Coodanup, WA, AU

My first sail as a pensioner. Couldn't really get it together.

OD6.2, M95, Delta16

Another fantastic day at Coodanup. That was a great run we did Pete. Neil Pryde 6.5.

Great day with lots of crew out!!

But it's only the 2nd time I've sailed 2 days in a row since the beginning of Febraury, and I'm feeling it.

Used the same as yesterday, but with more downhaul and outhaul. I think that was a mistake, as I was slower even though the wind seemed stronger. Let the downhaul out at the end and that gave me a bit more speed, but I was too buggered to keep going with it.

I'll be very interested to see if Nina managed to go faster, and how Peter's Alphas went. I had a go at alphas as well, but couldn't get my gybes to work, min speed wasn't much over 5 kts.

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Coodanup for a change. Winds not as strong as yesterday.  Same gear so underdone. Carbon Art Slalom 54/78 TR18 5.9m Pepeweed 20/48

Boxing Day: Traffic was a nightmare. I had to stop twice on my journey down to The Hook. Once for some ducks, and the other to wish one of my fellow doggo walkers a Merry Christmas. A 200% increase in travel time doesn't make pretty reading. But after 4 mins and climate catastrophe of petrol,  I got down to my fav launch spot and was bit surprised to see no one there. Then I looked down to Nairns and that looked like the MCG carpark. There were a lot of punters on the paddocks here today! And for a good reason, twas a very good day in every respect. In fact my only gripe was the kiters. I think I have a rather large sign on my sail that says “Boost when you see this sail and earn $100 if you hit it”  I read somewhere that Wingdings might be the death of kiting, pretty unlikely methinks, but there are times when it would be nice to not be dodging teabags on long strings at high speed.

Anyhoo enough whingeing, on with the day: Today’s mission was to compare a FF22 back to back with FF18bulb on a reach and try to improve my gybes when pushing off my weak knee. Job done on both counts and it was damn good fun in the process. Smashed out the best every gybes on the Barge, but ran wide for too many of them. 

Fins - FF18 bulb better through the weed, but the FF22 had surety and power uphill with the 7.0

I stayed on the Party Barge way longer than I should have, but given the new board is only weeks away now, I felt I should try and extract as much from it as possible before it gets retired. Top Ten Fangy Day.

Party Barge, Avalon 7.0, FF22

Today and a PB for the Barge: I rigged at The Hook and once again had it to myself, at least until Firie turned up to do his daily jaw exercises. Lower tide but plenty of puff and plenty of punters to go with it. I thought the wind would fill so I went small for me, and rigged the Avalon 6.3, FF18bulb and put both the Barge and the little board on the beach. A geographically challenged Hardie briefly paused on his expedition  across to the other side of the pond, but recognising the danger of a gas bagging Firie vs only 6 hours of sunlight, Hardie decamped faster and harder than the similarly lost Red muppet could grumble about managing to not enjoy himself.

So out on the Barge for me. The FF18bulb with the Avalon6.3 was a surprisingly good pairing and I really started to get a handle on the bulb lift. I started pushing the speed boundaries of the Barge, cos it really is like racing an oil tanker, but with the bulb lift noticeably lifting the tail I kept pushing the old girl until we hit 35!! That’s defo a PB for the wobbly plastic fantastic and I would really like to know if mid nineties Xantos310 has gone any quicker.  Just then, sanity prevailed, and  I thought it would make more sense to be on a smaller board. 

Except it didn’t. I just didn’t quite have enough power to get the little board unstuck and now I am left wondering if I had used the FF18bulb in the little board whether it might have gone differently.

A fab day and the bits I most enjoyed most were watching board after board after board of the A graders peel out of the top corner and charge off downhill like some sort of speed production line. Great to watch the sailors  that level do their thang. And not that I enjoy kiters being humiliated, but it was a giggle watching a kiter put the power down to chase someone downhill only to find they were being shunted out the back door faster than a fart in an airlock. The same poor fella then got cut up going upwind by a sailor coming from below and behind him, then going uphill faster and higher. Only a deflated young buck ego was left in the wakes.... Ok, may I enjoyed it a little too much, but I had a deadset Top Ten Fangy Day so I probably would have laughed at anything. 

xSlug Patrik 100, NP RSR E8 7.0m, Tribal delta weed 22cm.

Forgive me father, for I have sinned (seriously I have sinned soooo badly), it has been 3 years, 8 months and 5 days since I last sailed at that festering sh1t hole called Coodanup realistically 3 centuries 8 decades and 5 mionths would have been to soon.

Seriously in comparison sailing Cheese graters is like getting a blowjob only to be interupted by the lotteries commision calling just before the vinager run to tell me that I'm the sole winner of the powerball jackpot...... and cheese graters is aptly named.

Now I know there are a few (realy a lot) of you that are enamored with the smooth water, made smooth by a load of rotting weed laying on top of the equivelant couple of north west iron ore train loads of coarse blue metal similar to that used on train tracks. I know some of you like that.

I tried, I gave it a go, in all honesty the headache which felt like I was being stabbed in the temples probably didn't help, but as I've had either a headache or migraine everyday this month I don't think it overly tainted my normaly sunny cheerfull disposition(?) or opinion on Coodanup.

So there you have it, I have reminded myself once again (curse you old age and fading memory) never to sail Coodanup again and I ask that any of my true friends if ever they see me rigging up at that local they promptly drive over my gear (reversing once or twice just to make sure of the job) once there is just a pile of carbon and mylar scrap they are then requested that they get out, grab me by the shirt front and slap me about til the last meerest inkling of an idea of sailing Coodanup is removed from my thoughts.

Seriously apart from getting wet, I'd have had much more fun being subjected to barb wire being used for a catheter.

Bring on the lumpy goodness

Coodanup, WA, AU

cool spot when all line up, underdone but still great to have fun,  enjoying myself 

lot of people blasting

wind picked up as I was packing! typical lol

rs sl 5.8, sonic85