4 categories

What a magic day!!!!!

Rocked up at dawn with the boys from Eden not far behind to find no wind and rain. Typical Pit weather,calm before the storm. Got lots of questions (Theres no wind???)  as i rigged the 5.7, 5.0 and unwrapped the 4.4 and with Daffys help and borrowed a mast and base. Thanks mate. Jumped into my gear as wind arrived and got the first run down on the Sl 52/5.7 combo. Didn,t do a second run, a bit windy

Ran the Ca40/Ka4.4 for the first time and spent the next 1/2hr sorting out rig setting and lines,a bit hard to do in 40++ squally wind.Had one run after a SA sailor in a rain squall where he disapeared and so did the bank. Scarry ride at 40+kts.The wind changed to very south and the run back was almost quicker so out with the Assy 20 and on with the TM26 and just got worked. Way too much fin so back to something a little more practical. Assy 20  Still very crazy rides back up the course doing 38,s on the wrong side of the fin.

The tide came in so rest and $5 worth of chips to restore the energy levels, then back out to play in the swell lines as the wind had backed back to 25-30.

Had a crack at a 1hr while the tide was in with the 52/Ka5.7, great combo and dropped two jybes  One which was in front of Dan,s GoPro. Heres hopping that he left the lens cap on.

Had another go a 1hr with Daffy and with 17mins to go my harness strap broke, striping the bar off and into the water. Another donation to the wind gods.

In all a fun day with lots of crew comming out latter in the day.

Speeds on Ca40/Koncept 4.4/Loc/Ka 20 Assy

Everything else

Sl52/Koncept5.7/Venom 30

Sandy Point, Vic, AU

Very sqare, very windy. Second outing on speed board, very timid in the conditions, need to grow bigger pills. Congrats to the rest of the team on their effort in these conditions especially the lighter guys, what they lack in weight they certainly make up for it in ticker.

Huge respect, will put it down to another learning curve.

Isonic 49w  4.9kocept & 21 slingshot

What a great day! Pity the wind was so square otherwise that 'lucky' run I had could have been quite a lot faster! The 2012 4.4 KA Koncept still has note been wound right up! Very happy with the 5.5 Race too - sweet sail.

Well done to everyone else too.

CA SP40, KA 20 Assy. CA SL55, KA 23 Symmy. 

Sandy Point, Vic, AU ca53 speed ka koncept

Fibreworks 41 / Lessacher 22 doubleassy / RS 6-5.4

Had 2 wasted runs on the first bit of the blow before the wind strength got too much to lock in on  the third run. Fin steps out then hardens up with extra drag. Hard to precisely  control back foot pressure in blustery conditions.

High tide cruising in the chop to get some fitness after long time out due to injury.  Underpowered most of the time on KA 4.0 Koncept 2012, Board: CA SP50, fin TM45V8.

Andrew: TM50 fin you broke was a pre-production reject that had less than 50% of the carbon required for strength and stiffness. Your comment above degrades Mal Wright TM50 fin design work. Properly produced TM50 fins are stiffer and stronger than steel.

2 categories

Arrived at 6.30am to find a couple of cars already there! Hardly any wind. Maybe 10 knots. Forecasts were quite contradictory but the wind had already hit the west coast so we knew it was coming. Meanwhile I rigged 5m, 4.4m and 4m Koncepts amid some strange looks from passers by.

Wind hit quite suddenly as expected at about 8am just as I was throwing the wettie on. Took the CA40 and 5m 2012 KA Koncept with what turned out to be a Time Machine TM50 (I thought it was a TM48). Mal gave it to me a while back with a few other things and it was so beautifully prepped I could not resist trying it. I figured it would be good on what appeared to be a tight course. Halfway down the run and still square at about 34 knots I was really putting the pressure on it. Suddenly I had a massive spin out. I was really surprised and thought maybe the fin had snapped off. I lifted the tail of the board and it was still there. Even more puzzing?? I turned around to sail back and as soon as I jumped on the board I spun out. This is wierd! ? Another closer inspection revealed the fin had broken at the base but was still hanging down when I had lifted the board up to look. Bugger! Walked all the way back and changed to trusty KA 20 assy. Meanwhile I missed the first burst of wind that was slightly more Westerly.

On the next run I was really fighting the 5m sail as the wind had really picked up to 35+. I stopped and outhauled about 2 inches and now the sail felt fantastic. Very stable, light and fast. A couple a runs later it was glaringly obvious that we were not getting any broad runs in that wind. I swiched to a Lassacher Duo Speed 22 to try port tack runs but that was no good either as the run ended behind the dunes with no wind. By this time there were massive squalls smoking the water so I changed down to my 4.4m koncept. This was fine but still not more speed at the tight angle. With the tide rushing in there seemed nothing to be gained so I decided to save my energy for an afternoon session when the tide dropped again. Left at about 10.30.

Went back at 12noon to see what was happening and left just as the tide closed off the inlet at about 12.45pm.

Went back at again at 4.30 and found the tide was out more than expected. The wind had eased a bit to around 30 knots. Took the 5m and IS86 with Time Machine TM26 for a 1 hour. Was going really well until I dropped a gybe at 50 min in and then again on the next run.

After that I went for some Alphas. The straights were fast, I had a couple of runs where I peaked over 30knots both ways but I was struggling to get the gybes right, tipping in at around 33 knots. I finally thought I almost nailed one so I called it a day and packed up and left at around 7pm. Whew, long day!!

As it turns out that last Alpha was the best. In hindsight I shold have gone for the Alphas before I did the one hour.

Great to finally have wind over 35 to 40 knots and get a real workout! With this sort of wind we would have expected a few speed PB's if  only the angle had be better, but I was great fun to just go blasting.

Oh yeah. 1 hour had 56 gybes!

EDIT: I should have clearly pointed out: The TM50 fin I broke was an early production prototype. It was out of a box of reject fins Mal gave me to try. (This should have told me something.) It was quite low on carbon content. When Tom worked out the process to dramatically increase the carbon in them for production, they became rock hard and unbreakable. The design of these Time Machine fins has never been in the slightest question.