5 categories

Green Island, QLD, AU SE-ESE winds 14-18 knots mostly /Neap tides/lots of weed.Gear Iso 107 2017 Warp 16 7.7m2 Tribal Sw 33 then Kestral 22.

Fantastic Day on the Island with a great team turn out .

Made 2 trips to Arlington Reef today -out past the lighthouse ...but alas-too much water /too much East /Not enough wind .

No complaints though -beautiful weather /stunning colors /lots of marine life /good company .

Feeling sorry for ED whose mast broke spontaneously on the 3rd run -no joy in that camp ...

Hope to have another go tomorrow 

2 categories

Marine Parade, Southport, QLD, AU

112 JP Slalom VI / 7.8 OD R8 / MFC SL2 38

2 categories

Green Island, QLD, AU

Fun day a Green! Off to sunset drinks!

Used 2018 Isonic 90, Overdrive 7.0 R8, Tribal SW 29

Green island QLD - predicted wind strength didn't materialise much to the disappointment of many team mates but worked well for me . Perfect day for cruising the GI reef flats, beautiful clear, warm FNQ day - very enjoyable return to sailing for the year.  Looking forward to great sailing season for 2018.

Futura 111, Gator 7.0, Tribal 33

Green Island, QLD, AU

Well, a better than expected result to a rather strange kind of day.  Joined Dr Cam, Benny, Ian, my mate, Ed - and later on Kel, and Gaz for a slice of Tropical Heaven.  One of the top places in the country for our sport.  Rigged 6.5m GT Turbo - 38cm fin - this rig was just a bit underdone and for about 80% of the time it was enough to go planing.  What was unanticipated was the amount of weed floating about - made it a bit of a minefield and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  I wish I'd packed my weed fin - but that would have been a bit of a backhander as it is 41cm long - and - once I initially penetrated the said wall of weed I found myself scraping the bottom.  Not willing to sacrifice a fin to the speed run, discretion was the better part of valour.  Even Benny Mc Carthy with his weapon of mass destruction Kestrel was scraping at 24cm.  So I did the sensible thing and kept running back and forth to the beach.  I did not think I had travelled 37kms - I thought at best maybe 30kms - Dr Cam was aiming to smash out a couple of hundred [In my Dreams].  My mate, Ed, has done something somewhere, somehow and to someone - the poor bugger can't take a trick.  He was 3kms out and his year old North Platinum mast exploded.  Unfortunately he won't be able to send photos of the damage to SURf Fx because he was too busy trying to save his own life and the rest of his $7000 rig.  Understandably he was not happy as he had only done half an hour and was settling in to do some serious damage.  So we did the walk of shame and caught the early ferry home.  We are both sailing at home tomorrow from 1:30pm.

Cairns, QLD, AU..The only reason i am posting this crap is i want a new North Platinum mast....This is the second platinum mast i have owned,the first one i got off my  friend Andrew a good few years ago .I managed to clock up several thousands  hard kms on it..Definitely the best mast i have ever used.. Bought a new one  with two years warranty on it at start of last season  for saftey reasons  only as i do spend  time sailing off shore and i try to do everything i can so i don't end up in a pile of  ' shit' out in the ocean a long way from home..So todays story goes something like this..Was looking foward to a easy session on the island with some of the top guys from the FNQ mob wanted to clock up some kms and maybe have a play with some of Cams weed fins he was so kind to lend me..Did a couple of tune up laps and decided to go have a play out in the choppy stuff for awhile, got a few kms out and mast snapped clean in half just above the boom as that is where they always seem to break...There was know good reason for this  to happen as i wasn't totaly powered up and rig wasn't stressed out to the max as they sometimes are..Have to thank Benny and Ian for spotting me floating around out there while trying to salvage my trashed rig..Gaza thanks mate for having your boat out at GI today and taking time out and coming to the rescue me..I owe you big time...97lt Isonic 6.6m North rig Broken North mast...On the Bright side of things Andrew said i can use my old North mast as long as i don't break it Thanks mate...Cheers Ed..

Green Island, QLD, AU

Fun day sailing in our beautiful tropical waters with a good turn out of crew- Dr Cam, Ian, Ed, Andrew, Gaz and Capt'n Kel & Bindi catching the later ferry over.

Wind seemed a solid 18kn on arrival, so I marched straight to the dragstrip end of the island and rigged up- Futura 122 Severne Convert 6.7 & BP Kestral 24 fin.  Was feeling excited to use the Kestral fin for the first time in the shallows- a couple of little drops of pee may have even dribbled out...  First run, Bazinga!, sliced between the 2 kiters who seemed to be having a ball, leaving them in the wake.  Sailed out into the blue waters and was suprised how well the fin coped in a bit of chop with the rig feeling nice and balanced.

Stopped to say g'day to Ed and bugger me...poor Ed's mast snapped before he even had a chance to warm up!  That's 3 of our masts in as many weeks- surely we can't have all broken a mirror or walked under a ladder, etc etc   Fortunately Gaz man came to the rescue in his boat...  

The rest of the day ended up being just a cruise session for me feeling underpowered quite often with the 6.7.  Really should have rigged the 7.4 Loft sail which I had in the quiver (I know, I know Billy- you told me so) .  Feeling more and more comfortable getting the feet into the straps, so I guess that's a positive.

Andrew looked to be having fun on his "Green Machine" in sometimes trying conditions dodging the weed beds.  Ian sailed really well in the lighter winds going home with a smile on the dial.  Dr Cam gave me a sore neck sailing up and down the dragstip like a machine...  Kel & Bindi looked like they were having fun!  Jelly you guys will be sailing again tomorrow- will not accept anything less than 200k's tomorrow El Capitano 

All being said, just another day in paradise...

"Long May our Big Jibs Draw!"

Green Island, Saturday 21 April 2018,  Futura 90, areotec 2.0, Tribal WS33

Green Island, Kermit, 6.6 Koncept, 40 Talon.

Bad files on the gps again.

Good day at the island with a big crowd. Wind was too light and water too shallow for me to risk destroying gear on the reef so stayed out wide. Did one run to Arlington with Cam but the wind died so I headed back to the island.