Better Windsurf Board Repair

A little careful planning ahead this time is hopefully going to yield my best epoxy sandwich repair yet. I grabbed some 3/4in divinycell sheet foam to replace the damaged core foam that I sanded out a pocket for and also some 1/4in lastafoam to use for the deck sandwich.

Step 1: Cut the damaged section out with a razor blade and pull out any loose core foam. Once you have the right shape, bevel the edge of the sandwich with the razor blade. Remove any decals from the deck a couple inches from the edge of the repair so the new fabric will bond. Sand the perimeter for good adhesion.

Step 2: Cut a piece of foam the size of the opening. Sand the core foam and the repair foam to get the closest fit possible. I found it easiest to sand the core foam flat then round the top of the repair plug to match the deck once it fits snug. Sand the plug to at least 1/4in below the deck to allow for the top sandwich layer.

Step 3:
Cut out the top sandwich layer a little oversized to allow for shaping to match the beveled edge of the repair. Get the top layer as close of a fit as possible with the plan to curve the top layer to match the curve of the deck with weights.

Step 4: Cut a piece of light fiberglass cloth to go into the repair first. Cut a piece of fiberglass cloth or carbon fiber cloth to go over the plug. Both large enough to flare out over the deck.

Step 5: Mix the epoxy resin and paint the resin into the repair over the core foam with a disposable paint brush. Lay in the first layer of light cloth. Soak the cloth thru then add the foam plug and more resin. Next, lay the middle layer of cloth down. Lastly, place the 1/4in foam sheet on top and weight it sufficiently to curve to the deck. Let everything set up. The final sanding and deck layer will be done separately.

Step 6: Sand the top foam layer to be flush with the deck. Cut the final top fabric to match the repair with 1-2in overlap around the edges. Mix the resin and finish the repair with the top layer. Lastly, I use clean white beach sand for anti-skid which I sprinkle lightly over the exposed areas of the repair as its starting to set up.  Alternatively, as shown here, you can lay a sheet of Mylar over the repair when it's setting up to get a very smooth finish.  Be sure to work all the bubbles out and make sure the edges don't lift up or you'd be better off without the Mylar.  The Mylar is especially helpful with the carbon Kevlar weave since it doesn't sand well.

Prepping for the AWT

The American Windsurfing Tour is coming to town, actually, it's here as I write this.  Day 1 was a bust for wind with a late spring front that passed thru today turning the winds lightly to the south.  Tomorrow should be cranking again NW.  Hopefully the few days I've gotten in this season at Davenport will have paid off. 

Sunday April 29th at Davenport's upper break.

This past weekend had some great sailing at Davenport.  Both the upper and lower breaks were working and my friend Edward showed up Sunday evening to catch this nice shot from the upper break.

Sailing to the Bahamas - Christmas 2011

You two really are privileged travelers, were the words my dad blurted out as we walked off the dock of the Green Parrot restaurant Nassau Harbor.

After 19 days of perfect weather, we woke up early on the day of our departure to winds that had kicked up to an unsettling 30 knots with a 2ft chop during the night. Just the night before we had dingyed ashore in calm conditions to Potter’s Cay for our last opportunity at the local faire of conch salad and Kalik beer. However, aside from a few unexpected dousings of saltwater on the dinghy ride to the dock, we really had timed our trip perfectly for weather and sailing conditions both on our departure and the arrival. Unfortunately for my dad, he would remain on high alert anchor watch for the next 24 hours in the harbor keeping an eye out for dragging boats while awaiting my mom’s arrival the following evening.

As any “privileged traveler”, like Amy and I can attest, it’s very important to cross the Gulf Stream from Florida to the Bahamas in settled weather as a the frequent north winds of the winter counters the flow of the gulf stream and can really kick up nasty and unsafe conditions. Of course, leading up to our departure from California I had been watching the weather very closely in hopes that we might get a break in the seemingly endless 2week long blow that Florida had been experiencing since Thanksgiving. Vacation time is precious to us privileged travelers and we weren’t looking forward to spending a week or even a few days at the dock or on the hook waiting for the right weather window. The day before our departure I sent a message to my dad saying, “it looks like we’re going to get a 12-24hr window starting the afternoon of our arrival, so please do everything in your power to have the boat ready to set sail.” True to form, Dennis worked tirelessly thru leaking water tanks, battery charging issues, and provisioning to make sure we could capitalize on this weather window.

Upon our arrival into the Fort Lauderdale airport, we hired a shuttle van to take us down to the town of Homestead south of Miami and their fairly remote marina. We arrived at the boat at 8:30 with Burger King and Rockstars in hand ready to get our boat and safety briefing and hopefully set sail. The air was still as can be, the no-see-ums were in effect and I was sweating like a true Californian who’s not used to the humidity! Amazingly enough we pulled back from the dock in the dark of the night at 10:45pm and were on our way. We headed out the channel and then northward towards Cape Florida where we eventually transited the cut thru the barrier islands and reed somewhere around 12:45am.

The first half of the gulf stream crossing was windless with sloppy seas and 3 unnerving course deviations to avoid collisions with passing tanker traffic. At one point on our easterly course we were fortunate enough to get sandwiched between a northbound tanker off our bow close enough to see the crew in the wheelhouse with the naked eye and a southbound tanker about a ¼ mile off our stern. About 20 miles out of Miami things started to slow down and we were able to settle into the cruising life of autopilots, warm waters, and our eventual landfall at Gun Cay where we dropped anchor around 10:45am, 12 hours after our departure. Here we raised our quarantine flag as required prior to clearance with customs and rested up. Later that afternoon we all took a swims and grabbed several conch that were of course, right under the boat! Diving in, the water was a balmy 80 degress, Little did we know it would turn out to be the warmest of our trip undoubtedly due to the close proximity and influence of the gulf stream.

In the Bahamas, most passages can be completed in day trips, typically in the light of day. However there are 2 main passages that are not; the Gulf stream and the Great Bahama Bank, the next leg of the trip. And, as any smart navigator would suggest, it’s much easier and safer to depart from your current position, the one you are familiar with in the dark, so that you can arrive at your destination in the daylight and be able to see where you’re going on the approach.

If you’ve never experienced sailing the Bahama banks you need to, it’s quite an unusual experience. During the leg from Gun Cay to the Berry Islands, you will be out of site of land for roughly 70 of the 80nm but will be able to see the bottom the entire way with depths never exceeding 20-25ft and typically averaging 10-12ft. If you fell overboard in the middle you couldn’t swim to shore but could touch the bottom, if your boat sank you could stay high and dry by just climbing the mast!

Davenport 8-22-10

Today was a great day back sailing the coast. The fog pulled back and a nice south swell was mixing in with some sailable NW swell providing great wavesailing for summertime conditions. The wind was gusty and offshore in the beginning but then it filled nicely for the evening session. I snapped a few good shots after getting off the water a bit early. Nice lighting and some good sailors helped.

Mark Pitun going for a nice backloop.

Peter making the long walk back.

Matt comes off the water stoked after a long day.

Jalama Beach

Hidden on the central coast of California south of Point Arguello and north of Point Conception is a little remote campground and county beach park called Jalama. It's a very picturesque spot that's worth the haul when the conditions are right.

During our college days we would make weekend trips here to windsurf and at that time the PWA had this on their North America contest tour. It's been many years since sailing here but it was quite fun and challenging at the same time, wind speeds and directions were all over the place!

Windsurf Board Repair

Repairing a Sandwich board with a Plywood Sandwich:

Although I'm not a professional at board repair, I did come up with a pretty solid repair to the deck of my board recently. In this case the board developed a soft spot from my toes at the front straps from freestyle sailing.

Upon investigation I found that the foam had compressed enough to pull away from the fiberglass. I cut back the fiberglass sandwich until I got back to the region with good bond and no delamination. From here I feathered back the sandwich to have a good bonding area. I also cut out a matching piece of 1/8in plywood to take the place of the old deck. It's amazing how easy it is to cut the 1/8in plywood with heavy duty sciccors.

From here I used a spray foam to bring the surface up flush with the rest of the deck. After setting, I sanded the foam down to be inset just the thickness of the new 1/8in plywood plug.

After sanding the new foam back I then layed the first layer of fiberglass into the repair and allowed it to come up the sides of the repair and onto the existing deck of the board.

I then placed the plywood into the repair and weighted it to take the rounded shape of the deck.

After this was set, the final step was to glass over the plywood and the entire repair to finish off the sandwich patch.

Davenport - May 23, 2010

Although winter and spring seem to keep coming and coming here in California, there have definitely been a few perks with some great clearing winds and swell. Today was one of those days sailing at Davenport with a combined NW and South swell to make for some great wave riding conditions.

My buddies Ryan and Liam came out to partake in the festivities along with every other sailor from the Coast and Bay. Today was the most sailors that I can recall seeing on the water at Davenport at one time. At one point on the north break there were 3 others on one of the larger set waves with me, enough that I got stuck on the inside and couldn't clear the whitewash.

Ryan brought out his new GoPro helmet-cam to try and capture the experience. This new camera from "GoPro" can mount just about anywhere and takes HD video using a super wide angle lens. The wide angle definitely aids in getting usable footable from a helmet or rig mounted location as the large view helps keep the vibrations and jarring to a minimum when viewing. We had tried a similar camera a couple years ago but the wide angle and HD video make for a much much better result. Here's a sample. (right now it's been compressed and watermarked to get it uploaded so the quality is significantly reduced)