Thanks Brad, both Adam and myself are sailing as much as we can to learn as fast as we can so its great when someone says we're getting it right. I moved my straps out for yesterday and it just didn't feel right and Adam reckoned he was the same, i'm going to move them back in again because i'm not good enough to have them out close to the rail yet, i felt like i was on tippytoes hanging on yesterday. I didn't end up sailing this morning myself but it sounds like there was a few there.
Good weekend of sailing good turn up both days to sandstone 7 or 8 sailers both days a few new faces to sandstone break trought day for me planing in footstraps in harness, hope to see jeff back soon thanks everybody for a good weekend
Sailing longboards this coming Sunday at Sandstone Point. Wallys and others... We might even have a few fun races. Families welcome!
Great 2 days of sailing on the weekend.
Hopefully have my sail repaired by this weekend. Still cant figure out how I ended up with a foot long hole just above the boom where it is. There were a few good offs though on the Sunday morning.
Hey Josh, I don't know if you've sailed there a bit before but keep an eye on the forecasts if you're planning on sailing Sandstone on Sunday. If the wind is from the north in any way like the current forecast is, the beach at Sandstone will be leeward and no good, we usually go over the other side in a northerly and wait for the seabreeze.
Hey John, are you looking at the arrows here, or getting your forecast from somewhere else?
I was looking at the arrows on here earlier Brad, unless its changed it was showing the SE dropping out and a light ENE Seabreeze for the afternoon, its still 7 days out though so bound to change
Sorry mate, right you are. I was looking at Saturday as I am not sure if I can make on Sunday as yet.
Might try and have a bit of a session after lunch Saturday, as I am going to be on the Island before that.
Amanda and Olivia are doing the Bribie triathlon on Saturday arvie so as I'm the local pushbike tinkerer I'm the support crew and cheer leader. I might try to get in an early sail but it's not looking too good for me time wise right now. The BOM ocean wind model is showing lighter winds for sunday arvo but there's still heaps of trade wind action off the coast so anything can and usually does happen. I might have to have to try for an early finish on Friday and gee Adam up for a sneaky Friday arvo session. It is bloody howling here right now.
Broken foot on the mend- Mid day high tides - great wind what's a pensioner to do???
Explore an old passion ;-)
Looking out over the Sunshine Coast hinterland from Bald Nob..
However.... Foot needs some rehab.
Reckon I'm up for a sail tomorrow morning before the winds get nuclear.
Sandstone point from 9am tomorrow morning
Who's in????
Cheers Jeff
Damn work getting in the way again for me Jeff 
Enjoy! Very cool glider by the way.
Good to hear from you,we all missed you and especially at the last weekend at Sandstone Point!We had a great time and the wind was pretty good.Started practicing my water starts and got on 4 times.Also got into the harness again and had a few crashes but it's all part of the wonderful experience.Tony and myself are trying to keep up with the Coffee supply for the time beeing,hopefully you can join us again soon.All the best from us and see you soon 
Went to sandstone today with Steve and johno
Looked very promising. Got skunked on pink bits (fanatic stingray) 8.5 Ezzy. Steve had some minor runs after rerigging from 7 to 8.5 on the GO. Johno rigged 6m but wind had faded before he got out.
Decided I needed to go bigger. Rigged the 9.5 and took out ultrasonic. What a BEAST especially as it coincided with the wind picking up again OMG!!!! Sometimes I feel well in over my head - it accelerates so fast.
Had some ballistic runs - what a rush ??
Got catapulted trying to bearoff and put a mast strike on the board - I own it now ????
A great day to get the blood flowing and foot rehab
Wind came in heaps once we decided to pack up.
How about the wind - arrive and its 7m weather - I got to sail in a window of 8.5-9.5 winds and as I left it looked like 6m winds - go figure!!
More tomorrow ????
Cheers Jeff
Hey Jeff, pretty sure that's my old Ricochet there judging by those custom flap pushrods! Classic brilliant sailplane. Great shot at a great spot. This one was taken at the same spot years ago and my knees used to knock together each time I launched it!
Is anyone sailing tomorrow at Sandstone? I was thinking of heading over around lunchtime.
Select to expand quotePaddles B'mere said..
Is anyone sailing tomorrow at Sandstone? I was thinking of heading over around lunchtime.
Yeah I was thinking of heading over for a sail, do you need booties there? normally sail at beachmere I have never needed them there.
I dont wear them Lee but some of the other guys do. Its sand bottom close in and seagrass bed further out. I'm going to head over around midday i reckon.
Janet and I are planning on being there today around 10am for the high tide at midday. I've done my back and hurt my knee riding my dirt bike so I'm not sure how I'll go.
Yeah, it'll be lovely if the forecast holds. Andrew, Janet and myself sailed this arvo and it was 15 knots and as nice as it gets.
After a few work-related delays, Janet and I escaped to Sandstone Point this morning, arriving a bit before 11am. We had the place to ourselves. I swore and groaned continuously rigging up with a really painful back, bum, knees, wrists and more from some recent dirt bike-related bruising plus some long term resident arthritis and disc problems etc. It wasn’t fun. I reckon getting up from the downhaul position I must have looked like a soldier trying to get back to the trenches after nearly being killed by a hail of shrapnel.
Janet took off with the Blade 5.7 and sailed straight into that tree branch, puncturing several holes in the top of the sail. Oh well, thank God we got it cheap 2nd hand, and that it has Xply so the small holes won’t spread! She had a great session trying to enact the Youtube gybe tutorial we’d both watched just before leaving home. Occasionally with some success. I sat groaning and miserable on the park bench until my inability to sit still got the better of me, and I slowly and stiffly rigged the North 6.6.
After the usual 25 “last minute” things (the people who’d now parked in the carpark must have been bemused), and just as John arrived, I dragged the rig out and got going on the Mistral Explosion. It’s a well-named board, because when I ride it there are lots of crashes that resemble explosions. The conditions turned out to be pretty much perfect for our rigs and like Janet I straight away had a crack at gybing and … wow!! The first one was awkward, but successful!! Much cheering, but a result never to be repeated for the next hour or so. The frustration got more intense and the swearing more frequent. Every attempt ended with me in the water seething “I have no f^#!ing idea what I’m doing!!!”. Also not helped by the fact that I couldn’t get my foot into the manky old left front footstrap even when I loosened it so I often just rounded up or crashed trying to get locked in on that run.
We finally both stopped for a lunch break, talked to John and then to Jonno who’d just arrived - and we feasted on some of Janet’s EXCELLENT pea and ham soup heated on the camp stove. And after hearing my analysis and feedback from my first session (“I f^#!ken hate windsurfing!!”) she insisted that we swap boards. So she went out for her first session on the Explosion and I hopped on the Bic Metal Rock. Aaaaaah. It was like pouring oil on turbulent waters. Like a soothing balm on injured skin. All the earlier frustrations evaporated. The board felt comfortable, fast, and good - in fact the whole thing felt like a different experience. It pointed higher, I could go about, and when I tried to carve gybe IT WORKED!!! Before long I was doing runs back and forth without spending ages floundering in the sea fighting with the rig! I was grinning again. I came in feeling pretty darn good with some of the >25 year old windsurfing hormones back in the blood.
So I’m now thinking that despite all this hype about new boards, I might actually take Jeff’s and Janet’s advice and chase up another Bic Metal Rock!
Weather check - what're the conditions like? - raining or not? Deciding whether to make the drive of not.
Janet and I are now considering going to Sandstone after lunch tomorrow (Sunday). Depending on sorting out alternative family arrangements etc
Sorry Mal, didn't see your message before I left. Plenty of rain early, and pretty good wind as well. Up and down a bit, but plenty for 6.9 most of the day.
Seven or eight boards and a few kites later in the day.
These big tides are great at the moment, heaps of sailing time. So much in fact that most of the crew were packing up while it was still sailable.
Unheard of!!, but we were all pretty wrecked after the session.
Should be more of the same tomorrow Andrew. Not sure who will be there, I am out on family duties. I reckon it was sailable from around 10 this morning. Lots of water starting required with the extra depth from the big tide. Have fun.
