So here's a question geared mostly towards F-18 sailors and race organizers. Since it's painfully obvious(and has been for some years) that the current crop of F-18s is faster boat for boat than the Nacra/Inter 20s (not the F-20c) , how would you feel if a race organizer rated the N-20 the same as the F-18 boat for boat, disregarding portsmouth, to increase participation in a distance race? You would still hold an advantage as the F-18s have current hull and sail designs and are blatantly faster. The PN does not go but one direction in the lifetime of a boat, and that is down, another flaw in the system.

Incredible footage. Newbies should study it hard if they are going to sail through the surf.

I don't know if there is that much to learn from that video other than how bad it can go!

Listen up boys and girls, I'm about to give you the best surf advise I ever got. It's simple and effective. I learned it from a talented old salt on the beach while he was picking carbon out of his beard and kicking himself for not doing it himself....

Don't look at the calm spots between wave sets as runway to get further offshore (which feels like a very natural thing to do). Some waves you simply cannot beat and they must be avoided!!! Waves do not go forever along the shoreline and are usually not that wide. Use the calm spots between wave sets as lateral running room to get positioned at, or beyond, the end of the next set. It's OK to run side to side in those flat spots reaching if you have to - don't be so focused on desperately trying to get beyond the break. Be focused on avoiding the sets. Be looking ahead one to two wave sets ahead not for "how badly you're going to get hammered" but for where they start and end. You can bob and weave and MAKE your own destiny! Reach for the end of the set and you will gain your offshore distance as you easily bounce through the mild stuff. This is how some of the greats make big surf launching look easy.