Wednesday 30 May 2012

Lithuania Baltic Cup, Kintai

Hi folks,
How're you?

Last weekend I had a nice competition in Kintai. It was one of three Baltic Cup events and it is world ranking event. It was even more fun to participate there as almost all of my windsurfing mates were there too.
Two days out of three we had perfect conditions for formula and we managed to complete 8 races in total. The wind in 7 races was about 6-8m/s and in one race we had lighter wind about 4-5m/s it was accompanied with small chop.

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Testing Gaastra Vapor 2011-2012 11.0m2 prototype

Ha hoy amigos!

Yesterday I was pleased to test my new Gaastra Vapor 2011 11.0! I had a chance to test it for a very short time and I couldn't be happier of the result I discovered.

It felt soo nice and light in hands and at the same time extremely stable and powerful that all I could do was enjoy the first-class ride! Anyway, I was sailing alone so there is nothing much to say how it looks and performs against other tough sailors..




This Gaastra Vapor is a prototype for the 2012 season. It is a previous sail of Arnon Dagan ISR 1 and for a very short time of Pawel's Hlavati POL 11. There are some signs of use and a little scratch near the lowest camber but it's fixable and shouldn't be a big problem.

So, in overall, I strongly believe that this new toy is a fully loaded and prepared gun for the upcoming season!
Now I will try to push this sail to the limits and do what is in my power to reach the best result I can for this season!

Thanks for reading,
See you soon fellows!

Arnas Busmanas.

Saturday 19 May 2012

Sylt Day 3

We had 4 races yeasterday. And this was anothr bad day for me.
I was using Severne Reflex II 11,0. Unfortunately I forgot how to rig it properly and for the first 2 races my board was sooo sticky. I was super slow.
During the break I rigged everything properly and when I was back on the water I was just flying. Unfortunately after I rounded the downwind mark my harness line broke - again. So I missed two more races.
Well I have to say that I am having a bad luck in this competition.

Day 4
We got to wake up at 6, because we had skippers meeting at 8. Still they didn't even send us out on the water.
No races today.
Just SUP racing and waving.

Friday 18 May 2012

Sylt - conditions and organization

Sylt is an island, but it is connected to the mainland with a damb. The best way to reach Sylt is to take "AutoZug" - automobiles train which is going over the damb. When in Sylt, the main spot is in Westerland, near Brandenburgplatz.
The event place is a promenade ear the beach.
On that promenade dozens of tents in which you can by food and clothing. Also you can take a look at VW Amarok, California and Multivan.
Unfortunately there is no tent for equipment and the only rigging area is sand. So you should bring some peace of material to protect your equipment from        the sand. But there is a competitors tent where you can sit, eat snacks and play tabble football. 
The showers are situated over the dunes in a sea container.
The other problem is that you are not allowed to sleep in the parking nearby, you are supposed to drive 2km to the other parking, where is no showers and electricity.






Sylt Day 2

The day started with wave elimination but soon the wind started dropping. Then the formula fleet was set on stand by. After a few postponements and a few tabble football games we were sent out on water.
At that moment the wind has dropped to around 15 knots and the wave was just 2 meters high.
On first race I tried to start on port, - the problem was that there was shorebrake at the pin end. I found a nice ramp and I couldn't resist to try a back loop, unfortunately it didn't went well as I landed in waterstarts position (no backloop) . When I got up everybody was far away. And there was that ***** big nasty chop and as I am not used to sailing in such conditions it was a disaster for me. As this was not enough my starboard tack harness line started breaking, thus I couldn't put my weight on it. At the second upwind mark it broke totally and I had to sail the rest of the course on my hands.
Then I went to the shore to change it, but as I didn't have any more power in my arms I got washed brutally. Succesfully nothing has been destroyed.
I missed the second race because I was still tired, and I came back for the third race. In the second upwind I finally got how to sail in such rough wave and overtook Paulo dos Reiss, even though he got me in the downwind I finished 25th. In overall I am 36th out of 56 sailors.
Unfortunately at the shorebreak after one way hit me and just touched the sail - it broke. One window toren and one crushed batten.
Gedas LTU 76 did much better than me. He hasn't broken his harness, he finished all races and finally after 3 heats he was 20th.

Day 3

The wind is off-shore and light. All racers are on stand-by.


Wednesday 16 May 2012

Euro FW championship in Sylt Day 1

Hello from freezing Sylt.
Me and Gedas arrived here yesterday. After a one hour of driving back and forth we finally found the event place. We passed the regstration and equipment inspection and started looking around.
The event area is fully packed with tents in which you can find everything: from pizza and "wurstchen" to HD cameras. Outside the tents you can hang your eyes on newest volkswagen cars.
Unfortunately there is no tent for equipment - you have to leave it on sand and rig it on sand as well.
The other problem is that if you live in the car you have to drive 2km to the sleeping point. And in that sleeping place there is no infrastructure: no electricity, no water, no shower.
We slept in our car, cooked on gas heater in our car because it is freezing cold outside ( 8 degrees, pouring rain and 30 knots wind at the moment). Anyway we slept pretty well in the car and after wonderful omlet cooked by Gedas we left to the event place.
Now we are sitting in the competitors club and looking at the wave sailors getting ready. Keep tunned.



Sunday 13 May 2012

Lietuvos taure / Lithuanian cup

This weekend we had a fantastic competion in the new spot in Kintai, at Curonian sea. One day of hardcore slalom and one day of normal FW.
Saturday started with houling 30-40 knots wind and up to 1 meter chop. Everybody was using the smallest equipment they had and still everybody was left overpowered. You have to remember that it was 10 degrees, that means - the wind has MUCH more power. A total of 7 heats were sailed, but I have participated in just 5 of them because I wanted to save my energy for upcoming FW races.
It is worth to mention that I wasn't using the back footstrap - instead I was stepping into the others side footstrap - I was loosing lots of speed, however I got so much more control.
Actually, only the first three racers (Mindaugas LTU 41, Audrius LTU 51, Arunas LTU 109) were sailing normaly and others were trying to survive. Thus I was always finishing 5-6th. And in overall I was left 5th as well.
Results:
1. Mindaugas LTU 41
2. Audrius LTU 51
3. Arunas LTU 109
4. Gediminas LTU no number - a great result for a wave sailor
5. Me - fift again
In the evening all racers sat together in the dining room. We were discussing about the races and remembering old stories.
Sunday started with moderate 10-16 knots. The wind was dropping and going up all day long, but average stayed the same.
There were 4 heats sailed in which everything got more or less clear. The man who stood out was Mantas LTU 13 - he collected 4 bullets, - all of them with amazing lead.
And there were another group of about 4 racers: me, Gedas LTU 76, Giedrius LTU 11 and a surprising comeback of this year Audrius LTU 51. With me and Gedas ussually in the front of the pack, Giedrius was figthing hard with Audrius.
In one of the heats at the leeward mark I had a small incident with Mindaugas LTU 646. We were both taking the mark just he was on the leeward side of me. I was supposed to let him go - but I didn't, so I had  to make a penalty turn.
Another incident happened at one of the starts. I was trying to jump in front of everyone, while sailing on port tack. Unfortunatelly Giedrius LTU 11 was closer than I thought, therefore he had to fall a litlle bit down in order to avoid crashing. Afterwards I made a penalty, but still I am very sorry for both incidents.
Results:
1. Mantas LTU 13
2. Me
3. Gedas LTU 76
4. Giedrius LTU 11
5. Audrius LTU 51
All in all I am very happy about this event. Finally I did pretty well in hardcore slalom and I scored a great second place in FW.


Saturday 12 May 2012

Lithuanian cup, Nida!

Aloha fellas!

Here we are again in Nida for the RS:X Lithuanian cup. I am proud to announce that this time we even had some wind what is unusual for this discipline!

So here is a quick review about my latest experiences straight from windy Kuršių marios.

Have a seat and enjoy!


Monday 7 May 2012

5 days in Nida!

Aloha everyone! Looks like we hadn't met for ages. Not until now!

Here is a quick review from a pure heaven which consists of 4 letters - Nida!




Sunday 6 May 2012

Antros varžybos/ Second competition

VG Spring Tour part II
As I get heavier (83kg)  the wind starts dumping me and gets lower. Today we managed to push just one FW heat in marginal conditions - 3-5m/s wind. I got my sail (10,7 Severne Reflex III) tuned better: I put the boom in the outer hole and I have tighten the battens, it was going a bit better in the light winds.
So during that heat I got a good port star and came third to the 1st mark. I was still third at the downwind mark. Then I climbed up to 2nd place on the upwind leg. I was going second until the finish line. But after the last gybe I couldn't start planning. Guys behind me got a new gust, which doesn't reached me because I was too much in front. 3 other guys have overtaken  me and I finished 5th. I was soooo madddd. I was standing and looking at them and I had no chances of planning out.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

First competition/Pirmos sezono varžybos

Lietuviškai skaitykit žemiau
This Tuesday we had a interesting competition in so called E-lake. The conditions were light, no chop and wind from 5 to 15 knots. Great conditions for lightweights - I was happy..for a while...then I remembered that I grew up 14 kg from the last season...:( Seems like another pumping day. Luckily with my new equipment and average physical condition I was able to start planning in Top 5.

The most interesting part was starts: I have made two falstarts: one  massive and one individual. I also thought I made another one, thus I came back to the starting boat, but it wasn't me. I started going again , but the leader was taking windwark mark at that time. 2 heats messed up out of 2.
During next two heats I took two second places. And in the last one the wind started dying and I caught a weed so I finished 6th. In the end I was 5th overall - not that good, but I've gained a lot of starting experience :).

Read more »