Short answer: pick the right gear! For those of you with more patience, let me give you the long story.
Nina and I have been speedsurfing 3 out of the last 4 days, and she's beaten my top speed in 2 of the 3 sessions. Not by a small margin, either - she typically was about 2 knots faster. Nor was this the first time - she did the same thing in a couple of speed sessions in January. Sure, she is a better windsurfer than I am - but I am taller and heavier, two things that should help in speedsurfing.
The last 3 days made it clear that gear choice is a big factor on who's faster. Three days ago, Nina was on a 6.3 m sail and 89 l slalom board; I was on a 7.0 m sail and 99 l board. Her 2 second top speed was 31.6 knots, pretty decent for the conditions - and 2 knots faster than my top speed. She got her top speed at a deep downwind angle - 130 degrees of the wind. My top speed was at a lower angle, about 110 degrees off the wind. The 20 degree difference explains the speed difference: deeper is faster. But since the apparent wind goes down at deeper angles, you need enough sail to go deep. Her 6.3 was big enough, my 7.0 was too small. I weigh almost one third more than Nina, so my sail size should be about 1/3rd larger, too - not just 10 percent larger.
Yesterday, I was able to turn the tables (for once). We rigged when the wind was barely touching 20 mph. Nina very much prefers the 6.3 to the 7.0, so I suggested she should a bigger board - the Falcon 99 instead of the Falcon 89. I went with the Falcon 112 and a 7.8 m sail. The wind picked up to around 24 mph just as we started sailing, so I ended up nicely powered. Nina also had plenty of power, but had a hard time controlling the board with the 23 cm delta fin that I often use with the board. This time around, I ended up with 31.6 knots, while she could not get above 30. The difference in "feel" was similar: my setup was nicely balanced and easy to sail, which she was fighting for control.
The first instinct was to simply blame the board - we both had been on the Falcon 99 when we were slower. But as tempting as this explanation is, it's likely to be wrong. I had used the same board and fin a few weeks earlier, and set a spot and board PB with 33.09 knots. Furthermore, I had used the Falcon 112, a board which I never liked much, and which I had never been able to push past 30 knots. I had started to think of the board as "slow", at least for me - but clearly, I was wrong.
The wind forecast for today was a couple of knots higher than for the last few days. When we left home, the sky was still cloudy, but we hoped that the sun would burn away the clouds, as it does most days. Our optimism explain why we both opted for the same sails, but smaller boards, today: Nina for the Isonic Speed W54, and I for the Falcon 99. Unfortunately, the clouds stayed, and the wind never picked up, staying around 20 mph and leaving both of us a bit underpowered. We launched from the JFK Causeway today, despite the many dead fish from last week's cold on shore:
