Majestic Point, WA, AU

light morning sail in the easterly

trying out a new mast

ca 70/rsm3 7.0/talon 40

enjoyable sail with mattL,jesper,cheryl and steve s

12-15kn

3 categories

Sandy Point, Vic, AU

SRM delegation to the Pit.

Caught a couple of good quirts through the day on the JP45 Speed, Warp 5.2 & KA23.

More later.

5 categories

An epic FIFO to Sandy with Ado and Stringer. Back home now [Saturday] at my desk with a beer at 11.10pm. I left home at 9.00 pm Friday, met Ado and Stringer at Perth airport and we got the midnight horror with Qantas to Melbourne. Arrived Melbourne a tad after 6.00 am - I had about an hour sleep - others similar. Ado had done his smooth talkin magic and snagged us a brand new Hyundai iLoad van from Avis - had 97 on the clock when we loaded the gear in the back, squeezed in three across the front, and set off for Sandy.

Got there to find the tide full and no access but after about 30 minutes we were in and so was the iLoad! Rigged 2011 5.8 Koncept and CA SP47 with a smallish lockwood special. Had a couple of runs in low to moderate pressure wind so changed up to the new 21 Slingshot. Sailed a few with that powerful but well mannered and fast fin whilst the wind was variable and managed to hook a good gust for a 44.22 dial. Wind was up and down and there was a good roll up of sailors. Sailed and waited for around 5 hours - it steadied and went more west towads the end but we absolutely had to be out of there by 5.00 to get the 8.30 pm flight back to Perth. After several wrong turns we made it to the airport in time, had a minor sting for excess, two beers before the gate then a very uncomfortable Virgin flight back to Perth to land at about 9.40 Perth time.

Well worth the trip - a couple of new PBs and a boost up the individuals. A great vibe at the Pit and a great bunch of blokes from all over - the Pit Crew especially hospitable - Pete even offered me a Muffin [I'd aleady scoffed a couple we bought at the airport mate!]

Tired!

edit: found another poofteenth on 2nd card

Sandy Point, VIC AU.

15-35 knots SW - WSW

RSS mkii 5.4, CA44 & 23CL

Made the midnight flight with Dansy & Ado after much eager anticipation of the forecast winds. Lockwood was calling it the forecast of the year at one stage, but sadly he wasn't abe to come because he was in the naughty corner for suggesting to his newly wedded bride that he spend their honeymoon in the south of France (by himself!)

With 40 on my mind and thoughts of escaping the punishment of being kicked in the nuts from ex SRM'er Jay, should i fail to bring home a 40) , we arrived somewhat nervously. the direction from the captain in the team huddle was to clean up these guys in their own backyard and to show 'em how its done

Ado was first out on the water and was almost hitting 40 in both directions as it was nice and south west. I joined him shortly after and made my way down the course rather cautiously for the first time. the second run got me my 40 so that helped the nerves wear off a bit. decided to try for some alphas while the direction was suitable but ended up trying to pinch back way too far and was quite slow on exit... note to self- go high as you can without compromising speed.

the water was only just bearable thanks to the dive hoodie i picked up for the trip- best $30 ive ever spent!

no one told me about the east bank, but i discovered that when the wind swung more WSW around lunch time. as the tide was going out the wind switched off for a fair while which gave us a chance to chat to some of the locals and other blow-ins. Spotty had some rather amusing stories from his recent gnaraloo trip of which i had sen some curious photo's of already. How can someone so gifted on the water be such a clutz on land?

We were starting to think that the wind was not coming back, not at least until it was time for us to go back to the airport. By this stage 25 and 1111 were not ready to go as they had unfinished business that needed to be settled.

After a bit of waiting and contemplating riggin up the 6.2 there was a line of dark cloud approaching signalling it was time to go back into the water. When the wind returned it was much more WWSW so sailing back was not an option and so there was much lop-sided walking being done with one foot much lower in the water and the other high up on the bank. The walks back gave my eyes a much needed micro-dermabrasion, care of the sandy point sand being blasted at my face and in my eyes and great speed.

With the winds staying fairly consistent the tide slowy crept back in to produce some interesting rolling chop towards the end of the run which made things a little more challenging. i think Kato was trying to give me a bum steer when he told me to keep going further down the run where the chop was worst. He must have been eaves-dropping on our team meeting! Well done Kato on your impressive speeds for the day, word on the street is that you're settling into your stride nicely now. Nice to meet Shelby, also well done on your speeds bro! Nice to meet Red, Peter Johnston and a couple of others who's names escape me at the moment sorry guys.

As i was pulling in to the beach fo the last time i had a strange feeling of de-ja-vu, had i been here before in another life? was it remanants of a you-tub video i'd seen before reverberating in my subconsious? Did i do 45 knots in my previous life? Many quesions but i will never know, all i know is that i will have to reurn for a 40+ 5x10 and to improve the 2sec as well.

Well done to Ado and 25 for setting a cracking pace, will need to lift my game and pick the gusts a bit better next time...

The drive home was a shambles becuase by this stage we all had little to no sleep and the neurons were firing quite like they used to before we hit the water. Ado realized pretty quickly that the Iload didn't quite have the handling characteristics and the over-taking prowess he was used to and Dansy was absoutley useless on the ipad navigation. Consequeny Dans was demoted to GPS track data processing, we could at least trust him to do that. This was an amusing exercise becuase it wasnt until the 4th SD card from the 25 v 1111 head-to-head that 1111 emerged victorious but no less than 0.05 knots! 25 vowed to use every piece of software under the sun to find that extra poofteenth he needed to reclaim his dignity. All was not lost 25, you're not doing too badly old chap!

We arrived at the airport and i loaded my bag sideways on the trolley and continued to mow down anyone in my path on the way to check-in. Managed to sweet talk the check-in chix out of charging me excess baggage while 25 an 1111 werent so lucky with the ladies. had time 1 quick beer and then the bar dude offered to put my 2nd beer into a coffe cup for me. this seemed like a cunning plan unti i got to the gate (which was ready to close) and the when i handed over my boarding pas the lady said "im sorry sir, you cant take coffee on-board", so i said ok and handed it over. then she said "why is it cold" and i replied "its iced-coffee(beer" with the beer bit under my breath... she got a bit confused but once she sniffed it realised pretty quickly it wasnt iced coffee and that was the end of that. At least i got away with my Krispy Kreme's intact!!

Virgin flight home was attrocious, not sure i will be flying wih them again anytime soon, although its a bit unfair given the condition i was in... i just wanted to sleep and its impossible in those seats, even with a spare spot next to me.

Home now, the SW'ly's can start whenever they like now...