Hi Guys
Can anyone see the bay from work? Did they get any races off yet? Weatherzone's been saying 10 - 14 most of the Arvo.
Jethrow
Friday. A forecast of 5 knots, but a surprise 12knot East breeze filled in. Unfortunately it was directly on-shore, making Slalom impossible. Committee decided to run unofficial Formula racing for the 25 guys & Girls who also had Formula equipment with them.
3 Races with 3 different winners.... Everyone was stoked not to waste such a perfect days sailing sitting on the beach....
Saturday (today) Forecast of 20knot NE.....Touch wood, but perfect slalom conditions.....I'll try and report back tonight.....
Saturday....15knot NE winds, dead flat water....10 races.
Congrat's to Sam Parker on becoming Australia's 2007-08 Slalom Champ.
Quick unofficial places:
1st: Sam Parker JP 114, NP RS 7.8m sail
2nd: Mike Nelson, *board Isonic 111, NP RS 7.8m sail
3rd: Magnun Fronsdal, *board W55, NP RS 7.2m sail
4th: Sean O'Brien, *board Isonic 115, Gastraa 8.2m Sail
Good night...Time to get some sleep before tomorrows Celebration event at Botany Bay....
Nice work Magna! This Norwegain we have adopted wins the WA state title in 25 knots last weekend,and goes on to take third in the Nationals a week later in the light stuff. Great work mate!
Thanks to Brett, John Hurley, and John O'Brien in getting so many good races done in such a short time frame.
Extra thanks to Brett and John H (2 x Irish Formula Rankings Leader) in giving up competing to make it all happen. Tidy effort!
Cheers,
Sam.
Hi,
My brother happened to have a camera handy on Saturday and took some great pics of the action.
enjoy
Wow,
Aus3 is coming first and second in that picture. Well done Sam, your ability to be in two different places at once must be a real advantage on the race course.
:-)
JB
Its his alter ego JB. pays him to keep all the other buggers at bay.
AUS 5 is trying to figure out which one to take out at the mark. Choose well Chris, it will make a difference in the end.
Ive not seen any slalom races closely before. It was great to stall behind the start line watching the start and proceedings.
Ironically, the first event in a while that Sam rocks up for the full 3 days of... he wins.
Congrats mate!
Did you guys get a marathon race in Sunday afternoon? Rained ALL the way back to Brisbane :-/
Sunday was very light, perfect for the 70 kids (yes 70!) who turned up sail, but not so good for the marathon. We called it quits at 4pm. Funny thing was that at 4.40pm it was blowing 25knots....
After 4 hours in the rain, i don't think anyone really cared though?
3 full days of windsurfing activity was enough....
yeah, I know what you mean Chris. If that was me Id just be getting off the beach while you guys were finishing Loved doing it years ago but cant "benz ze knees" much anymore.
Rexy, daughters 12th birthday at the beach cancels windsurfing Im afraid. I can get away with it most times but not birthdays.
Cheers guys. I've been pretty keen to win this one for almost 15 years now. Would have been nice to win it before I became a master but I suppose 2 trophies is better than one.
Also thanks to Chris and the Blackberry phone people for such a sweet prize.
Sam.
I think a FW board could win it, if the wind minimum was 7knots. Luckily anything above 10knots and a large slalom board is much faster...
I reckon if I had my 80cm Tabou (135l) and a 10m slalom sail I could get on the plane just as fast as an FW board.... and gybe better.
The PWA runs a 7 knot minimum I believe, but limited to 80cm boards.
However for my $$$ investment in such a dedicated lightwind slalom board I would probably use it a total of 3 hours a year because FW is so much more fun in 7 knots.
I can't believe Mike Nelson is still racing!!? He must have been competing on that circuit for 20+ years, and he looks like he's been around for about 40 more[}:)]. Chris Ting too, are any of you guys under 40?
very funny coming from the Dero from Gero! i happened to be the only non-master in the top 3! so i'm not as old as the other gits (including sideshow bob from 'WA'!)
you're right about Chris Ting though - he is old......
Does WA have any home grown racers these days? I guess competing in the public arena is a bit too stressful?
Right, I think I'm going to have to report this Uncle Mike character for offensive comments - fancy saying people from Gero are Deros.
We're Geraldtonians.
He's right about Chris Ting but, he's very old.
Magna is really from WA, it's a very northern part where people speak in a strange dialect and their hair grows uncontrollably so that it looks like sideshow bob, it's genetic - he can't help it so you shouldn't pick on him.
The fleet is definitely getting old in NSW. It hasn't hampered their sailing ability, but the norm this season has been for everyone to be in bed by 9pm on Saturday nights at all of the events.
I was pleased to see Chris and a few others make it till nearly 11pm on the Friday night drinks put on for the Nationals. A great effort!
I tell ya, we definitely need some younger guys in the fleet. These Saturday nights I am wasting having to be at the pub BY MYSELF after 9pm are Saturday nights I am NEVER going to get back. Ever.