Great photos Pete... Captions??
Adam our star beginner - hit a 20kt PB today
Steve on his modified BIC techno - forever young ;-)
More captions....
Jeff on Exocet sting 124 with Ezzy 7m - finding interesting ways to crash learning to gybe at speed
Sean our friendly kite surfer teasing us as always ;-)
More captions
Pete working on getting into the 30 knots club. 28.4?? today. Always looking for opportunities to pass us with a salute ;-)
Great work Adam
I have another week away for work then hopefully there is wind the week between Anzac and May day.
The weekend forecast is starting to look good, Sandstone regulars should make sure all their chores are done by Friday
Hi. Just letting you know that both wade and myself have joined up with the gpsteam challenge. We are in the moreton bay mob. I am familiar with several of the guys from way back especially the team leader Glynn merrit. They r generally our age bracket and like most sailors a very helpful and sociable crew. And most are hard core speed sailors though many have bump and jump and wave abilities. So be prepared to be overtaken as l will be, and learn a few things from very experinced friendly sailors and take the time to discuss the team challenge with them if you happen to have the chance...... You don,t have to be a pro to take part!!!!
l have been providing info to attract them to our haven so if you see some new faces during this next blow please be welcoming and point out the often hidden dangers spots at high speeds. All going to plan l will be there but will also be using bongaree as my camp and rigging area especially on the dropping arvo tides.. No set times but l intend to do a few downwinders and tacks back upwind to bongaree and show them any local knowledge l have learnt recently should anyone join us. Including regulars if anyone is game to join me out wide..A car at each end would save the upwind leg if anyone is interested.
Hi Jonno, I'm going to stick with the usual spot and sail early before it gets too blowy for my ability. I'll see you when you make it over.
No worries paddy. Best place to build your confidence up. Maybe just work your way up and down wind in steps with someone when your rig feels comfortable. l think you,LL be fine. Not much different upwind nor much depth unless you as you already know,, cross the channel. Worst that can happen is you get blown back downwind. Lots of footholds when tide starts dropping to about 1.5. And keep practicing your deep water starts even when you can touch bottom.
No worries paddy. Best place to build your confidence up. Maybe just work your way up and down wind in steps with someone when your rig feels comfortable. l think you,LL be fine. Not much different upwind nor much depth unless you as you already know,, cross the channel. Worst that can happen is you get blown back downwind. Lots of footholds when tide starts dropping to about 1.5. And keep practicing your deep water starts even when you can touch bottom.
Looking good for tomorrow will have to see what sort of wind range my new board will carry?
ill be at sandstoone in the morning
I was thinking of coming up for a sail today. It says there is plenty of wind but I can't see any here
Is these any wind at Sandstone?
There's wind here at Beachmere Dunc's, not heaps yet. I'm going to head over to Sandstone within the next hour or so.
Well what a difference a day makes, the morning offshore held off the real deal and lulled us into a false sense of security. Tony was going all techo and measuring the wind at 15-17kn at 9am so we all headed out on 7m sails feeling nice and comfortable, after a few runs in the nice friendly breeze, soaking up the glorious sunshine, the real wind hit and had us all scurrying back to the cars for smaller sails. I ended up on my 5.5m and had to send an sms response to Jonno who had kindly offered to drop in to church on his way over to pray to the wind gods to have mercy on our souls as I had nothing smaller.
All the usual suspects came out of the woodwork along with some unusual suspects like Dunc's and Mal who made the journey up to Sandstone for a casual day's sailing. Notable absentees were Jeff who refused to abandon his family for good wind (like Adam did) and Pete who showed up for late shift after his open house. JV Jonno and The Pope rigged up at South Esplanade early but after one run The Pope retired to Sandstone to sail with us leaving Jonno to hit the bay, Jonno showed up at Sandstone eventually but will have a sporty sail back to his car in this wind.
We handed it over to the hoard of kiters when the water got too low at 1230, I had to sneak home to get an assignment sorted and left the boys having a couple of beers on the beach watching the kiters doing silly stuff like flying through the air.
No need for any wind speed tech this morning, it was the same as yesterday, only stronger. Adam rigged a bigger sail again early while there was a little west in it and got smashed and I sat on the grass rigging a 5.5 and wondering if it was just too windy for my ability. Really difficult sailing at first as I'd got scared by the wind and downhauled too far so I couldn't maintain speed through the holes but once I let some off so that the battens were in line with the front of the mast it was all sorted and a top day's sailing was had. So a few holes in it early and then 25+kn bombs going off towards the end when the tide dropped and we handed it over to the kiters. Pretty much locals only today and it was too blowy for Bongaree so the Bribie lads joined us again. Looks like it may even hang in there for Jeff tomorrow. No photos other than this one I snapped of The Pope and Waricle on the park bench making sure everyone's sailing was up to scratch.
That's me on the left..
had a top day too!
i have a brand new second hand board curtesy of Morgs, a Thommen course race, the smallest sibling of my xxl course race which is my go-to light wind board.
tried the new board a few days ago with an 8.2 and 58 fin and it got planing nice and early so today was the small sail small fin test and I'm happy as a dog with two tails.
With a 5.2 and weed fin it jumped on the plane, planed thru the lulls and stayed on the water nicely, I really couldn't ask for more.
So now I have a board for all occasions, anything stronger than 5.2 or less than an 8.2 will be out of my sailing range and I'll happily go on holiday with one board, one mast, one boom and 8.2, 6.6, 5.7 5.2 And three fins. (You gotta love adjustable head caps on sails)