 or 135
5) tabou - rocket
would like to narrow it down to three and go from there in detail
example the RRD is less known here and still $1600 - so, JP is how much again ?
about the same thing
know less about new angulo boards and small distribution here
ideally would like to compare JP vs Fanatic vs Tabou
X-Cite vs Shark/Hawk vs Rocket
between Shark and Hawk - Shark is easier/smoother
thus Rocket vs Shark vs X-Cite

John Ingerbritsen from Florida suggest strongly against Tabou
Yvan from auventfou suggests strongly against JP
Exocet vs Fanatic ??
Yvan still speaks strongly about AHD
would I buy another AHD???
have seen Fanatic - butt NOT Exocet
however, i do respect John greatly !!!
so, Exocet vs Fanatic ??
Exocet is sold by wind-spirit locally and Fanatic by Bruno of 2-rad
starting to sound like Shark vs Hawk !!!

currently in 2012 from late 2011---
puffy winds -- CAT with 10-oh in 20 kph winds
                          CAT with 8-oh in 20+ kph winds - would like to try 10-oh here too

lite winds -- CAT with 8-oh in 20-40 kph winds (210 liters)
                    AHD with 8-oh in 20-40 kph winds (160 liters/79 cm)
                try BEE with 8-oh in these winds          (124 liters/63 cm)

mid winds -- AHD with 7-oh in 30-50 kph winds
                      BEE with 7-oh in 30-50 kph winds
Q) is the Gaastra Flow 3X 7-oh okay ?? looking to replace 4 summer.

hi winds -- BEE with 6-oh in 40-60 kph winds - rare
Q) is the Simmer WCR 6.0 okay ?? will be replaced with a Switch eventually

note: Bruce Peterson says SW Retro 7-oh WILL work on an MS490/75 !!!!
MUST try this !!! New these sails are over $700
Blaze + Mast NEW cost a little more, but would have 460 mast + proper sail combo

------------------------------------

MAR 2012 - what's with the EDIT mode ?? %^&*()
cannot edit inside blog anymore - need to go to POSTs in DESIGN !!!

foto

now i see what's wrong with pages $%^&
example could not find inseam
it is in my new journal entries
and in original journal entrees i wrote
nelson says inseam divided by 2 and add 1

photo of hood to send out :

This video does NOT want to embed %^&*()_

Duel planche-kite surf à Leucate

http://www.wat.tv/embedframe/161299chuPP3r8371915

http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-20h/duel-planche-kite-surf-a-leucate-7120659.html

my son has suggested i track the mastheads that i put on the front page
thanx jerry - not a bad idea
could not remember them all - so, started recovering blog into a backup blog
looks like posts and pages were recovered, but not masthead !!!

JOE_0320
turned for some reason %^&*(

JOE_1728adjusted

DSC_0523ROT

JOE_1972

JOE_1996

JOE_2006

JOE_2023

JOE_2046

JOE_2119

JOE_2157

JOE_2299

JOE_2308cut

JOE_2375

Toby the consultant's son-in-law in Cuba

CAT on Milles Isles from GoPro

Milles Isles Rosemere from GoPro

OKA with AHD n TR6

Rosemere side GoPro under boom

Mast Mount First Test Jan 2014 - 845 x 417 pixels

vimeo no longer has embed function ??
will try older embed code with new video

What do you have to go through to post a video from a GoPro on YouTube from a Windows PC??

1) The sound quality is NOT good on the GoPro - especially when in water proof casing. The version 3 is supposed to be better, butt ... I have been using Audacity to increase the GAIN ie boost the signal without adding equalization ... This takes a WAV out of the MP4.

2) Had a problem and thus had to locate/download in preferences/librairies ffmpeg

3) Windows Media Maker /WMM needs WMV and NOT MP4 !!!

4) Downloaded FormatFactory to convert - is a memory hog on my OLD PC.

5) Enhance the gain in the Audacity WAV

6) Put the WMV into WMM

7) Put the enhanced WAV in WMM

8) Tracks overlap, but that is no problem as they are the same ...

9) Long to save and again a CPU hog on my OLD PC.

10) Save from WMM - Thought i already said that !!

After all that work eorges did NOT like my video content and i left it as PRIVATE $%^&*()

 On the local river in Spring 2014 - from GoPro - 830 x 417 pixels

I started playing with the layout of the blog
Labels were showing even though they were configured to NOT
search on the web suggested editing the template in html and inserting
<style>
  .post-labels{display:none;}
</style>
right before the /head
WORKED

as i was playing with the layout and template ...
i added google analytics id
labels came on as marked above
and i had to change size of the photo $%^&*(
now it is 890x417 pixels !!

another thing i was unsure about was whether it was counting my access as well

so, i tried the google analytics opt-out add-on for all browsers on this PC

i started all this cuz a local windsurf supplier approached me about adverts on my site

he wanted users and not post hits

so, this is just another fun exercise for me

originally i thought he was paying someone $250 a month and i got excited

yeah right - how about $250 per year

even if i was to receive that - it is not enough for me to have "nonsense" on my blog

advertising is BIG money and $200+ a year does NOT interest me !!!

also, that supplier has been having issues with their DNS

which would mean errors on my page - NO THANKS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

did a video where i forgot to change the UPd to UP ie filmed upside DOWN

VLC allows you to view the film upside right, but converts as you watch, staccato and NOT permanent. Tried MPEG Streamlined software that everyone raves about. Was getting these huge files until i tried to change the size of the image - which happens to be great on my square screen. 

however ...

That video is NOT HD and bad size. I will try the MPEG Streamclip again using the same quality as it was and only flip it --> 8.12 Mbps bit rate, Viedo 1280x720  30 fps / 8 Mbps - not required and audi at 48 kHz , 128 kps AND run this on a more modern computer - more juice , etc. 10% finished in about 2.5 minutes !!
MUCH butter !!

This foto at 890 by 417 looks elongated - will leave it :-0

had problems loading another video with music - here is what i had to do and the final result - this was in JULY 2014:

1) put video in youtube and found NIN Ghost tracks there :-)

2) added one, but took REALLY long to process in youtube #$%^&*(

3) checked to see if I could add the same track multiple times - seems NOT $%^&*(

4) what about Windows Movie Maker - NOT on my XP work PC

5)  to put the video in WMM - need to convert GoPRO MP4 to WMV - used Format Factory 2008-2009

6) ok - on my OLD portable - added the NIN Ghost track multiple times

7) when i saved, i was only getting resolution 720x480

8) worse than that - it kept stopping the video portion at ~ 2:22 - even on wife's PC with higher resolution output 1280 x 720

9) kept saying unable to save due to lack of space, cannot find originals or ....

10) web suggested another conversion tool called Freemake Video Converter

11) used the resulting WMV with 3 copies of NIN Ghost and was able to save the project using WMM

12) put on youtube successfully ...

13) this whole thing took MANY hours ...

put this one, butt did not like it

this one is a little better !!

This one was taken @ Pte-Claire at lunch time on 05DEC2014 using my SAMSUNG Core LTD phone. So much glare, I cannot really see what i am taking. It is now a digital world, so, just clique away. Something is bound to turn out and turn out it did !! In order to make it fit the header/masthead, i used snagit to capture it and paste into pbrush. Then skew until it fit perfectly. Only five(5) iterations required $%^&*

this is the original:

Clique to ENLARGE

MON 22 DEC 2014

Do NOT know what is going on, butt some videos are showing BLANK within the posts %^&*( And then , some italics are also showing blank !!!
Went through the posts marked in the index and corrected them
Will have to go through ALL posts and make sure OK
WTF happened $R%T^&*^&*(

BRIT FLOYD in APRIL 2015:

the above picture was far too large and NOT really appropriate and SO i left it BIG

however, for the more serious stuff, I had to re-size
so, this time i used MS Picture Manager
tried 1024x768 and was too large
tried a number from above - 890 x 417 , but was too narrow
tried a scaled version of 1024x768 --> 890x666 and was perfect

890x666 worked right away using Microsoft Office Picture Manager

how to make an image on the blog "clickable"
found the following here - http://amylynnandrews.com/html-clickable-image/
let's try it !!

<a href="http://LandingPageURL.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://FileURL" /></a>

could NOT put this on iwindsurf and so, put one here $%^&*

time to play with audio !!


Hallowe'en 2015 the BEE made this mask !!

Sometimes people mark their videos as private or not to be shared

This makes it difficult for bloggers like myself.

What is even WORSE, is people remove their videos

For pictures, I download them and post them - often giving the site credit

For videos i give them credit, but now I am frustrated with this disappearing material issue

What i discovered, is there is a way to bypass the display lock 

F12 in many browsers displays the DEV tools

you play the video a bit and check the network tab

in there is the original video - which is embedded in all the other crap

you play that in another tab and use a downloader extension

i post on youtube under my own user and post the video = voilà

my philosophy is - if it is on the internet , it is NOT private

even my material is not private and have seen copies elsewhere

this is the world of selfies, but be careful and forewarned - others are looking !!

made a chart of wind strength vs sail size vs board and fin:

Looks like i may have figured out how to analyze post hits via google analytic s:

clique it

890x666 using PAINT

Why do people always think shorts are so bad with a wetsuit ??

so close to footstraps

people do get stuck in straps

890 by whatever using paint and aspect ratio JAN 2016

practice indoors

resize pic

some strange helmets :-)

meq 2 gasket repair

DIV IIs on kijiji

Hatteras sails rigged

Sometimes I want to send someone a link to a post, but to a specific line.
There was NOT much on this on the web and some just did not work
On top of it all, I was putting the url incorrectly
http://joewindsurfer.blogspot.ca/p/2016-windsurf-journal.html/#here
rather than http://joewindsurfer.blogspot.ca/p/2016-windsurf-journal.html#here
this discussion was far too lengthy, but worth keeping the link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragment_identifier
obviously it needs to be done in html mode ... here is what i did for the #here
this worked and I am unsure whether the h2 is actually required - the id is the marker
<h2>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="here"></a>
and then to get there... use the link
http://joewindsurfer.blogspot.ca/p/2016-windsurf-journal.html#here

end of April 2016  George made a comment about the picture of Niko bungie jumping on the front page and so, I thought I would change it... So, what do I do , I delete the header of my blog . Thought closing the TAB would stop the change - non, it was done $%^& Went through the template and layout, but could not figure it out $%^&*( Searched the web and found a discussion about changing the following area in the html ...region-inner header-inner... went to my blog called joewindsurferbackup and copied that section from there to here ...
DESIGN => template => edit html => format template => search "region-inner ..." & copy that entire section from that blog to this one - about 70 lines to the next /div
and it worked !!

after that added a windsurf pic ...

Picture to put on Quebec Wind:

pic was resized 890 x whatever and put on masthead:

Well,on to the next PITA aka pain in the arse - that is NOT a swear word in my dicktionary!!
In 2016 I was warned about cookies and analytics. It seems there needs to be a disclaimer for certain portions of the world. So, I put that on the masthead - to be seen  on each and every page. Lo n behold. People were now also forcing https usage. Thought this would be NO big deal, but not quite so !! Seems to affect imbedded videos the most. After I correct them the posts often need to be re-published, Normally this is NOT an  issue. However, on the Tabou Rocket post, the permalink no longer worked. That is the post with the usage count and all and so, did want it back as it was. It was a three(3) step affair. First, put the post back in draft mode. Then change the date to be in the month of the permalink and set the automatic permalink. Publish it even if it is wrong permalink Go back in edit mode and permalink will be okay. UPDATE and all is good, An extra PITA #$%^&*(

Rami wants to sell his Shark 150 LTD: $1400

lost my camera 09OCT2016

always save in paint with pixels 890 x whatever !!

Vaudreuils 19DEC2016 - 890 x whatever/500

DEC 2016
Lately I have been getting VERY frustrated with websites like Starboard and Youtube %^&*(
Starboard updated their website and it has not worked for about a month $%^&*(
Youtube editor SUCKS and now people are disabling embedding and some material is NOT available in your country = WTF
even netflix is blocking things like DNS spoofs - like HOLA
so when i tried to embed a video that kept saying i could not, i found a site that says it will download low quality free - just add ss to the youtube.com address --> ssyoutube.com/videoxyz and it asks you wanna do HD with a paid version or free low quality
for me - you wanna blockme - i will post low quality version of your stuff !!
you don't wanna see it elsewhere, don't post it #$%^&*()-

yup, winter 2016 is here :-)

what happens when you upset seabreeze

again 890 x whatever - landscape perspective

Severne sail has bent battens ??

embedding videos and want to start at a particular time ? That's easy with youtube, but not so easy with vimeo... With youtube I take the embed code and add ?start=30s in order to start at the 30 second mark. This is supposed to work with vimeo as #30s, but what happens is the video autoplays when the page / post is called... just read about ?autoplay=1. Will try that now ...

kite surfing on a mirror !!!

Pte-Claire 11APR2017

as usual 890 by whatever

JP SLW nose repair - asking $600

Helmut is selling his Fantice FSW 106 !!

890 by whatever - had to change previous one ...

OCT 2017 - for some reason my windalert widgets were NOT working any more - or sometimes

find that frustrating as it makes the page look like shite

so, i removed ALL those widgets and tried playing with one to no avail $%^&*(

instead i searched and for now I put a bookednet widget on the page !! with Montreal, Quebec, Kingston and Toronto weather ...

perhaps I should put PLatzburg instead of |Toronto ??

<!-- weather widget start --><a target="_blank" href="http://www.booked.net/weather/montreal-30575,w587997,2538,30558"><img src="https://w.bookcdn.com/weather/picture/2_30575,w587997,2538,30558_1_1_009fde_250_ffffff_333333_08488D_1_ffffff_333333_0_6.png?scode=124&domid=w209&anc_id=90578"  alt="booked.net"/></a><!-- weather widget end -->

in 2017 i discovered that

1) flash videos NO longer supported by blogspot and

2) Adobe Flash is NO longer supported after 2020

F'N nice #$%^&*(

need to go through entire blog and check

same time i noticed video sizes were OFF #$%^&*()

let's re-embed this video and see if ok !!

890 x whatever

890 x whatever

end of May 2018 - Dave Cadoret dies :-(

HUGO BOSS sailboat in Montreal

chinese orange fruit/vegetable ??

hmm - seem to be mussing some pics that were on the front page
there was a DIV2 pic for some time - even after i lost it ...

this one is obviously the newly acquired AHD SL1 140 @ 890 pixels by whatever ...

890 x whatever - seems 500 is often the result - DEC 2018

and again 890 x 500 - FEB 2019

think it was 800 x500 and not 890 x ???