At the Chook pond with Ant and Woody on my JP Slalom and 5m Mach3, 32cm Carbon slalom fin (no weed on the Chook pond today).  I tried my best but it was just a bit too gusty for little, old me.  However, the two young men were going well and I enjoyed the location and the Master Class from them.  It's a good spot.

3 categories

Boundary Island, Peel Estuary, WA, AU

Another pond session with Ant, Reg and Anita in what was first 30knot gusts which then dropped out. A 5.8 would have been ideal as the 6.6 was a handful in some early gusts. Interesting sailing in a completly different direction without the weedbanks as would nomally work in other directions. tried the bigger fin today and which changed the ride completely. Much more flighty and light. It seems the Mantas get away with smaller fins than the Fanatic. Always fun. Falcon 56 Evo12 6.6 wp 29

Melville Beach, WA, AU

Nice to get wet by sailing in the rain

Ben was there wondering whther to sail and Gloria and her daughter did very well to brave the cold and variabke conditions.

125 Rocket 6.0 Koncept 32 weedy

4 categories

Boundary Island, Peel Estuary, WA, AU

Another crack in the Chook pond with Woody,Reg and captain Anita.Started off super windy and hard to control the power in the chop,thought about changing down but the wind moderated so stayed with.the same sail.A lot gustier than yesterday but still heaps of fun and great to be out. 6.2 Nx,53 Patrick,25 ws..

Coodanup, WA, AU M 47, 5m Koncept , 21 WS

Today’s session at “The Chook Pond” felt more like a Ninja Warrior course than a speed sailing session.

Obstacle 1 was the “Triple U Deception” An Underpowered, Underboarded, Upwind 600m slog to the “Dead Tree Doublecross”.

 The triple U deceives you into thinking you can make it on one run, but is complicated by gusty conditions along the course and vegetation blocking the wind.

Obstacle 2 is the “Dead Tree Doublecross”. In this challenge, competitors have to find which dead tree along the shore leads to the grassy path to the “Slippery Samphire Slide”. Beware! Sail to the wrong tree and you will have to carry your gear along the shore.

In obstacle three, competitors can pick up pace on the grassy path, but soon they have to slip and slide their way through the mud of the “Slippery Samphire Slide”, while carrying their gear into a 20 kn headwind.

Obstacle 4 is “Three Sheets to the wind”, a series of upwind legs to the top of the speed run. This challenge is complicated by being on a 73L speedboard and underpowered once more, and if you step off, you risk being nipped by a Blue Manna Crab.

Obstacle 5 “The Speed Run”. In this challenge competitors stand around in thigh deep cold water chatting about how good yesterday’s conditions were, while waiting for the gust that will propel them to glory. My session must have timed out here because the gust leading to the speed run never happened.

Competitors then have the choice of three routes to get back to the “Slippery Samphire Slide”.

Option one is the “Downwind trudge” an 800m trudge through ankle deep mud, nipping crabs and thigh deep water.

Option two is the “Underpowered Dredge” where there is not enough wind to get planing and your fin drags through the mud and keeps turning you upwind and dropping you into the water.

Option three is the “Lucky Gust Gamble” – where you wait for a lucky gust and then shoot off downwind as fast as you can, linking gybes as you lache* from boom to boom and try to get back to the “Slippery Samphire Slide” before the wind runs out. If you are lucky you will get your peak speed on this run.

Then it is back to the “Slippery Samphire Slide” slipping and sliding your way through the mud and prickly samphire, while carrying your gear, this time with a tail wind.

One more time down the grassy track to obstacle 8 – “The Dreary Shoreline Drudge”. In this obstacle competitors have to walk through knee deep water for 600m while leading their gear along with them, to avoid being sucked into a downwind underpowered run in a wind shadow.

Obstacle 9 is the “Quick Carpark Pack Up” where competitors try to pack up their gear and change into dry clothes before an approaching rain shower hits.

Obstacle 10 is usually the Lake Rd Breathalyser Road Block”, where uniformed police sometimes shock contestants by telling them they are over the limit even when they have had no alcohol. Tonight they were absent, so it was straight on to obstacle 11.

Obstacle 11 is the “Peak Hour Freeway Free For All”. Competitors have to battle wet roads, traffic congestion, and road works in their attempt to get home as quickly as possible. Beware the speed cameras – they mean instant disqualification!

Once the “Peak Hour Freeway Free For All” has been accomplished, Obstacle 12 is “post your session” Competitors race into the house, evade showering and meal preparation, turn on the computer and press “Enter” to log today’s session.

*I had to get “lache” in there somehow

Late arvo mission to Melville.

Got down there arround 3:15 and it looked pretty light, so rigged the M137 (my new second-hand one recently acquired from Lunny) + 38 CL SL2 + 7.8 M3.

On the water around 3:45 and the first hour was a dawdle, mostly non-planing with the occasional puff that would get me briefly on the plane before subsiding.  At this point I was starting to get pretty grumpy and thinking I should have:

(a) Rigged an 8.6 (but I left it at home)

(b) Gone foiling (ditto). 

Fortunately a nice squall came through around 5pm and I had 20 minutes of powered up fun and managed to string together a few decent runs. 

It was all over by dusk and I dogged home dead downwind in the twilight.

Glad I got some nice breeze at the end of the sesh, I wasn't a happy camper after the first hour.