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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Windsurfing Diary

Monday:
Where? Elwood Beach
Weather? 25-30 knots south
Using? 4.7 sq m sail, Fanatic Rip
With? Tone, Carlos, Donny, Duncan.
For? 2.5 hrs
Rating? 4 out of 5
Why? Whoa, howling. My old 4.7m KA Killer is crap. It has a tear along the leech, rigs too flat or too full, has light switch power (ie either on or off) and frankly can't handle high winds as well as my bigger 5.3m. Anyhoo, the sailing was great. Cranked out my first big loops for the season, and got to see Donny throwing out a few massive forwards and showing that with our combined age of 70+ we still pwn teh w4v3s when it's really windy :P. One incident stays in my mind. I was heading out through the shore break- powered up and planing at full pelt, when I hit a wave and jmped about 15 feet up. I didn't have a trick in mind, but at the apex I decided to do the old Mark Angulo "look back" where you bring your knees up and lay your head right back and look at the water. All was going fine until I straightened up. I had turned up into the wind, stalling the board's forward momentum and so we (the rig, board and I) fell to earth. Onto my arse. OUCH!

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posted by thr at 10:40 am

3 Comments:

Blogger mspecht said...

Braver than I to go out yesterday, anything above 20 kts and I tank!

12/12/2006 12:46 pm  
Blogger thr said...

Donny and I have lots of experience in high winds. We've both spent time (me 5 months, Donny 10 yrs) in Tarifa, Sapin, where the wind really only blows over 25 knots- with 40 being uncommona dn even 50, 60+ kicking in regularly.
you just have to battle it-0 but pick your spot. Yesterday would have beena struggle for anyone with little high wind experience- Dendy St in Brighton would have been the best bet as it offers a sheltered launch spot and relatively flat water for you to get going and you can"chicken" gybe before the waves. its all about rolling up experience ...

Tonight promises to be about 20knots- see you there?

Tom

12/12/2006 12:54 pm  
Blogger mspecht said...

Went out on Sat (16th) again a bit too much wind by 4pm for me, should of gone earlier. Out again today, fantastic nailed my water starts.

Thanks for the tip on Dendy St, but that would mean I have to pick my rig into my car! I can walk it down to Elwood beach.

12/17/2006 8:17 pm  

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