Maui Vmax Speed Meeting July 27th

By Tom

Sunday's Maui Vmax Speed Meeting was finally blessed with decent winds. The wind was moderate reaching 25mph with gusts to 28mph, and slightly onshore out of the north-east.

Although the field of competitors was small the competition was fierce and there was tight racing all day. In the end Peter John edged Alex Augera into second place with a better average speed of 35.9 knots over Alex's 35.7. Alex held onto the best speed of the day with a 36.5 knot run. Matt Daniels sailed consistently edging past me into 3rd place with 3 solid 34 knot runs.

I was struggling to find speed and tested 3 different fins eventually going back to the first fin which definately proved faster. I had one 35 knot run in the bag, but I only had 33's backing it up. When I discovered Matt was ahead in a last ditch effort I rigged a 6.6 with 15 minutes left to go in the competition. I was convinced I could find the 0.4 knots needed to pass Matt. I improved my average slightly posting a 33.9 knot run, but it was not enough and I had to settle for fourth.

Chris Adamson posted a nice 34.3 knot run on the way to fith and also claimed top Austrailian bragging rights passing Chris Lockwood on the Speed Ladder for the 7th place ranking. Two ladies joined the fray for the first time this year. Nice to see them out there giving it a go. Well done Kristen and Erin, we hope to see you at the next meeting August 30th.

Bemused by my lack of speed I could not understand why I had not gone faster. I was expecting to post 35s (as I had been the previous week) and maybe a 36, but I had struggled in the 33s. The answer came when I de-rigged and discovered I had my extension set on the wrong hole and I had been sailing all day with 25mm too little downhaul! DOH!!!!! That was pretty dumb - I usually trim my downhaul within +-3mm as I have a very specific trim I like. It is amazing to me the sail even worked with the downhaul that far off. No wonder I was having board trim trouble.


Peter John (foreground) and Alex Augera rig for a day of speed sailing.

Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Meeting July 27th
Sailor Info
Name Class Best Speed Average Points
1 Peter John Open 36.2 35.9 35.5 35.9 15
2 Alex Augera Open 36.5 35.3 35.3 35.7 11
3 Matt Daniels Open 34.8 34.6 34.3 34.6 9
4 Tom Hammerton Open 35.3 33.9 33.7 34.3 7
5 Chris Adamson Open 34.3 33.4 33.1 33.6 6
6 Craig Mann Open 30.9 27.9 27.9 28.9 5
1 Erin Iberg Women 20.6 20.2 19.7 20.2 15
2 Kristen Women 16.8 16.3 15.1 16.1 11


Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Meeting Series Points
Name Class Meeting 1 Points Meeting 2 Points Meeting 3 Points Meeting 4 Points Meeting 5 Points Meeting 6 Points Overall Points
1 Peter John Open 11 15 11 37
2 Alex Augera Open 15 11 0 26
4 Tom Hammerton Open 9 7 5 21
3 Chris Lockwood Open 0 0 15 15
9 Chris Adamson Open 0 6 4 10
5 John Smalley Open 0 0 9 9
6 Matt Daniels Open 0 9 0 9
7 Mark Nelson Open 7 0 0 7
8 Jacques Pauvert Open 0 0 7 7
9 Erik Beale Open 0 0 6 6
10 Craig Mann Open 5 5
1 Carl Grundy Wave 11 0 11 22
2 Chris McNeil Wave 15 0 0 15
3 Erik Lawrence Wave 0 0 15 15
4 Tom James Wave 9 0 0 9
1 Erin Iberg Women 0 15 0 15
2 Kristen Women 0 11 0 11


Maui Vmax 2008 Speed Ladder

Name Class Best Speed
1 Tom Hammerton Open 38.8
2 Alex Augera Open 36.8
3 Peter John Open 36.2
4 Eric Beale Open 35.8
5 Ted Hunter Open 35.1
6 Matt Daniels Open 34.8
7 Chris Adamson Open 34.3
8 Chris Lockwood Open 33.4
9 John Smalley Open 33.0
10 Jacques Pauvert Open 32.7
11 Mark Nelson Open 31.6
12 Craig Mann Open 30.9
1 Chris McNeil Wave 31.2
2 Carl Grundy Wave 30.4
3 Erik Lawrence Wave 26.7
4 Tom James Wave 25.9
1 Erin Iberg Women 20.6
2 Kristen Women 16.8