Getting in early with this thread this year.
There have been some great stories in past years and hopefully plenty more of them this year. The forecast looks pretty decent at this stage and there is a big old West Coast swell rolling through which will make things pretty interesting if it hangs around.
It will great to hear some first timers' stories as well as from those who are leading us around the course.
Who is the pre-race favourite? Is it superstar Bjorn, triple reigning champion Peter Volwater or will the winner come out of the local stars; Slowboat, Jesper, Dan?
I have a story but its from a spectators point of view.
Due to what I call an injury (my friends call it soft) I couldnt compete. So I took my wife and kids to watch the race. We got to Ledge just in the nick of time. I hobbled around and wished my friends goodluck. With 3 choppers hovering above and hundreds of people looking on the race started. We got back in the car and drove to Lancelin to watch Bjorn come across the finish line. As we were getting out of the car, the choppers were over head and everyone was cheering. We missed it! I reckon it was 25-30 minutes? But I was on crutches, the kids dawdle and traffic was busy so it did take a little longer than usual to drive from Ledge to Lano.
Anywho it was a great afternoon. We had fun and looked like everyone else had a blast wether they were watching or competing.
Cant wait for next year
Chris,
Top 10 finish - you must be pretty chuffed.
Nebs,
You beat Troppo and Bender. Congrats and ditto (above)
Well done Chris, a top 10 
You too Nebs, up the ladder and a nice improvement on last year
well done jet,top 30 is a great effort and well done to to the rest.so what is with all the DNF's did the wind back off or?
I was a DNF. First time competitor.
Got swayed by what the others were on - all big gear with 90 plus litre boards and 7 plus metre camber sails. Having only wave sails, I was gunna go 82 litres and 5.7 for 25 knots but in the end opted for 112 litres and 6.2 so as not to be too out of line with others.
It was the right choice at the start with all the spoilt wind - took a long time to get clean air and up on the plane. Then it was perfect to the first mark. Pretty good to the second mark. OK to the third mark but starting to have burning thighs trying to hold the line downwind in the strengthening breeze.
Main problem (I think) was too big a board - big effort to hold the sail cranked on - particularly in the deceleration at the bottom of the trough and into the back of the next wave. And lack of experience/match fitness - no sailing prior for 2 weeks with Xmas in between, plus very little downwind practice. Plus maybe had the mast track too forward for a downwinder?
Started bearing up wind more often as the wind picked up. Had a couple of large over the handlebars. Expended energy flipping the rig back and getting going again.
By the fifth mark it was clear that I was not going to finish. Sailed to the beach. Joined the other DNFs (I reckon there were around 20 of us in the beach sweep). A welcome beer and helpful crew - thanks.
Macarthur like, I am already plotting a return in 2012.
Great story Marvin. The wind looked quite strong out there, and I was in awe how the competitors handled 8m sails.
As usual I forgot something, this time it was my GPS so thanks for the loan of yours Benny
The seabreeze came in early, around 11:30am and it didn't seem all that strong to me. Bender and I were umming and ahing about which sail to use (like windsurfers the world over) and he opted for a smaller size for the conditions. I didn't think that it looked all that windy so chose the 7m.
Had a couple of practice runs and everything felt sweet so waited for the start...
As we were running to the water I could see Bender well in front of me, he hopped on and the sail was fully powered so I thought that that would be the last I saw of him... however when he jumped off to clear some weed ten seconds later I passed him with the biggest **eating grin you've ever seen in your life! The channel 9 chopper hovered over us for a long time on the way out which was really really cool, made me feel like I was someone important
The second leg was really underpowered, going as deep as I could meant that I was only just on the plane, even with the 7m bagged out fully. After that most legs were well powered, I had to pull in the outhaul a couple of times. The wind really kicked in halfway through the race, towards the end my back leg was really starting to burn.
The biggest problem, however, was the last mark. WHERE THE HECK WAS IT??? I have no idea what happened to it, I certainly couldn't see any last mark. I kept expecting it to pop up as I crested a swell line but it never appeared. After what felt like ages I thought I'd better turn around and there was the pub in front of me so I just headed to the beach.
Kept expecting to see Bender shoot past me whenever I stuffed a gybe, but somehow managed to stay in front till the end.
Most embarrassing moment was hamming it up for the crowd on the run in, hands above my head, high fiving the spectators, and I fell flat on my face
Still, great race, I finished in a much better position than last year although I was slightly slower in time. If I'd found that last mark things might have been a bit quicker...
First of all if you have not done a L2L then get off your ass and do it! best experience and has reignited by old passion for windsurfing (that I share with kiting now also). 15 years ago a big fat DNF ride home (thank god) in the back of a Cray boat, arrive in perth ahead of schedule ot get some practice, then a week of no wind! 2011 Goal FINISH not worry about speed or results.
6.3 and Isconic 86 , way to small at start, especially in the dirty air and wind was light, didnt plane for like 300m, but slection was ok for the rest of the trip, could have used +.5m more to try and do the near impossible downwind angles,,,another 2 gybe points would have made the angles heaps more user freindly.
Didnt find swell an issue was just the freakin off the wind angle, too 'off'
Anyway had great final ultra fast run through the Red Bull markers, flat out to the finishline with another guy on my heel and to massive croud applause and back slaps ....felt like a champ!, apparently 30 minutes after Dunks landed!
now that Ive done it no what to rig etc keen to give it a real go next year, party was amazing the whole event is so well run and a credit to all involved, its legendary.
Dunks was on a 7.8m and 117ltr, he was good enough to chat with me after the race when he was practicing slalom,so I went and joined him in a bay blast also..that was my biggest high, sailing with Dunks (all be it two runs i was shagged!) it was now 25kts and he was still sailing that frekin 7.8m...with a level of downhaul that only he could achieve! He suggested ideally he would sail a 7.0 in these winds...****! I was thinking 4.7m and a wave board!
Given he weighs about 20kg more than me i reckon he would always carry +1m more, so on that theory a 6.8 and 90-100ltr board probably would have been the go.
You maybe able to tell, I'm still stoked! Thanks to everyone that is involved with the event.
I am really surprised that my friend Lizzy (Elizabeth MARTLEY) who finished 1st of the Womens was not even called on stage to get her prize. Actually she did not get any prizes for that 1st rank.
I think they have stuffed up big time at presentation time.
Check for yourselfhttp://results.racetectiming.com/Results.aspx?CId=11&RId=2060&EId=1
results.racetectiming.com/MyResults.aspx?CId=11&RId=2060&EId=1&AId=63156
I know Lizzy and she is not the kind of person that would not have shouted "No it is me who should be called instead of her". But hey, she won, she deserved that prize.
They called Karin Yaggi instead for the fist women prize but Karin was in the elite category, not the womens.
So the 2nd and 3rd from the womens got their prizes and minute of fame but Lizzy just stayed in the background.
I hope someone is going to do something about it.
Well done Lizzy for you first participation at this race.
Nicolas
Conditions were awesome, really challenging and the going was super tough.
In the hours prior to the race the breeze was around 15-18 so I was out on my 8.0, with the Manta 59 (85 litres) and Le Sam weedy, and it was all pretty comfy. I had the 7.0 rigged on the beach in case it picked up, as the forecasts had indicated it would...and it did, just like last year but stronger.
I changed to the 7.0 five minutes before the race started and this proved to be a very wise choice as the breeze kicked up over 20 and was probably nudging 24 -25 by mid-race I reckon. I'm sure plenty of people would have come unstuck with big gear once again, which would have been very hard to handle in the rough conditions.
I got away to a nice clean start and was probably second only to Dan for the first km or so, before Bjorn came past just upwind of me. Obviously I was pretty stoked to be in that position and was just telling myself to relax. I got around the first boat in the top few, and only 100m or so behind Bjorn and Dan, and managed to hold that position down the next leg back toward shore, though Jesper and Slowy had entered the mix.
After that the wind started to kick up and it became very hard work, my arms were swelling up and I was rapidly losing strength so I was really just concentrating on staying on, as I knew a crash would be very damaging.
The next few legs were pretty torturous but I wasn't really losing many places. Scotty McKercher came past a couple of times on the gybes, as mine were crap due to having no grip strength, but I would pass him again on the straights. The last outgoing leg was murder. The boat was far further out than it has ever been previously and this leg must have been 5-6km long, increasing the length of the race to over 30km.
I was happy to have made a couple of good saves from near disaster getting big airs on this leg, but still had not fallen until the final gybe where I just had nothing left in my arms. At this point Danny Aeberli, Scotty and Buddha Nickol took me on the inside of the gybe and I ended up in a long drag race with the three of them into the finish. Scott, Ash and I hit the beach together but I had the inferior landing skills of the three and settled for ninth.
I am absolutely stoked to crack top-ten for the first time in 20 years! Yes I had the speed to finish three or four spots higher, and blew my chance with bad gybes, but that's offset by the fact I managed to actually stay on when I could have so easily have had a disastrous crash on any of the last few legs. So overall I have to be very happy with the result.
I even won $500!!
Congrats to Bjorn who won in a canter by the looks of things, and to Slowy who came a very creditable 2nd! Well done mate!
Here's my post from the GPSTC:
Lancelin Ocean Classic!
Another year of great conditions, but probably the most tiring race I've done. This was due to the confused sea state throwing ramps up in front of me on a few of the legs, and also the extra 5km they added to the race some how...
Yes... the final mark was there, it was just over the horizon. I spotted the tiny black kite flying in the distance and headed out and out and out. That leg must have been over 6km and the mark would have been 4 or 5km off shore. Scary! I saw lots of guys B-line it for the finish line but just in case they were ticking off sail numbers I continued out over the horizon to the final mark.
After that it was a tight reach into the beach which also meant I had to cross the reefs north of south passage where I got lucky with my timing and avoided getting dumped onto very shallow reef. By this stage my 6.6 was fully lit and becoming a hand-full.
Being happy just to compete in such a great event I'm not going to kick a stink, but so I can feel like I am improving I would be in the top 10 of the Open category if they did check who rounded the last mark. On paper I finished 13th in Open (same as last year) and 38th across the line (better than last year!). Stoked!
A lot of the race I spent trying to reel in Nebbian who was sailing like a machine. Unfortunately he had a big stack on the last leg out and I got a fair bit of ground on him to hold him off until the finish.
In the words of Bjorn "Anyone who finished the race this year is a good windsurfer". Better luck next year to those who had gear/body problems. We saw this year that things can go wrong for even the top guns.
Great weekend, awesome vibe, cool fireworks and party (although the bogan vs windsurfer ratio seems to creep up every year).
F2 Ride 277; Koncept 6.6; JP Weed wave 26
Keep an eye out next year for the custom Treehouse Ocean Race Board that my brother and I are working on (www.treehouseboards.com)
I had a look at Google Earth and can confirm that the final outgoing leg was 5.5km, and the mark was 3.8km from shore.
No wonder it hurt!!
Well done on taking part - sounds like another tough race !!
I couldn't summon the mojo this year - foot still healing and a month off the water pre Christmas is not the best prep for this race !! Seems I made a good call considering.
Next year..... Well done to all who made the finish line. That last mark sounds interesting ??....
Yeah I did 1- I finished the LOC on my second year ! waa hoo! 1 hr 6 min 11 sec coming 122 out of 134 finishers, and 190 starters
6.6m over powered legs 5 onwards. 94 L FSWwave with 36 weedy. Was good combo, but went into survival mode at leg 5 and had the handbrake on, pulling spinouts back and staying upright. not much fun then.
The real fun was the tailwalking wave riding into wards the beach every time. Thats when power was on and i kept saying " i dont want to go this fast !!"
My "in water count" was 11 times - with 1 crash ( it might have been a vulcan...) not near a mark, the other 10 were mark roundings or gybes gone bad! I made a gybe on the 2nd mark - very proud of myself and awarded my self a scratch and sniff sticker- sadly that washed off at Mark 3 my 2010 nemesis when my gybe was crap and my water start turned into a rig flipping contest that no one else watched.
Leg 6 to 7 was a long run- boy it was a long run!
Only saw Nebs at the start as we both OVERTOOK BENDER. After mark 3 the competition thinned out around me, but always some one was close by, people behind me and someone in front to follow. But at the finsih line and the pub saw everyone and a few more. Thankyou all for your encouragment and support.
Congrats to Jesper, and Chris, and Bjorn (who graciously signed my book)
Great work by the LOC team and thanks- see you all in 2012
gpsteamchallenge.com.au/sailor_session/show?date=2011-01-08&team=31
This was my second attempt, first try was in 2008 where I finished in just over an hour.
With the light winds early on I thought I'd made a complete fool out of myself turning up with only wave gear..... I rigged my biggest Gear: 5.7 Naish Session and 90L Naish Global wave, first test run I couldn't plane and just bogged in the weed
By the start it was strong enough to have a go so I went for it, got a great start but dropped it rounding the the first mark...calmed down a bit and it was plain sailing for the rest of the race (except the outgoing leg .. back quad was jelly by the last mark)
Turned out to be my best result ever ..... if I'd entered the elite I would have been 4 places away from the money
