Melville Beach, WA, AU

Good to have a chat with Jeff out with the Pelicans and also waiting for the gusts to hit. Some fun runs but huge holes between. Manta 88 NPV8 6.7 

2 categories

Point Walter, WA, AU

All by my lonesome for an hour just zipping back and forward high tide and choppy but a lot of fun. One kiter joined me later and then Ben who sailed up from Melville who needed a screw driver to tighten his foot straps, I thought he had left for the day but returned to inform me he had cracked the boom head and went back to replace the boom. Interesting runs today was doing runs in the opposite direction but the best speed was still in the normal direction but bearing away into the chop. Top day.

Manta 61 KAR 6.3

4 categories

Coodanup, WA, AU

A great arvo at Coodanup with no shortage of company.

Great to try out the Mistral again after spending hours giving her a new butt. Weighing in at 7kg was enough to give Sammy a back ache.

Interesting that its the best Alpha that board has done, might have fluked it?

Good fun in the flat stuff

Mistral 91, Reflex8 7.0, Tribal ws 25

4 categories

Safety Bay..Battled it out against the elements today, gusty, choppy mess and now I'm just plain old sore. Fun session and nice way to start the weekend though   Gotta love wind like this in March!!!

Sonic 85/SP47 KAR 6.3 (battens mended), Tribal 29/MXR22

Melville Beach, WA, AU

Sailed to wally world to see Boz taking a pit stop so cheers for the loan of the screw driver to tighten up the foot strap. Heading back to Melville I broke the head of my boom but I was luck enough to be able to limp home for a boom and fin change. Back to PW, conditions had improved but that fin feels like it goes at fast sideways as it does forwards and watched Boz fanging it over the shallows I usually avoid. 

Apart from breaking the boom and pushing all the batterns through their luff sleeve mounts, it was a good day on the water.

iSonic86L, NP evoI 6.2, random fins

1 categories

Pelican Point, WA, AU

Another great Peli sesh.  Got pretty ballistic for a while, with gusts to the high 20s, and the combo was on the limit...M112 + 7.0 TR9 + 33 CL SL2.  In fact I could have easily been on the 90 + 6.6, but wasn't expecting so much wind and left the small gear at home.

Rapt with the mile, which was the first run off the beach.  I was pretty freakin lit and the M112 was a wild ride down the swell lines.

Tacked upwind towards the end of the sesh to have a crack at 'Jake's Run" (Majestic Point back to Peli), but the breeze started to back off and I also had to sail through a fleet of keelboats, which chopped up the water pretty bad.

Stoked to get a good powered up sesh in late in the season.  How good has this summer been?

Coodanup, WA, AU

That was better than counting stink bugs. Nothing fabulous. I had a lot of good runs and can't figure out how to go any faster. Time for some new gear methinks. Enjoyable chat with Lunny, Fangman and Stroppo as we watched Windxtasy sail off into the sunset.

JP Supersport 100, NCX 6.5, Delta 18.

Coodanup, WA, AU Manta 54, 5.4K, 21 Tribal ultra weed.

A frustratingly busy morning at work saw me not get away from work until after 2PM. It seems the better the wind forecast the less likely I am to get out on time. Consequently I didn't get on the water at Coondaup until 4.30, just as some people were heading in to pack up. One piece of luck for the day was that in my hurry to pack I left my 5.7 Koncept at home, and so I rigged my 5.4 which turned out to be just right. My mission for the day was to work on gybing the Manta. Lately I have found it is either big gear weather or else it is too windy for me to feel safe gybing. Today I made myself do it even though it was scary on starboard tack. I found there is nothing like scattered weedbergs to make you look at your exit, or the path in font of you at least. I found I had to modify the gybe curve quite often in order to miss the weedbergs, but my best gybe, where I was planing around nicely, was messed up by a weedberg just before I flipped the rig. I am still findng the faster I enter the gybe the less likely I am to complete it. I just can't change my feet fast enough when I am planing around quickly, and I can't do a switchstance gybe. Hopefully, practice will make perfect eventually. I have stopped sinking the tail, at least. A 15 - 18 knot day would be really nice for practicing. I only seem to get 12 knots or 22.

I di get a few 18 knot alphas but they were too wide. That 20 knot alpha is still a long way off.

Anyway, that was my best hour since 2016, despite hopping off various times to make adjustments to harness lines for comfort, and to pop the boom back on when the clamp flipped open. Chinook adjustable harness lines slip, and lengthen during sailing. I am not happy with them. Other brands I have used do not have that problem.

One advantage of sailing late is the sunset at Coodanup while packing up.

I do miss chatting to everyone after the session though.

Melville Beach, WA, AU

Not the best conditions, but a good way to finish the day and clear the mind 

M91; Tribal WS 29; OD 7.2

Pelican Point, WA, AU

Watermans Beach, WA, AU. Bit challenging on the 5.8. Kode 94 wave panther.

Only seemed to record part of the session but no big deal. 5 windsurfers and one kite. Took aphoto after packing up. Still one out but was getting a bit close to feeding time for me.

Weirdly my best alpha this year and ever at Watermans according to KA72 - I guess being so overpowered it all had to be done quickly. It was on the inside in the "flat" after the white water and before the sand. High tide helped as didnt hit the bottom much.