Pelican Point, WA, AU

NIce sail in moderate wind. Got several carve gybes.

Xfire 98, 6.6 Koncept, 34 weedy, and new Unifibre carbon boom with small diameter grip - great

Tom Radis let me have a go on his Tabou Rocket 105, which was really chop friendly. Now on my wish list.

1 categories

Coodanup, WA, AU

Mistral Explosion 103 litre, NP 6.5m2 V8, Maui 22cm Delta

First sail at Coodanup.  Most impressed with this venue.  Wind was much lighter than expected, I don't think it got over 18 knots while I was there and it looked like it wasn';t going to fill in any more when I left at around 4pm.

Met up with a bunch of crew including Fangman (much thanks for the loan of the delta), Stroppo, and several others including Pinnaroos Anita, Jeff and Mike.

Was right on track to reach 100km but unfortunately due to lack of TOW my hands started blistering.  I would have kept going but I can't afford to cop another bout of cellulitis on account of infection through exposed skin, so I reluctantly aborted the mission.

Will definitely sail this venue again.

Melville Beach, WA, AU

RRD FS 111 7.0 33

1 categories

Fun day at fangies, 6.6 and mistral 112 slalom, 24 weedy.

Great afternoon out, was a bit smoky at first but the wind seemed to clear that away. Managed to work my way upwind and got up to the island area. took a few goes to get the footstraps right in the "new for me" board but once they were ok it was great. a bit of sideways slip at times with the little fin but most of the time it was great. some really nice gybes but at times I was going in so fast I didnt know what to do to come out - nice to meet the fangster finally. Also good to have a chat with a few of the other regulars. Bit surprised that the hour was a pb (beet one from 2010) alpha was my second best and distance 3rd - so new equipment and new location does help.

Got to Coodanup early, faffed about thinking, big sail???? what to do as it was real light.

In the end after yarning to Fangman and our own Birdman, went with the Loft 8.6 on the Tabou 135, Was OK but got too heavy in the end. Came in, rigged the Loft Free Ride 6.6, and had some good fun with this combo.

Arms started to cramp, so back in, switched boards to the 105, thinking it was a little touchy with the big board. Sadly just after I got the 105 plugged in, breeze went South direct on, the smoke came back and became real gusty. Should have stuck to the 135 combo, as it was just eating it today, trucked up wind with the Delta, no problems.

Ran out of water, grunt and stamina in the end. Windexty came out and I was thinking of kicking the session in the gutz, but thought, shit the boss is here, better do a couple more K’s

Wished I hadn’t, as driving home both bloody arms cramped up. Ita a 1.5 hour drive but smooth run.

 Well done Birdman, thats got to be worth the drive.

Hardpole, mate you cracked a PB as well

All in all a nice day at Coody and Fangys patch, and catching up with the Bra mob, even Hardie put in a session.. 

3 categories

Safety Bay, WA

On the water at 2.45 - had the run all to myself - that is if I ignored the 100 kiters 

Wind around 22 knots, just enough for the speed board to be fun.

Slowy turned up with his smick new M95 about an hour later and the wind promptly dropped a couple of knots

Plugged in the M91 around 4pm as the wind hovered around 18 to 20 knots, it just wasn't getting in for some reason.

Heaps of fun though, a cruisey day

Mistral 47, DWS 20    Mistral 91, DWS 22.5   KA Koncept 6.2 (underdone)

2 categories

Peel Inlet (Liptons), WA, AU

Distance backup...

Mistral Energizer 110 - KA Koncept 5.8 - Maui Delta

Melville - IS101, CR7.0, Drake 36.  Feels much like yesterday...

Coodanup, WA, AU 6.4K M91 17 delta slalom

A fun session with my son Leon, some of the Pinnaroos, some of the Mandurah mobbers and one lone CST sailing.

Today was mostly about giving Leon some planing practice with long runs, and trying out my new toy - the M91.

Leon did really well, and must have put in a good distance, in fact he was getting so far up wind I thought either he was keen to check out Boundary Island, or else he might not know how to get back downwind, of which the latter turned out to be the case. A little tuition and he made it back to base, discovering the joys of the downwind run on the way, but not before discovering another devil fish. He sure knows how to find them.

I didn't have enough outhaul and was struggling to get upwind myself, plus the Mistral is going to take a bit of getting used to with going upwind. Gybing however is another matter. So easy. I can see I could become good at gybing with this board. It carves so nicely and stays on the plane so I have time to think about all the things Cribby taught me. I did a couple of lovely fully planing gybes today, but the proximity was too wide. I had a number of 17 knot gybes and even got one over 18 knots, which is a first! I need to carve harder. I did manage a top 5 alpha never the less. I would have put in more gybes but thought I'd better call it a day and see how Leon was getting on just in case it was a cobbler this time. (I was forgetting that we had left no spaces for the cobblers to park in)

Definitely a top 10 Fangy day. Leon is keen to go to Fangyland again soon. It is definitely good to have some company for that long drive home, although he does test my windsurfing theory with all his questions. At least Leon understands physics and vectors (engineering student). Leon drove home today so I got to relax in the back! Now all I need is someone to have dinner cooked when I got home...

2 categories

Denham, WA, AU Little Lagoon looked good for speed only I didn;t. It was a day after I did distance 66.7nm off Denham and I also rigged up 7.5 for South West side while I was soon overpowered on the other side. 4 locals came. It was still fun, diffrent sailing. I even tried a pointer fin. I was too worn out to drop the size. 105 rocket. 31 jp weed.

Pt Walter

CA SP47; Ram 6.3; Lockwood Curtis 23.5