Arje_Vandemeer

I was watching some Optimists and Lasers around the bouys in strong winds today...and for the first time I have seen kids standing on the side of their Lasers as if they were on trapeze, but there was NO trapeze on these regular Lasers. (I know the Laser II has a jib, spinnaker and trapeze, but these were regular Lasers today). I have never seen that done before on a regular Laser. Those kids must have had GOOD balance, as the only thing they were holding onto was the tiller extension and the mainsheet, and the mainsheet comes in at a pretty low angle. Anyway, was fun to watch...boats were flipping right and left, but coming right back up almost instantly! That's what I love about small planing hulls...they are so easy to right!! The kids were having fun. The younger kids were in the Optimists. I've grown to like those little bath-tub boats...they seem to have a lot of HEART for a small little boat. Grat boat to learn on for a young 8 yr old kid!! By the way...one thing I forgot to mention about the Force 5 versus Laser thing is that the Force 5 has quite a deeper rudder, giving the helmsman more steering control when at high heel (say rounding a bouy or such). I think the daggerboard might be a little deeper as well.

I think foot position is a personal thing...depends what kind of carving you do...EC or what. Depends what shape your knees are in, and how much pre-season training you got done. 200mm is a fairly moderate width aplpine board...that width can easily take lower angles too, but it depends on your foot size. 200mm is wide enough to play around with different angles, so I would just take some time and try as many angles as you can. The good thing about a 200mm board versus an ultra-skinny race board is that you are not locked into high angles. You may find that you like 55 or 60 instead. It's a trial and error thing, I think.

NOW I see the video!!!...and all I can say is WOW!!!!! That is one hell of a commercial for a Raleigh carbon-fibre bike! That straight fork tells it all. That rider seems to have been borne on a bike!!!! He has fanatical balance. I used to have an old Raleigh road-bike from the late-seventies, but I wouldn't try half of that stuff on my old Raleigh! Great vid.

You can also spice up your riding routine by trying some triathalons. Since you obviously do a LOT of biking! 400+ km in one week is a lot. For beginning triathalons, it doesn't matter about your swimming or running prowess...your main purpose is to have fun and spice up your sporting. There will ALWAYS be triathletes out there who do NOTHING but live, eat and sleep triathalons and they will always be the one's out in front, so you don't even have to worry about beating them. It's also a great way to get into super shape in the process of training. I am sure in Ontario there are a many triathalons in the summer to try. Then if you like it and hang in there, you'll get better.

If your averaging 30km/hr on hilly terrain as a recreational racer that is actually pretty good it seems to me. Now you could go all out with amino acid fortifications and whatnot, but you would have to ask yourself: "Will I be enjoying it?". I think enjoyment is really one of the keys to health and fitness, otherwise it becomes a type of torture. As for coming down after an workout session, I always find what works for me is to come down naturally...the body has it's own pace, and doesn't really need rushing. I DO lightly massage my muscles after a workout, that's about it...I just try to relax. A cold dip in the river feels great to me!!

Hah ha.....FOUR wheel skates??? Never seen THOSE before....not with those size wheels!!! Maybe soon, we'll all be back to steel-wheeled roller-skates!! Hah hah. I was never very good at roller-skating. I don't know why roller-blading is so much easier, but it is. I could barely stand up on roller-skates! I remember those days...even with rubber wheels it was hard.

Thanks, Bryan. I would sure like to find some of those 'in between' size soft wheels you were talking about. Unfortunately, if they're for a three wheel boot, they would probably be too big for these intermediate 4 wheel boots. If I read correctly, these boots will only take a 80mm maximum. EDIT: Ha ha...maybe I'll just throw these old 4-blade rollerblades in the basket...and get a pair of RollerBlade Coyotes! Never heard of them before, but now that I see them, they look pretty cool...and with pneumatic wheels!!! Here's a vid of them in action. Note: The way this guy moves his knees when he skates, I bet he is a fairly competant ski-racer in the winter. second try: Y2zvxG6dgak Edit: How come the standard video imbedding feature doesn't work?? Is it turned off on this forum?

Not sure exactly where to post this question, as the longboarding section probably doesn't deal much with rollerblading. Anyway...I am wondering if anyone has come across a truly rubbery rollerblade wheel. The reason I ask is because the standard rollerblade wheels are made of quite hard material (urethane? polyurethane??) and mine, at least, tend to skid out on small pebbles and such...often with painful results! I think they skid on these pebbles easily because the wheel material is relatively hard. I am not an engineer, but it seems the hard urethane or whatever would have lower coefficient of friction, maybe...and would that cause skidding?? So, I am thinking if one could find wheels made of real tire rubber, they wouldn't skid out on pebbles and such. I realize the rubber wheels (solid rubber...not air-filled) would probably need replacing much more often due to wear, but where I skate, there is LOTS of small pebbles on the paths and often sand. Sand and pebbles are not the rollerbladers friends!!! I've searched, and I've haven't found any solid tire-rubber wheels for roller-blades, but would sure like to! Anybody know?

Interesting question....however, I think due to the relatively small surface area of both hulls, any quantitative differential in bouyancy between the hulls would be small indeed and would only reflect in a VERY small displacement differntial, if any at all, as the actual height between the bottom of both hulls and the top can't be much over 10 inches or so. What's their draft? Like 6 inches, maybe? I can't remember. So any difference in bouyancy would certainly not add up to seven inches. Maybe an inch? Any naval engineers out there able to answer? Yes, the Force 5 does have a hard chine in the stern, but in such a small boat, I don't think the chine would reflect in the relative bouyancy and thus the displacement. I guess if one wanted to get technical, they would have to determine the displacement of both hulls...ha ha. So, anyway...no. The difference in draft is attributable to the longer daggerboard on the Force 5. I guess a way to determine would be to float both side by side without their daggerboards. I wonder how the performance of both boats would increase with the addition of a nice stiff triaxial weave silver racing sail? Might be able to point slightly better....but here too, I think the actual speed difference would be very minor, due to the relatively small amount of sail surface area we're dealing with. Anyway, I just love sailing ANYTHING with a sail. There is pure joy in moving by the quiet power of the wind. LOL, even a sailing canoe would be fun.

LOL...now that is cutting hairs. The Force 5 and Laser hulls are VERY similar, especially at the bow. They have a very similar entry. Their sterns are different, but besides that, their beams and length are within inches. True, the Force 5s ARE heavier by 7 or 8 kilograms or so, but not really sure why, as their hulls are so similar. It cannot just be the weight of a couple more blocks, etc. I happen to think the Laser should carrry slightly more canvas than it does, as it shares the same sail square area as the Sunfish (7 sq metres or so?). Given all that, though, the Laser DOES seem to outperform the Force 5 in heavier air. The Force 5 seems to have the advantage in lighter air, according to some who regularly sail both. I've sailed on Force 5s, but in Europe, Lasers ARE much more popular. I think they are an Olympic class now, no? That makes a difference in popularity. Plus the Laser is STILL being produced...I read over 200,000 hulls now! Second only to Sunfish in number produced, and it doesn't seem they are TOO far behind, as well. Force 5 WOULD still be produced now, but if I am not mistaken, Lasers were produced by Vanguard and when Vanguard bought AMF/Alcort, the manufacturer of the Force 5, Sunfish, Minifish and some boat called the Puffer, Vanguard quickly shut down production of the Force 5, as it was too close in design to the Laser. In my eyes, they are BOTH good boats, and excellent boats to learn on, given their simple rigs. Kipstar: Your and your brother's boat seem very fast in light winds!!! What is the hull weight of your boat? Sail area? My favorite small dinghy has become the 505 and her little sister, the 420. Nederland is most grand for sailing these dinghies, given the tendency for lots of wind and lots of protected, shallow waters!! Nothing beats the feeling of soaking 4 or 5 sweatshirts with water and going out on trapeze on a 505!! :1luvu::1luvu:

120,000 views and well over 3000 replies!!!! So, I take it this must be the "Grapevine" thread for BOL??

There are many flaws to the PHRF system, KingCrimson. The ratings are based largely on mathematical data-sets that don't take into consideration so much the subtle variations in hull shape and other hydrodynamics. The Etchell is a top-shelf, fairly lightweight, very high-performance all-out professional racer. The J24 is a well-designed recreational racer. I have no idea how in the world their PHRF numbers came up so similar. By the way, I see you sail Lasers. I love Lasers. They and Force 5s are some of my favorite small boats! I truly love boats like the 505s and their smaller cousins, the 420s, but I have always had a special place in my heart for Lasers and Force 5s, due to their simplicity of rig. Even though I unfairly put Hobie 16s against Tornado 20s, in terms of aesthetics, I actually LOVE the Hobie 16 more than the very fast Tornado. I just love the shape of those hulls. I think Hobie Alter is a genius of design aesthetics, his 16 is a classic and a class-act! I sail large, very traditional, very full-keel boats, but I ALWAYS jump at the chance to sail a well-designed, quick and light planing hull!!

Eh, everybody has their opinion, but I would prefer an Etchells 22 ANYDAY over a J24. I wouldn't call an "Etchell 22" an ATTEMPT at a one-design keel-boat. They are fabulous one-designs...MUCH higher performance than J24 could ever hope to be. I would say "they're not even in the same class"...literally. Now don't get me wrong, the J24 serves a good purpose in getting MANY recreational sailors into competive one-design keelboat racing....but PLEASE don't put the J24 in the same performance category as an Etchells. That is like comparing a Hobie 16 with a Tornado 20!!

I've got a friend who actually modified a pair of Rollerblade boots to work as hardboots. When he was done with all the modifications, he found they actually worked quite well for him. If I remember correctly, he ended up putting a toe piece and a heel piece on the boot so that he could accept the bindings, because of course they are totally toe-less and heel-less normally.. I can't remember what bindings he used...maybe Cateks?? I think he modified the bottom of the boot, as well, but cannot say for certain. I know he added the toe/heel pieces from the inside (meaning the screws were on the inside, not the blocks) and then sealed the screw holes and put the linings back in. I know he had to re-tighten the scews quite often. Why did he do all this?? Simple reason is because he is absolutely CRAZY. But also because he just wanted to see if it can work. It turned out they worked well for him, as he used them for maybe 4 years! He said they were quite comfortable for boarding. I've been wanting to do the same with my Rollerblade boots...just to emulate his inventive madness! Thinking now as I'm writing this, I would instead make a boot-bottom that would include the toe and heel pieces, so that the whole thing would be one piece and fastened onto the bottom of the boot. I think it would be MUCH firmer that way than his original set-up. I'm think that white cutting board material would work well for this "Rollerblade" binding adapter" bottom. Ha ha..the more I write this, the more enthused I get about doing it. Just for hecks. I will include pix if I actually do it! I figure this "bottom piece" will only add 8 mm to bottom.

I'm glad to see Americans and Canadians getting into the slackline thing! Slacklining has been popular in Europe (not to mean it is HUGELY popular, it isn't...but it has been a growing phenonomen for quite some years now), for a while now. I am glad to see it catching on in America,too. I've been to Seattle a few times (Thanks Microsoft!!) and that venue in the video looks suspiciously like the Seattle Center. I wonder if it is? At any rate, I enjoy seeing heathy SLIM teenagers having fun doing things as active and energetic as slacklining!! It is MUCH better for them than just SLACKING at the computer or being a couch-potato! At first I just assumed this was a video filmed in Europe. Upon closer inspection, I see more likely it was filmed in North America, just based upon the signage at the event. Eurpopeans often have a misconstrued opinion of Americans as being increasingly "rotund". I always try to convince my friends, after MANY trips to America that this is simply NOT always the case. This video easily proves my point. But one question I have never been answered: Why so many obese people in Wal-Mart?? And then you go to Whole Foods stores and it is opposite?