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Sandy Point, Vic, AU

Falcon Slalom 79, HSM GPS 6.6m, 31cm Meanline

Sailed the front bank this morning for 3.5 hrs in a NW which was bumpy as a bastard. And super gusty say 20-25kn. Sailed this morning as we thought this might have been all we would get. Best peak I could get there was 33kn. THEN, the wind turns SW, say 20kn. Speed bank time!!!!!! Was not fully lit on the 6.6, probably should have changed up board, or sail, or perhaps both, but the SW was weakening and I was shagged by then, cramping in the cold, so I ran with what I had.

Plenty of ribbon weed (which I caught my fair share of) and large clumps of dumpweed on the strip as well as whoopiedoos given the tide was coming in, so we couldnt utilise much of the downwind leg of the run unfortunately. I tried, but way too bumpy. Decided that as I was unlikely to kill my 2sec PB not being fully lit, that I would focus on increasing my 5x10, trying to make each run consistent, which was easy in the mechanical conditions.

Sailed with Nicole, Gabe and a whole bunch of Bonno Blasters (George, Alex, Captain Jerry, Bondi and a whole bunch more I didnt meet). Awesome gybes Jerry, you had that FSW cooking, those duckies were looking real smooth at the end. Well done. Gabe was styling and looking smooth and fast as usual, and Nicole was dialling in the new gear depsite the wind dying on her.

Thanks to my gorgeous wife Emma for holding the fort in my absense and encouraging me to stay on for the next SW front on Monday. xoxoxoxox The front on all forecasts looks the goods so I will take it day by day till then. Sorry for the novel.

Sandy Point, Vic, AU

Waited all week for this and finally got our wind, albeit a westerly and gusty.The tide was high initially and so had to wait to get on the beach.A couple of guys were out on 6.5's and 7.5's when we arrived .Looked good for a sail.

Started with SL104 and Select 32 S07 and Gaastra 6.5GTX.Looked good enough to rig down to the Vapor 5.5 and the SL79.Tectonics goldwing 28.The first run was quite short and not much of a bearaway, so migrated down the the bottom section of the run on the other side of the dune.. The wind swung a little WSW with the W on some gusts down here, so there were a few choice runs. Very hard coming back up the middle of the channel with very hard short chop. Went for a walk back upwind like most guys and then sailed back a bit for the next runs.This wasn't a whole lot of fun either.Chris stayed off water today too. The knee injury was too painful to sail. She was shattered, but resigned to wait for another time.

Overall a challenging sail for the day. Adam was really moving today and I'm sure he has some great runs and done well. Big time on water today also Adam.Awesome job!!Nicole waited a bit longer to get water, hoping for that wind change to the magic SW. She looked quick today on water and I'm sure she's stoked too. Nice runs had all round.

It was great to get away as a team down here, we enjoyed your company and I'm certain we'll be back.Thanks to all the locals and other teams doing the challenge, for their advice and sharing Sandy Point with us . Good to meet up.We wont wait 15 years to do it again!!

Sandy Point, Vic, AU

5.2 Hellcat, 80 Naish SP & 92 JP FSW

Still SLOW, but stoked to get in one final session on the speed run.  Super gusty but heaps of fun.  5mm wetty strangled the life out of my forearms, but boy was I toasty warm

Didn't get the sailing or speeds I'd hoped for, but learnt heaps, used all my new gear at some point in the 3 sessions, and had a ball with the fantastic company.  Can't wait til our next Marauders trip!