Sylvain about the New Simmer Style SCR
The new Simmer Style SCR race sails are together with the Gaastra Vapor race sails executed with the most remarkable design feature in 2010; the integrated clew. And we are very curious about the performance differences in practice of these designs.
Sylvain Moussilmani F73 ranked 16th (missing the Ulsan world cup event) in the PWA slalom tour in 2009 and 8th in 2008, was willing to tell us about the new Simmer Style SCR Race sails, how he prepares for a slalom race and his PWA 63 board sail combinations.
Hope you like it.
LOCALSAILING: In what way do you prepare yourself for a slalom race? Do you analyze geographical conditions, weather forecasts extensively or is this not that important for you.
SYLVIAN: Preparation is everything.
I think the most important is to know our gear, how to trim your sails, which fins and boards to use. It's important to train in all kinds of conditions so you know how to maximise your performance on any given day. My brother (Benoit Moussilman) and I always train together so we can try many different trim settings, combinations between boards, sails and fins to achieve optimal our performance. The key to wining a slalom race is to have the best technical knowledge and to achieve this there is no short cuts, lots of time on the water.
And of course, knowing the wind forecast is really important so you can prepare right gear, because you must be able to perform in all conditions, light, medium or strong wind. If you have done the right preparation, you can perform well in any type of conditions.
LOCALSAILING: Do you collect information from locals in order to get familiar with the conditions of the race area?
SYLVAIN: Yes for sure but most of all it´s important to familiarise yourself with the conditions by testing your gear there. The right preparation is the key to the best performance, you need to use the best combination of gear and you need to know exactly when the wind will be picking up or dropping, to be ready on time.
LOCALSAILING: Why and what rigs would you prepare? Is the sail size always depending on the wind speed or do you take other conditions into consideration as well?
SYLIVAIN: It's mostly depending of the wind speed.
LOCALSAILING: How do you prefer to trim the sails for slalom competition. What is important to take into consideration. Mast foot position in respect to the rigs used.
SYLVAIN: I always have my gear prepared before a competition, but of course you will need to fine trim a bit depending on the conditions that day. You might need to move base forward and lower the boom to gain more control. This is why it's so important to know your gear.
LOCALSAILING: Specific strategic and tactical strengths
Choose the best sails and board, only think of winning the race, make good starts, good jybes, good finish. Enjoy the competition and do the best you can.
LOCALSAILING: How are you trimming the rigs differently for speed races, compared to slalom races?
SYLVAIN: Speed races and slalom races are completely different, in speed races, the run is full downwind, to keep speed and acceleration you need a lot of power. Normally you'll need approximately 4 to 5 cm less outhaul and 2 cm more downhaul.
LOCALSAILING: What is the effect of the integrated clew and how do you feel this in practice?
SYLVAIN: The integrated clew offers many positive attributes such as better handling and more power. A shorter boom is also stiffer which effectively generates faster acceleration whilst also making it lighter and stronger. You will see the difference in the sail profile in the lower sail body, where you will have a better negative shape due to the improved leech tension between the two lower battens.
LOCALSAILING: Looking at the PWA 63 slalom rule, what sails sizes are you going to use? And in combination with what board size and brand.
SYLVAIN: Tomas Persson, Benoit Moussilmani and I have invested of countless hours of R&D work to find the optimal combination between board and sail size
Starboard 131 / SCR 9,5/ 8,6
Starboard 111 / SCR 8,6 / 7,8 / 7,0
Starboard 86L / SCR 7,0 / 6,2 / 5,5
LOCALSAILING: Thanks, Silvain for the interview, we wish you lots of wind and succes.
Action Photo's: J. PETIT - Sport Photo Labotoring
Land Photo's: Peter Anjou