Pelican Point, WA, AU

Mistral Explosion, NP V8 6.5m2

First sail on a slalom board since April 2013.  Feels like it has been twice that long.

Serious cramping for the first half hour in the feet and forearms - settled down after that.

Lots of yachts out today confusing the waves - it was really nice that up until around 4pm there were only 2 kites.

Melville Beach, WA, AU

Great to be over the sand bank on flat water.

Happy with the 31.6 knots because all the runs I had I could have done with more wind.

Saw JJ just as he came in.

Xfire 80, Koncept 5.8m and 26 speed weed

Tried the KA 6.4.............AGAIN Goodness that sail is a right royal pain in the arseeee to get set up with tthe cams

I faffed with the bloody settings that much, I forgot the start point in the end. To top it off I damaged a top panel

Anybody had a box of matches and a can of light him up, I would have taken it for the pleasure down there today

Gary Baker helped out with trailing to see how the sail set, in the end it wasnt too shabby, except for the bottom cam, I need to adjust that one a tad So all in all only one gybe to write home to mum about. Glad I am on leave for a while.

1 categories

Melville Beach, WA, AU

First session on my new Mistral 91, awesome board, the Mistral 112 might have been quicker today in the gusty wind but the 91 is going to be a weapon in challenging conditions.

Super smooth, so controllable and mega-fast - that's Mistral for me

Great to see Patrick beaming after experiencing the CL fin difference...

Mistral 91, HSM GPS 6.6 (too small), CL SL1 30

Pelican Point, 135L/7m - I thought it would be light today, so I took only big sails and the big board. Had to stay close to the kiters for the first hour as it was too strong.. Then it dropped off a bit, and I could do a few trips accross the river. Not all bad, as I could focus on gybing. Managed 3 out of...20? Getting closer.

Melville Beach, WA, AU, Patrik 115, 100, Turbo 6m, CL 38,34

Awesome fun on a classic Melville day. Great to see JJ, Mineral and Ricey all out having fun.

Thanks for the fins Chris, really impressed!

3 categories

Safety Bay with my old friend mr Sonic 85 (v2 revived). Such an awesome board compared to the iso slim I have. The arvo was great fun spent blasting around trying to keep up with Greg who was down earlier and clocked some nice runs. Pity the wind didn't really build like I'd hoped - I was comfortable on 6.3 the whole time. No complaints though - this combo is truly epic in 20-25knots. Such a great sail today, I'm feeling 100% right now  Time for the pub to add to the buzz hehehe

Sonic 85 / Weedster 28 / Racing Blade 6.3

3 categories

Carlisle St, Safety Bay, WA, AU

Great sesh at SB with the Snake for company.

Got down there @ 3.30 and it looked pretty windy.  I expected it to boot in later, so I rigged the CA47 + 6.6 TR7 + 23 KA assy, my old faithful combo for SB. 

I haven't had a sesh on the speed board since last March, and it took me a while to get her dialled again.  OK on the speed runs, but bloody hard work gybing/waterstarting and slogging upwind in the big rollers out in the sound.

Speeds were OK, but it wasn't epically windy, so once I had six reasonable runs in the can I switched to the slalom board.

Plugged in my new/second-hand IS97 + 36 VSW for the first time (I traded in my 90 XFire earlier this year for the IS97).  She's a completely different beast to the 90 XFire, more volume and a fatter tail.  Pretty good control in the slop, but also a more physical board to sail; harder on the legs.  The upside is that she will be an alpha sled 

Went for a bunch of alphas on the bar today, but the 6.6 was a tad undercooked, I never lined up a fast entry with a fast exit, but she was smokin across the breeze.

Finished the day with a Pengos run...got a 25.2 NM heading up to the island, and the 28.4 NM heading back.  Run back included a 35.5 2-sec and 34.8 10-sec heading down the bar.

Should've been on the 7.0 today, I might have nailed a decent alpha with some more juice, but overall a really fun sesh. 

3 categories

Good bump and jump session at Dutchies.

well powered on the 5.3 for some nice floaty jumps and a few wave smacks with a bit of swell coming through.

Called it quits when the boom went all wobbly on one side and did an urgent downwinder back to base. Turned out to be the clamp that has broken.

Kaos 5.3, G86, D22

Mettams to Sorrento, 79L kombat and 5.8 Ezzy wave. was told it was a courageous sale choice at Mettams by a guy who was using a 4.5. he may have been right .

Nit of swell around made for a fun downwind run. Challening more than dangerous. Few small jumps before I remembered to take care of the ankles.