Bailer Bullets and Sailboats (unrelated)

2 thoughts of the night's paddle.

It was my first paddle after  gluing Stellar venturi bullets to my Swordfish S. I dont have scientific numbers but I bet the speed needed to pull air went from ~5.8mph down to like 4mph and I couldn't be happier. The bucket is 60% drier than it usually is on a casual paddle. My paddling power to achieve air sucking went from ~80% down to like 40-50%. Its much easier to pull air at medium power with the bullets. I highly recommend them! they are the best $20 you can spend on a ski. I should have done this sooner.

2nd, I looooove sailboats. I rode ~5 miles behind sail boats tonight. The wind was non existent and the ocean was flat so I was out boat hunting and the fast moving sailboats are the perfect lead boat. I rode a 32' and 48' both leaving the harbor at full diesel power. the 48 reported 8.5kts and I was barely paddling. I love displacement hulls. they throw the perfect wake to ride. They were my only entertainment with the flat water but gave the best ride I've had in months, sadly! (whats is  up with almost 6 months of flat water in Southern california! we need a good stormy winter!)

I also rode a 70ish foot fishing trawler out of the harbor. Their wake was too fast to get on but I rode the side wake line just perfect for a while. I was able to surf them at a 45* angle and catch the next wave putting down some power pretty consistently. I needed every bit of my 9" high chord DK rudder to hold the line. I have never regretted a huge rudder and think I'll order a slightly larger one next time.

Ending thought - put bullets on any fixed venturi ski. I am very happy with their performance

Ha, not enough big boats here to meaningfully wash ride, but the wind waves have been very nice. They're always small in the afternoon but combine with smallish swell and about half the time the result is quite blissful. Other times, it's a workout to get onto the swell 'cause the wind is just a tad too little... Thu ~10 days ago my friend, who only started surfskiing in March, had his best day: he was catching one wave after the other the whole 5 miles DW with a huge grin. I had great fun, it was one of those "Boyan days" when you almost don't paddle and just enjoy one wave picking you up after the other... Maybe you need to check out the forecast 45 mins north of you? (Today there was steady 10mph wind out of the west from 1pm to 6pm, I didn't go but I bet it was quite nice, see  mesowest.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman/meso_ba...aph=1&past=0&order=1 ).

That was a nice little bump you got! Seems like the wind is on the typical early-mid afternoon schedule which means Im working most days This weekend was just unlucky I'll say. This high pressure ridge can feel free to move along anytime now...

I forgot one last thought - I FINALLY got a dry ski after my 3rd leak check. I know (Pre-Fennix) Fenn's are known to leak and my SF-S does not disappoint. I had hairline cracks in both the venturi's where they go thru the hull and around the top of the rudder post. one venturi leak was easy to diagnose, but the other was hard because it required more than 1 breath of air blown into the boat to pressurize it enough for it to blow soap bubbles. I had to give it 2 full breaths before it would bubble, but sure enough there were 2 invisible cracks around the bailer hole.  I slathered slightly thickened epoxy around it and now, finally, I had no water to dump out after the last paddle! I gave it a triple wash last weekend so think I finally have a salt-free inner hull, for a while at least