Leschenault, WA, AU

well that was fun.....nah not really

i missed the best of it by being a slack bastard and not getting out early enough

sailed up the top end of the local swamp in the lee of buffalo road

was patchy,holey and not very enjoyable

good to catch up with mike,jonski and the busso boys and later on lunny and some of his crew.

used the usual iso 107 with a 33 tribal ws and a 6.2 overdrive R6 proto.

4 categories

Leschenault, WA, AU, Warp 6.3, Missile 49, VWS23@50

Got up early as the howling wind was keeping me awake and decided on Australind as the destination of choice mainly as I knew others would be there today.

Got onto the water around 7:30 extremely overpowered on my 6.3 but I don’t trust the boom for my 5.7 so felt it was the safer choice. This was my first time at this location so I had no real idea where the best launch was and just guessing that the flat water would be accessible at the north end. slowly worked my way up there and had sailed 20km by the time I discovered the speed run at the far North. I only had a couple of runs before the wind died and I decided to exit towards the nearest road rather than risk getting becalmed in the middle. I knew I was a fair way from my car but decided to start making my way down the road sure that I would get a lift somehow. sure enough 2 mins later a Cop car came past and picked me up he was a bit confused as to exactly what i was up to but dropped me off super-fast.

Funny day all round :)

1 categories

As John says, an adventure today.

The Bunno guys weren't exactly keeping this a secret, but I didn't realise it was actually a samphire speed bank.

Very low flat land upwind, with only the occasional small bush and the road, which is far enough away not to make much difference.

The other thing not mentioned is the flooding of the car park when the northerly drops off!

It was great to wet the new board, and yes the rear strap is a bit tight, but uesable, I'll see what I can do to get it more to my liking.

It doesn't feel as floaty as the old one, I was having trouble groveling in the lulls. But by the time I got to the speed bank the wind was very up and down, so a bit hard to tell.

Johnski text was awaiting me when I switched on before breakfast. So I knew he was there, but drove all the way down the road without seeing him or his vehicle. When I drove back I found out why, he'd hidden car and trailer behind the bushes, invisible going south, but obvious coming back north.

Then the wind started to do silly things, and I was trying to decide what to plug into the new board. By the time I decided on the 5.4, Ratz and the Busso boys had arrived. Then Johnski also arrived in a COP car! he'd thumbed a lift back, because he wasn't game to try sailing his 50l board back in dying wind.

Ratz then disappeared upwind while I was still stuffing around. I had a good run upwind, no holes and no over the top gusts, but struggled to line a good gust up with the flat water alongside the bank.

Ratz then disappeared again, this time down wind. I should have gone with him, but persevered hoping for some real speed on the new board.

Good job Johnski had driven his vehicle back to the speed bank, because it would have been a very long walk back to my wagon.

Followed John back down the drainage cannal, but came to grief when we got to the road. While climbing up the bank, my sail had decided to make a dam across one of the minor channels connecting some low lying land to the main eastuary. Water was now flowing back up the estuary and over my sail, there was no way I could lift it out, fortunately John gave a much needed helping hand.

Sorry about my wet arse on your seat John, but the lift was very much appreciated!

Another surprise when we got there, my wagon had water half way up the sills.

That northerly sure pushes a lot of water southwards, and it doesn't take long to come back once the northerly stops.

Here's my tracks.

 Looking at these tracks, the 23 @ 40/60 was probably a bit big, got me upwind very well, but probably slowed me a tad downwind. But the upwind legs did look choppy and I didn't want to be underfined.

That short vertical red line is my walk to the road and Johnski's car. It's a bit over 200m, so it's not having much effect on the wind.

I hit the water at 10:22 arrived at the speed bank 10:34, not great timing!