Melville Beach, WA, AU Much better than yesterday, thank you god of weekend wind for your generous offering. Tried WallyWorld a couple of times but better speeds at Melville. Shallow everywhere! Had to bail a couple of runs, yikes. 97/6.6/32 & 27

Cottesloe, WA

Freo harbour to Swanbourne - epic downwind condtions, SSW 22 knots and 1,5-2m windswell.

Stoked how well the surf-wing goes upwind - not as fast as the Infinity 76 but super-cruisy.

Slingshot Wizard 105   Time Code 68    Blacktip 4.5

Leighton Beach, WA, AU

Awsome little sail in the ocean this arvo, certainly need to be a lot fitter sailing in the ocean than you do on the river.

Pat 92; 6.2; 29 WS perfect!

2 categories

Melville Beach, WA, AU

A nice short sail after a catching a cold whilst in Bali. Energy was down just like the tide, but luckily enough wind for a squirt around the backyard. Tried the 31 speed fin on this combo, but probably not enough to really get up and boogie. Would have loved abit more wind to see how this fin goes loaded up.

FF98, Evo9 7.0m, Tribal Sym Spd31 

2 categories

Leighton Beach, WA, AU

Doesn't get much better than today, lots of fun in the clear blue great to see Andrew enjoying the blue, sailed for a while on my pat malone but then Izack rocked up as well as Tom, caught up with Claude who came up from Dutchies as well as Crimson Flash eventually, bit of a struggle to get up wind with the smaller sail he had rigged, brief chat with Shane, steady wind beach sand and clear blue can't ask for more

Coodanup, WA, AU

A quick dash to Coodanup and back. Two hours driving for an hour of decent sailing. Didn't even have time to pay obeisance to the King of Fangyland as he doused himself in the tears of a thousand vifgins. Or whatever it is that he has in that drum.

Superport 100, NXC 7.0, Delta XT 18.

Wnted to see if the 6.5 would work on the wave board wih larger fin: it did, with pleasing results (not in numbers but in fun and feel). Saw Neil playing it cool and later for the stronger wind and lower UV (quite a good plan actaully!). There was some fun ramps about today in the channel, got some nice river air. 

92 Firewave 6.5 Gator 23 Uniwave Pelican Point, WA, AU

Carlisle St, Safety Bay, WA, AU

Fun blast at Safety Bay.

Kinetic 90 + 7.6 TR9 + 27 Tribal SW.

I was gonna rig the 6.6, cos the 7.0 is in for repairs after my Peli crash, but the 430 mast (which is the remnants of two separate 430 masts) wouldn't fit together, so I ended up on the 7.6.  Not a bad outcome as the breeze backed off a bit when I got on the water, probably averaging around 20-22K, so the 6.6 would've been too small.

Not enough water on the speed run, I did venture down there to take a look, but it was only shin deep and after my big stack at Peli I can't afford to trash any more gear, so I didn't chance it.  Had some fun little bearaways on the Pengo's bar instead, and generally just blasted around enjoying the solid wind.

Saw Jake on an hour mission, he was smoking along so I'm predicting a good one. 

I was on the wrong board for an hour, or that's my excuse anyway , cos I was on and off the plane a few times on the little Gladiator, but I wanted to give her a run cos I'll probably use the board in Cervantes and needed some gybing practice.  I made most of my gybes today and even managed a few full planing gybes in the chop, so pretty happy.

Safety Bay is always a fun place to sail, and today was no exception. 

Pelican Point, WA, AU

A really nice session on the river. 

WindTech 57 , Ka 6.3 , 28 Wingfin

4 categories

Big afternoon, mostly spent driving around. Hit Liptons at 2 to check that out, but tide was -ve surge (super low) and wind was just so so. Gave it a half hour and then called it and drove up to Safety Bay for a play around there. Wind wasn't epic there either, but that took all the pressure off and meant I could just go out for a fun blast.

Started out with a bit of tuning -  adjusting the front straps on the 98 for a better foot angle (front back a peg to let the foot point a little more toward the front of the board, less toward the centreline if that makes sense), set the sail about middle of the road downhaul-wise, and two finger pressure outhaul, mast track in a new spot, and boom higher than normal - all with the hope/aim of finally getting this combo to be a little more comfortable and to reduce the enegry spent manhandling it to go fast. I set the harness lines forward a little ways too to try to avoid the oversheet setup I've been using for the 7.1/90 hour combo.

Well.....Yep, who would have thought?! It worked! The combo just came alive out there. Wind was maybe 20knots, but the gear was just soaring over the chop, eating it up. Feet felt great in the straps (no odd pulling and rubbing trying to stay in them for once), and setting the lines forward a few inches (and forcing myself to grip the boom at an even spread either side of them) really let me take the power in the harness and milk every gust. Best session I've had on this board in the ocean  - was just LOVING IT out there today. Found the sweet spot, back leg bent just slightly, ass stuck out like a kook, but board trimming perfectly, flying the fin, etc. Just a great great feeling!!

To top it off - PB ocean hour - yyyeeeeeeeaaaahhhhaarrr!  Just too much fun today. Been a long time since I've felt one with the rig, but today it really felt dialled in. Worth all the driving today without a doubt. Stoked

Awesome to see Geoff (ex Pinnaroo) down there too. Was really great to catch up - it's been too long! Hopefully see you down at Peli Pt soon Spotted Pointy out there giving it grief too, but couldn't stop mid-hour.

Happy days, as Stroppo would say, Happy days


XFire98, KAR 6.3, Tribal 29

Melville Beach, WA, AU M91, 5.7K 24 FF

Gybe practice again. I worked on improving my technique and made some progress, mostly in confidence in attempting gybes in strong wind. Realspeed alpha a pathetic 14.277 - got some at 17 knots at 60 m proximity, so I will have to work on that. Good to catch up with Tim and Chris.

Watermans , wave panther 5.8 - lovely quiet day at the beach. Bit too many people on the beach but not many in the water. Light in patches.

Melville. Nice late arvo session

M91; Ram 7.0; Tribal Weedspeed 27