Andrew Daff (9318km):
4713 days ago 2 categories   Just home from the road trip of my life! 7 hours of driving saw us arrive in Melbourne at 2am. Another 2 hrs this morning to get home to Sandy Pt! Whew!
The most amazing place I have ever sailed! So much different from anything else I have experienced. Flat water for KM is every direction! Sail downwind as broad as you like, pretty much anywhere you like, and it never really gets any rougher. The water was very saline with streaks of foam blowing downwind when the wind picked up.
If I was going to have a whinge I might mention the knee deep mud, and the struggle to wade out 100m to where you can sail, or the masses of weed that hang around your legs and in your lap as you try to waterstart in most places, (solution- don't stop, just gybe, or pick one of those rare little patches where there is a 10m circle of white bottom with no weed). Not to mention the draining struggle to carry a board and rig 200m from the waters edge to the cars in 30 knots of wind! Exhausting! But hey, you know the saying: 'No pain, no gain!' 
The wind was rock steady. When we started this day I measured it at 25-26 knots. No gusts, no lulls. I was seeing no more than about 2-3 knots of variation for minutes on end!
After I did the 1 hour and was having a rest I noticed it suddenly stepped up. Jimbob said that is normal: “At 4pm it always steps up to 30 knots!” I measured the wind again and now it was rock steady 30 knots! There were the odd brief puffs to 32-33, but really no gusts or lulls at all. By far the most even consistent wind I have ever measured. Jacque told me the wind there felt a bit 'thin' compared with Sandy Point in the same strength and I have to say I have never used a 5.8m sail in 30 knots before, but in this spot it feels fine!
So to put this into context, as you are doing a speed run, as broad as you can go without running out of wind, there are virtually no ‘gusts’. Here you are, fanging along at about 40 knots and thinking “OK, now I am ready, I just need a good gust”, but it never really comes. Not the kind that you get as Sandy where it kicks you up 5 knots anyhow. Consequently, I found I had to rig bigger than I normally would, hence the 5.8m on the NM.
The weed is amazing. Where it is 10-15cm below the surface, the chop is about 2-3 inches! I didn’t even feel the weed there. In some places it was a bit shallower and the weed was only a few cm beneath the surface. When you hit those spots at speed you could feel a slight retardation of speed. In those places you could see lines where sailors had sliced through the weed! Right at the end of the NM run the lake was a bit deeper and with less weed. Here the chop was a bit larger, maybe 15-25 cm. On most runs I felt quite safe hammering though this at 40 kts plus. Pussy chop compared with the PiT in 35 knots! I did have a massive spinout crash at close to 40 knots on the last (and best) NM though. Luckily the harness line broke and not the boom or my harness. I was miffed that I lost the great sunnies that Jimbob had given me though. When he saw that he took pity on me and gave me another couple of spares! Thanks mate! Also luckily, I had already made the mile distance!
Beachport is great little town, very picturesque with its old sandstone buildings, all very nicely restored and in use.
Windy! The south easterly blows straight up the main street and is straight onshore on the bay beaches. Not very pleasant for a beach holiday in easterlies, but I am sure it would be very pleasantly sheltered from the west and south west winds at other times.
On the Thursday I tested the IS87 and 2012 5.8m KA Koncept for the 1 hour attempt, but it felt like a bit of overkill (as in, it was going to kill me to use that sail for an hour,  ) I quickly realised I didn’t need the IS87 and 25cm Lessacher Duo Speed fin either, so I went and grabbed the old IS50 with the 2012 5m Koncept and the Lessacher 22 duo speed fin. This combo was spot on! I was pulling a pretty constant 29-30 knots straight across the wind with the odd peak to 32 if I pointed down a few degrees. After about 10 minutes, I did wonder if I would be able to last the hour. My back leg was starting to burn a bit on the more unfamiliar port tack and the whole body was straining. I adjusted the harness line positions a bit on the fly and found a more comfortable stance. After a while I warmed up and knew I could make it.
It was interesting chasing Mat during the hour. He was using his KA assy fin (and the 2012 5.8m KA Koncept!) and he would pull away from me a little in Starboard tack. Then I would gain it back again on port tack. Gybing at the cars side was fantastic. Sweet smooth water. I pulled a 26 Alpha on one run without really trying! I saw later that young Issac Perkins pulled a 28.8kts Alpha! Fantastic!
I saw Tony Wynhoven pull into some smoking speed runs. It was surreal to see him from the distance seeming to float at high speed across the mirage and glare. As he got closer you could see a water mist ‘smoke’ trail behind him and it was obvious he was really moving. I saw him pull up well short of a nautical mile a couple of times so when I caught up to him on the water, (he was stopped!!!  ) , I pointed him to the best start spot and said don’t pull up until you are 100m from the spit! After that he demolished the Aussie NM ranking!
The SA guys were pulling some smoking speed runs as well! in particular, Hamma was pulling run after run at around 43-44 knots peaks!
I changed to the CA40, KA assy 20cm and 5.8m Koncept for a few speed runs and did my best NM so far. After the crash I sailed upwind to the other side and Jimbob and Tony helped me flip my boom over in the water so I could sail back to the cars. Thanks guys!
A big thanks to Mat for coming with me on short notice and being such good company. Congratulations too, on your great PB's!
I decided to try a completely different tactic and rig my 4.4m Koncept as see what would happen, but by the time I got back to the cars and looked at the time I realised it was too late. 6pm already and we had at least 7 hour drive to Melbourne. After getting a quick snack in Beachport we still didn’t get away until after 7pm we weren’t in Melbourne until 2am!
Thanks Mat for allowing me to crash on your floor for the night!
My only disappointment for the trip is that the two GPS in my helmet didn’t start recording until about half way through my one hour, so there is no way I can apply for a WGPSSRC one hour record with only one complete track. No idea why, but I will be double checking them more closely in the future! In the big scheme of things, that really didn’t matter too much at all. The whole experience was one of those fantastic memories that will last forever. The quaint town, the great company, the really friendly locals, the unique sailing spot, the two days of superb sailing and witnessing so many guys pull some ranking topping magical PB’s. All this is burnt indelibly into the ‘this is what living is all about’ corner of my mind. I am already plotting when I can pay a return visit and praying for some rain to top up this magical but rapidly receding pond.
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