Ledge Point, WA, AU
F2SX68wide x 105L, RSR Evo1 6.7m, 36choco weedy
LOC. What can i say i went for the 6.7m and the SX68( could have been on the CASL52 for the second half of the race) as it was not fully cranking before the start.
I had a good starting positon 3rd line top of the row. Had all the big guns in front of me so i was thinkng i would get clean air as they would be at the first gybe boat by the time i got going. I hit the water looking good, jumped on and had full power in my sail and thought whoo hoo this is good, two pumps and i knew either Nebs has tied a plastic bag to my fin or i had caught weed. Sure enough i had a weed clump the size of a small child. I was now in deep water so while clearing the fin NEbs sped past looking very smug. he didn't hear me call him all sorts of names. Once under way it was really nice untill the last two legs. The wind filled in and the sx68 started to get a bit out of control. At one stage while the channel 10 chopper was over head i tail walked for 200m's on the verge of a huge crash.The whole time i kept thinking tomyself "dont crash as it will go on the news".
By this atage my front arm and back leg was burning and feeling week. i started sailing with the back foot in the other back strap and it helped alot. The last outward leg went for ever. I saliled and saliled and didnt see any boat till i saw a yellow boat that sails were going round. i headed for that gybed and headed in (I am still unsure if it was the right boat or not) I kept looking and couldn't see any other boats anywhere). I was futher north than i have ever been on this leg as never before have i had to sail back up wind to the passage.
I'm very happy to have finished. I was my 6th one and by far the hardest
Another LOC mission...
Nearly missed the start when I took the 7.0m/91L board for a run and on the way back noticed everyone's sails up on the beach... When I got in there was still almost 2 minutes to go so I had to decide on which rig to take. They both felt good. Glad I made the choice for smaller board and sail because the wind really picked up in the middle of the race.
Got a pretty bad start considering where I was on the line but made good ground catching up on the first leg. By the time I got to the first mark I could only see 5 people in front of me. Second leg I got past a few more so by the second gybe there was only Jesper and Bjoern in front of me. I smacked a piece of chop pretty hard as I rotated the sail in the gybe and tweaked my lower back, sending it into spasm. Great timing... but I could still sail, albeit a bit less flexibly. For the rest of the race I had a good battle with Jesper, we passed each other a few times- I was doing really bad (falling in a few times) gybes. By the last outside leg my lower back was getting worse so I couldnt push it, and Jesper got a break. Next thing I see him in the water. oops. I was in survival mode at that stage, and was just hoping it would take him a bit longer to recover than he did... I fell off on the last gybe and Jesper got past again. Spent the next minute or so trying to get past him again, and finally did so around the reef for the stretch home on flat water.
So it was a good battle.
Congrats to everyone who competed, and especially to those that finished. Stoked to see Marcus finishing so well. Nice one maaate.
Great party, and awesome to catch up with everyone again. Great effort by all the guys who travelled a long way to do the event.
Absolutely perfect racing conditions for the event and I am glad it went off with so much wind with such a dodgey forecast the night before.
Well done to all who finished a very challenging race.
For me I chose to go the small board ten minutes before the start instead of the wider 102ltr. Good choice. I ran with the 90 rrd x-fire and 6.5 tushy t-bird and a weed fin for safety, instead. Having struggled last year with the 7.8 I did not want that mistake again and the wind looked like it would fill in.
After a good start it was on. I had guys going past me all over the place on the first run then turned into the 2nd leg thinking what have I done as I was underpowered and could not go low enough to start with. Then the wind filled in a touch and from then on it got better and better.
For the next few legs I was having the race of my life with the gear working perfectly and started to claw back some positions. My board was firing like it had the home co-ordinates programmed in. No spinout, no rail grabs, no nose dives and no dropped gybes. I could not believe how comfortable I was one notch down from serious stress and never the oh s*%T moment. Guys were dropping in or going over the front ahead of me and I was thinking my turn is coming soon so pay attention.
I make the last inside turn and feel the wind fill in some more. I am feeling great if not a bit of tiredness starting to set in. Only one more outside gybe and we are home bound.
As I set off I am still having the race of my life and cannnot believe I have not crashed. I am going to get in the top twenty for the first and maybe only time ever. I am sailing out of my skin.
500 metres out from the inside gybe it happens. Ping goes the harness line, but wait no crash...I am still moving. No way am I stopping to fix it as this will cost valuable time. The forearm of the front arm starts to burn, man up I tell myself, you can rest when you finish. I get what I think is about half way through the reach and I can't see the boat. I have to gybe and change tack to give my arm a rest for a bit. I tell myself this is loosing ground...I gybe back around and push on... the burn increases...I can't feel my fingers...why won't they grip the boom...come on I can make it.
I look for the boat and can see the guys ahead of me gybing around it. How far out are we? I feel like will be coming in to the north of the island. My arm can not hold on any longer. Man up you Bas&%@d - don't quit now...so close. That's it - I am never going to make it so I gybe and head for the beach.
(Looking at the posted tracks I figure I made it to last years mark and if 5.5 was the km's, I did about 4 with out the harness line. I could see the guys about 900m in front gybing but the kite on the boat was so small. How far out were we?)
As I headed back in totally demoralised the yellow rescue boat headed over, no doubt to tell me I gybed early. Yes I know - don't worry - I signal that I am done.
As I have the most relaxing run back in I head through the bouys for good measure and pass some exposed reef thinking "I hope no one hits that" to find out later that someone did. For a moment I think of what to do. Sail in and cross the line...nah that will screw up the whole system. At this stage I would land around 15th and it would stuff up the whole order. What if they can't delete me from the list till later or forget - I couldn't do it to the guys coming in just behind me. So I have a clear run into the beach and head south of the finish gates. People are cheering and trying to point out I am heading the wrong way. They go quiet when they see the look on my face. I am devastated after such a great run so I avoid the crowd, throw my gear to the beach and sulk around the back to tell the guys I am a DNF, thoroughy filthy at myself.
But what a great race overall, great conditions, very tough but fun. Shattered at the end but loved the thrill of going so well for the most part. Again well done to all who finished and all who tried. I was in very good company of much better sailors than I, that also DNF'd. So no great shame. I would have made it if the last leg was the same as last year. Oh well maybe I will have to try again.
First off all, respect to all sailors finishing the 2011 LOC race. It was indeed hard conditions out there.
The day of the race started up good , with a solid sea breeze kicking in.
Choice of weapons where the Xfire 102 or 112 and KA Koncept 7.5 or 6.4.
For me the race is a lot about comfort over the distance, so I was pretty sure to use the 102 board with a small 30 fin. 7.5 was the right choice as well.
The start was not too good,,so I was catching sailors on the first leg out. At the first mark I could only see Dan who got the best start and then Bjoern chasing him in front of me. On 2'nd leg I passed Dan and could see Bjoern was not going as deep as we where, so at the 2'nd mark Bjorn was just 10 m from me ( he already jibed).
From then on he gained some distance and I was sitting in 2'nd. I looked back to insure nobody was catching up from behind, but didn't right away spot Chris who past below me,,, So from then on "our battle began".
I managed to just pass Chris again after fighting very hard, over 1 long downwind leg, and even gained a little distance. Enough so I thought "OK that should secure 2'nd place for me",,,
Straight after I catapulted over a chop,, and went hard down on the boom and heard this crack noise from the boom head and sure enough I broke the plastic and shredded the boom head line. I thought for sure the race was over for me!!
But some how I managed to water start, with the boom now slided all the way down in the boom cut out and only holding itself together with a 2mm shredded line and wobbling like crazy. I still can't believe it hold together to the end,,
Chris past me when I was laying in the water. I did manage to get up fairly quick and decide to give it a go to catch Chris. I actually caught up with him and and wondered why he's jibe "was so wide and slow?" (but later discovered he had the back problem). My jibe was just as lame as I didn't wanted to "push" my boom to explosion,,
So on the last leg towards the finish, I first past over the top of him, then we had to point upwind a bit to make it to the gate and my "low setting" boom was just so inefficient pointing and I could hear that Chris would come around me and he did. Think he hid me in the process as I tried to push him high,, he he
Pretty stoked to make the podium and in the end very lucky that the boom held up.
I agree with Chris that Markus made one of the best efforts out there becoming 5'th!!
Lots of other personally good results and lots of stories to tell.
Great party,,
Made the decision not to enter a few weeks back and deliberately arrived after registration had closed so I would not get sucked in. As it turned out I probably would have had just the right set up.
It was great to see the start and finish and be a part of the LOC road race.
Well done to all those that finished and great to catch up with so many people.
Exocett S cross 115L & Severne 7.5m
Starting position was really good on 3rd row but no one on the 2nd in front. Clear run the water. Until a sail came crashing down across the front but luckily managed to push around the top and had a good start. Was feeling great on the way the the first mark just telling myself to relax as long way to go. As I gybed the first boat the gybe turned more into a aerial rather than carve and hurt my ankle landing but pain went with the adrenalin. Next few legs were getting more and more powered up but going well. As with everyone the last mark just couldn’t be seen…the legs and arms felt they were going to combust they were burning that much. Stacked it a couple of times but the saw the final mark. The home run… all could think about was wow my best race ever until BANG.... as I go in to the water just holding the arm of my boom…snapped clean off at alloy end and carbon snapped the other.[}:)][}:)] After spitting the dummy out for a while I swapped the boom upside down to try and sail in anyway. Now the wind was blowing that much the remaining boom arm just kept flexing too much and I couldn’t hook in due to it basically feeling like sailing with no outhaul. I had no energy left so sat on the board thinking it’s going to be a long walk back as I was nearly level with the island….until I thought whats the point in walking when it’s the one time can get a taxi easily!! I set the flare off as it burned away to nothing I thought no one would have seen that but sure enough a few minutes later boats headed my way. It took a while to derig the kit and get it on the boat with the swell but finally managed and was passed a beer
Talking to people later I would of made between positioning of between 30-40 which made me even more gutted. But on the bright side there always next year!
All around another great event. And a big thank you to the guys that rescued me.
good video here
For me the race was a bit dissapointing. i had a good result last year and really wanted to improve on that and get into the money.
I iniatially rigged a 6.6 ka koncept and went out for a quick spin before the race. not enough wind. bugger. i quickly go in while the briefing was happening and borrow spotti's 7.5 koncept and rig it on the beach with the help of a couple of mates. i was starting to stress out a bit. Back in for another test and all seems to be good very comfy and powered up.
I had the choice of 2 boards thanks to chris L for letting me borrow his boards again. a 95l mistral slalom was my choice and i used a canfire 32cm fin from jesper.
this was also the first time i used an adjustable outhaul as i was going to bag it out for the deep downwind legs.
so basiclly my whole setup besides the boom and mast was borrowed minutes before the race. having done one spin to get in the groove
i figured that would be ok as id just hang on and go as fast as i could for as long as i could and if i got a good start it would all be peaches.
i was starting next to peter dans and could see his watch counting down as i didnt have one.stoked the gun goes off and i got to the water very quick and being 6'5 i high legged it over the weed and thought i was in the clear threw my board down and jumped on with not to much dirty wind from above. pump pump pump pump. fark you weed!! had some big flappy looking thing tie itself in knots around the fin so i had to fall in to get it off. heaps of people going past fark fark fark. finally up and going again and up to full speed. i was flying caught up to heaps of people but not sure who as i had the blinkers on. went way past the first mark to get clear air and a clean run to the insdie mark with less of an angle. it seemed to work as i caught more people by the gybe mark. gybed clean and off again out to sea catching up the whole time and yelling at myself to go faster.
half way out and something goes pop. i thought it was my boom extension slipping in. fark not to worry it wont slip any further and i''ll just man handle it. really powered up now it'l help on the way in anyway. the next few legs i seem to sail by myself with not many guys around me close. must have got a bit relaxed as i then proceeded to bury the nose into the back of a swell and go over the hanger and still in the straps with front foot still attatched. fark fark fark. up and going again and a little rattled with a sliglty lower boom. i jump in at the next gybe mark and fix it up. as it was impossible to hold on with no pressure in harness. figured my race was over and i just try to make it to the finish. last leg out was really deep and miles out i had two gybes to make it and ran down swells clew out which was fun. by this time felix had caught me up also and i tried to have a race with him to the finish but just couldnt get the power down anymore. rig very unstable. at this point i actually look at my clew end and notice what actually happend was the cam cleat had slipped way back on the 3rd leg when i heard the pop. so it let all my outhaul off and a loop of the pulley. the back end of my boom was just danlging for the rest of the race. no wonder it felt baack handed. i'll post a photo later.
doesnt matter now at least im on the way in and not far from the run up the beach. just for good measure i kick my munted second toe again running through the finish.
really really stoked for jesper and chris to get on the podium as they have helped me out heaps lately. well done guys.
Hi Lao Shi
Thanks for posting the Kuma Movie clip,,
I nearly spitted out a mouthful of my coffee onto the keyboard, when I watched Nebbian's face plant!! (10:16)
He he he,, very entertaining (he recovered well and was still smiling)
Lots of other good stuff too,,,
Wow Darryl that some big damage to the 112 board :(,, was that the mast foot going all the way through it?
Was my toughest year bar far too...
Gear was spot on (RRD X-fire 90 and KA Koncept 5.8) but I simply got tired and started making stupid mistakes. Haven't had much sailing this year which is never a good things. My last catapult (yes there was a few 
) was a cracker...finally found and rounded the last boat, was absolutely stuffed but glad the end was in sight. Then of course lost concentration, spun out and tripped the rail.
Took the whole impact on my ribs taking all the air out my lungs. Hugged my board and tried to regain breath for what seemed like forever (prob about 5 minutes in reality). Decided to try one last effort to make the beach. Felt like the longest run ever. Was very relived to finish....
Evidently the Chinook carbon is stronger than my ribs... looks like I've got a fracture but the boom is fine.
Lesson to be learnt here... I probably should have called it quits after my earlier catapult, that rattled me a bit and I was pretty stuffed once I got going again.
And of course the same thing I say every year... I MUST SAIL MORE IN THE OCEAN NEXT YEAR.
Big congrats to all who finished... it wasn't an easy race this year.
Great stories everyone, and well done to all who competed. Certainly sounds like a very challenging event this year. I'm yet to complete the LOC, and at the last minute had to cancel this year's trip. I have full respect for everyone that competes in this race. I have experienced the conditions and know how tough it is.
I wonder if we'll ever see the footage from Bjorn's boom mounted Go Pro? It would be good to see how composed he is with a 7.8 in 25 knots and massive swell.
Once again, well done to everyone. Hopefully I can have another crack next year.
i spectated this year due to a CBF
and took the time to take some pics..
this one is of bender and nebs both indicating the posistion they
thought they would finish!
This was my first attempt at the LOC and first ever windsurfing race. It was incredibly exciting. I was one of the 12 women who entered. Used a 85 JP freestyle wave and 6.0 m Gator sail. Felt really good for the first 3/4 of the race fuelled by endorphins. But, like most others, the run out to the last boat was hell. Waves were large and choppy and by this time wind had picked up a lot and I was very overpowered. Every time I tried to go down wind I would spin out and go skittering across the chop sideways. Eventually stopped for a little rest and decided to add an extra leg to the race, went deep downwind back towards the beach until I was lined up directly across wind from the last boat and then went for it. Dropped in for a last rest in the water at the boat and then jumped on my board. Felt incredibly elated when I realised the run in was going to be relatively easy as it was slightly upwind. Followed a couple of others through the gap in the reef and ran up the beach with jelly legs.
We went to the presentations to cheer for all the winners and I was feeling like I should get a prize just for finishing, then my name was called and I discovered I had won the "door prize" - a new RRD board! Thanks so much to Jez and Paul at 2nd Wind Sailboards for the generous prizes! The perfect end to an amazing day.
Well done Jäger stone in the waves you trained hard,and was carrying a minor injury.but showed them what a true talented champion you are. Sick full page picture in the geraldton rag to day. Nice tv performances
And was even more impressive noting the achievements of his fellow windsurfers,and no big noting his win The mark of a true champion.
This was my 3rd attempt at the Ocean classic.
My first 2 tries were as a youth about 8 years ago and i didn't end up finishing because it was about 12 knots both times.
Super excited there was enough wind this time. went out on a north Natural 6.6 and a JP 268 Freeride 100L. Was going fine on the legs with reaches but found it very difficult going so far down wind on some of the legs.
I obviously need to practice my downwind sailing more as it felt like it constantly wanted to catapult me and that my toeside rail was trying to grab.
Does anyone do anything differently for sailing that far downwind?
Oh and i finished in 1 hour and 2 mins. Pretty slow but i'm glad i finished it. I've never been that exhausted before in my life.
My first time in the LOC, and I found it really tough on the gear I had. Old down the line wave board (78L) and 5.6m sail. Had to pump my sail pretty much solidly most of the way to the first mark. Crashed twice on craypot lines and was having continuous spin out problems after the second mark. Couldn't find where to gybe for the run home and ended up having to do two extra gybes. I never realised downwind sailing was so hard! Considering all the **** 54mins wasn't too bad.
Celebrated with a nice body drag coming in to the line - unfortunately that youtube vid doesn't capture it 
That bloke near the camera with the blue helmet and the yellow board looks familiar. 
Hi all, I'm an ex-windsurfer, now kiter. I happened upon this thread and thought I'd share an old but good yarn, especially as a lot of the top 20 finishers are still the same crew who were at it way back when.
1996 Ledge to Lancelin, I still remember it clearly. 20 odd knots, I was on a 6.9 Sailworks Syncro ProII and a caveman 275 slalom board.
Got an OK start and fairly quickly settled into 4th place down the first deep leg with Anders Bringdal in the lead followed by Steve Allen then Scott McKercher. Dan Engdahl was just behind me and I think there was a fair gap after that, though I was looking forwards more than back.
It was a fast race and the first three maintained an even spacing as Dan and I battled for fourth. It was pretty intense, as Dan and I were also flatmates at the time and even though what happened on the water generally stayed on the water, the house wasn't always big enough that season! I recall Dan and I switching places a few times though by the last leg out I had a couple of hundred metres on him.
I rounded the boat and put pedal to the metal and headed downwind for the channel trailing Scott by a few hundred metres. With nobody else in sight it looked like a clean 4th place. Yet, as I was maybe 20 metres from the beach and about to jump off, Dan popped out from under the jetty and as we both sprinted to the line he pipped me by a second!!
What happened? The leg from the last mark to the channel was pretty deep that year so Dan had risked coming through hole in the wall to get a faster and more direct line. He made it through the reef and then landed just upwind of the southern jetty, running along the beach to sneak into 4th. Still, 5th was OK and I grabbed a quick lift back to Ledge to pack up my other rigs. And then ...
As I unrigged the other ten sails I would have had set up (back in the day of 0.3m increments), Chris Lockwood's uncle Phil showed up in his new Porsche. I knew Phil as I sailed with Chris a fair bit back then and occasionally crashed at the Lockwood residence, vagrant that I was.
So, still pumped full of adrenaline I say to Phil, "Let's go for a spin." To my surprise he said yes, and off we went. I don't want to incriminate the guy but the speeds we reached in the next twenty minutes on the sweeping back-roads were ridiculous. I still remember the kick as Phil dumped that beast into third and we were quickly doubling the limit still with punch to spare in fourth.
Thankfully Phil was more reliable round the corners than his nephew (who was still learning to control his speed ) and we made it back to Ledge in one piece.
All that remained was to drive my old van back to Lancelin and enjoy the presentation and partying!! That, my friends, was my best LOC story.
A big HI to all you guys still sailing over there. It's a while since I held a boom but I've been kiting pretty avidly the past three years. Who knows though, maybe I'll get to WA again sometime ...
Happy sailing,
Brendan Bond
djdojo,
I just knew it - reading your kitesurfing posts I just knew that you must have once been a windsurfer from your ability to spell and write articulately. Nice story too.
