Port Douglas, QLD, AU

Plenty of breeze up here, went in with too much board and too much sail - but had to try my new Neil Pryde 7.2m V8 2018 - the warranty job on my Hornet 7.2 that tore down near the mast base.  Much easier to rig and de-rig - marks for tuning max and min downhaul settings.  I would have been much better on my 6.5m but I didn't pack it and I wanted to try the new sail.  Put it on recommended downhaul and flattened it out all the way - made things a bit fussy all-or-nothing but kept me in the game - a solid 20knot Southeaster and at times a really ugly chop - all over the place - had the big isonic 133 but it was too much board - I've got Ed doing a patch on the green board and that would have been my choice =- was basically in survival mode until about an hour in when things eased off a little bit - I could let the outhaul run a bit looser and the sail hit its straps - very stable and light in the hands, and some grunt down low.  De-rigging the Hornet had always been a pain which involved tying some line to the loop at the top of the sail and putting it around a post and pulling the mast out.  This one de-rigs the old fashioned way - just gently easing the mast out = Boom is easier to get on and off as the cutout around the clew is not as aggressive = in anticipation of the overpowered conditions I used the bottom hole.  Didn't want to do the classic thing and damage a new sail discretion was the better part of valour - Ed came down to see me and would not go out onto the beach to look at how much it would have suited him  - because it would only depress him further.  We have some work in the morning and hope to fit in an afternoon blast.  The Wind Gods are really producing at the moment.