Good an you and a great story! 31 on a nm is extremely hard to match! Congratulations! Even though I wouldn't have like to go out in that late I regret not having come out for a video. Shame we didn't manage the same time, it would have scored for the team...

Thanks Maree and Windsurf Nelson.  It was only two years ago I was pushing really hard and could just make 30knts over 2Sec!. Every time you go out and try something or push your self you learn things that really do add up over time. That 2sec speed was the fastest ever I've had for the IS87 as I have been going for speed on the W49 in recent times, I would like to spend more time on this setup as I have some flat water tuning ideas that I couldn't try yesterday due to cramping.

A golden nugget for me is that in that wind, the spot will work in any tide (as the channel is deep!) as long as I can sort out a launching spot (or use a different technique) when Ackersten sand bank is not showing. It is worth noting the wind was stronger the further north you went.  NM run was about 2.5km long with the top speed being at the start of that run and not down by the light house. I do believe the NW wind angle of the session was rare, but will take more notice of this in the future when its windt from the NW. 

Thanks Maree, my wife said the same thing about magnesium! Its certainly worth a try, its not normally an issue, and I'm blaming the launch spot this time. 

Its a little path (40cm wide?) on a bank with lots of big rocks each side . The wind excelerates up the bank and even though the bank its probably 20m long it took me minutes to get down carrying my sail + board as I could only more forward on the path in the lulls and try with all my strength to hold my ground in the gusts and not let my gear get damage by the rocks. It really must have looked really funny for the non-windsurfers watching me 

I will pop some pills if I launch like that again!

Nice session and nice Nautical mile.

That's the fastest Nm in the South Island so far.

Previous was Ned Tamatea at Lake Aviemore with 31.25kts in 2007

Fastest in NZ is 36.14kts to Chris Torckler at the Linfield Speed run in Manukau Harbour 2005.

Well done Stephen! Great NM that is smoking fast!