Coodanup, WA, AU  F2 Vento 116l, Naish Redline 7.0m2, MUF Delta 24

Fangy was already rigging when I got to John St.....he'd had a torrid time in the classroom this week but so far has escaped being shut in the stationary cupboard and was after a de-stress session. Good to see The Tugs, Senior and Junior....great to meet you Sam. We all needed the big stuff as the wind wasn't more than 12-13 knots. I found the Delta was letting go a fair bit across the wind and the cams on the Redline weren't rotating smoothly at all...I had to kick the bottom cam and punch the top one....interesting balancing act for sure! A very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours though.

Tabou Rocket Wide 128L, NP RSR E6 7.8m, Elmo SS MkII 34cm

Dieing from the manflu (sore throat and a blocked nose) I talked myself into goin for a sail or a drive down to Novara and return.

Got down there and it looked kinda ok but wasn't expecting much, spent a bit of time giving Huey the oportunity to have the wind drop out by changing my footstraps to hopefully stop them wearing holes in the top of my feet.

Finaly finished rigging up and there was strill breeze, went out and took of straight away and promptly found that I had forgotten to do up the bottom strap on my camelbak so everytime I hit some chop it felt like my beloved was taking the paddle to me let the good times roll.

Got back and fixed it up and then took of again and discovered that I could do runs out to the Platform, albeit a fair way up wind but great fun, so spent the rest of the session doing just that.

A nice arvy sail, Glad Wazzacleocenterfold and the Franga got out and had some fun as well

Fangys with Wazzalackingstamina,Tugger,Tugger Jnr, and later Windxstasy and Tailwind.

I had spent the morning checking for pics from the Mardi Gras of Fairybob ( in between trying to get my head around some heavy duty Maths) I am pretty sure I found some pics, but probably they are best left off this site.

Anyway, once my lecture notes started blowing off the table I decided it might be time to get another therapy session. The breeze did the typical thing, in with a bang and then eased. So when I went out on the 1995 Xantos Party Barge 310 gaily flying the Koncept 8.5 with Delta 23 wedged in the backside, I was a trifle over done. Still my inner Elmo was happy, even if my arms werent lovin' it.

The upside was, no pumping ever, the downside was my upwind ability was pretty average. The 23 really struggled to provide enough lift against the 8.5. I had the angle of attack at max most of the time and even then it was a slow old climb back to the top. Wazzafinnedup killed me back uphill so I had to be careful not to get sucked in to chasing him down the course too often.

Having said that, I caught him contemplating his lack of awesome standing in the shallows and managed to let rip an epic spray off the barge. Always happy with one that gets to face height and catches the victim like a bunny in the headlights. I think I have found what the Barge is really good at :-). As Tugger said,

'It throws off spray like the Rottnest Ferry'

So Wazzainhalingwaterlikeafish and I charged around a bit, joined by Tugger who pulled off a few full on planning gybes only to see some pesky Pinna's turn up. Wazza ran up the white flag immediately and went in. Tugger's Rottnest swim arms caught up with him so I was left dealing with the Pinna's myself. I wasnt up to the job, so after a quick chat to Anita where sore arms dominated the conversation, I too called it a day.

No really powered up runs to be raving about, but another sweet little therapy session on the Party Barge equals Top Ten Fangy Day