Ledge to Lancelin.  iSonic 94, Ezzy 7.0, JP Weedy 31

Wind was very flukey, got a terrible start and pumped halfway to the first boat.

The second leg was a complete slogfest, and the wind only barely picked up as the race progressed.

The second last leg was the only one where I planed the whole way, and I wish the length was longer as after I rounded that mark I found myself coming in at main break!  Bit silly really.  Had to do another couple of gybes to have any hope of hitting the beach somewhere in the vicinity of the tavern.

The last leg was another slogathon, I was talking to another guy while we were coming in, we were lamenting the lack of wind this year... 

Anyway alls well that ends well, have to say the organisation of the registration process was much improved over last year.

3 categories

Ledge Point, WA, AU

LOC

pretty happy with my result, probably the wrong board choice, i was humming and haaring about weather to go big or small board before the start and small was not the best choice

and because of this i dropped all my jybes except for the last few where i had enough wind to actually plane going into the jybe

got an awsome start thanks to the elite row finishing in just above me so i snuck onto the front row 

it was a prime postion to watch matt L go over the handle bars about 10 metres into the race 

7.0 reflex, 57 mistral slalom, 31 jp weedy (thanks anita)

LOC slalom ( no gps for this )

nice day bit more wind but not to start with

decided i would definatly go big today but before the first race i came in and switched to the mistral again

i was in the 1st round there was a bit of confussion about the start but i was pretty sure i had it and i was first to the first mark nice jybe and then it was very high upwind back to the start mark but i made it another good jybe back out to the outside mark again sweet jybe then the downwind run to the finish made it with a nice jybe around the finish mark, was soooooooooo stoked i had beaten everyone

got in to find out that me and everyone else in round 1 had missed their race and had joined in race 2 

still stoked though that i won a race even if i wasn't in it 

went to go back out for the next race and when i picked up my gear and just couldn't with my right arm my right peck was really sore 

couldn't sail an actual race  so packed up and came home hoping that by being sensible i will heal for tomorrow

7.0 reflex, 57 mistral slalom, 31 jp weedy

this board is insane can't even imagine what its going to be like when the wind comes to play and i can get onto the 6.2

Ledge Point to Lancelin 7.3 Koncept, 120 Sonic. 44 FO pointer. had to stop and clear fin a few times, then popped the cam of the mast on the second last outside mark. got to inside mark but just couldnt waterstart and was too exhausted to uphaul so got in a boat. they had a very nice mackeral they had caught and cold beer for me. O well next year for me.

2 categories

LOC.

Enjoyed the race a lot this year.

Used my biggest kit...135XFire + 9.6 Code Red + 46 LE weedy, and planed most of the time.

Got a shocking start, the big kit is heavy and it's hard to do a fast le mans start.  Also had to contend with some clown in the row behind me barging his way through and pinning down my rig with his boom when I tried to get going .  Pretty sure i overtook him down the course, so justice was served.

First leg I noticed a lot of the fleet sailing high toward the police boat, so I sailed low toward the actual marker boat and made up a lot of ground.

From then on I had a pretty good race.  The big 9.6 was pulling me through some real light patches (prolly only 12-13K) and I was overtaking heaps of crew.

Third leg into the beach was a beauty, I got a nice squirt after rounding the mark and overtook about six guys when I planed past them .

On the last long reach out to sea I got smoked by Somepunk, but otherwise I was in good shape.  Made a bit of a tactical blunder on the last leg when I sailed most of the way in to the reef at Main Break, before tacking downwind to make the gate.  There was buggerall wind in close and I should have stayed further out to sea.

Last section from the gate to the beach was painful.  Dogging along in about 7-8 knots sailing almost dead downwind.  I got about 200m from the beach and fell in, after getting all the way down the course without dropping a gybe, but managed to recover fairly quickly.  Still I reckon I lost 5-6 places on the last leg.

Crossed the line just on the hour, in 48th place.

Pretty happy with that result.  My previous attmepts resulted in 134th (after getting smashed on big gear in 2010) and a DNF last year, so certainly a big improvement on those races.

Looking forward to next year already.  Given a clean start and a bit more breeze I'll be aiming for a top 30 finish in 2013.