sboardcrazy (24824km):
2250 days ago 15-22kts W then 25-30kts W Peel st Budgewoi Lake, NSW, AU level .217
6.2mOD - 80ltre iso- 18cm FF then
70ltre patrick - 18FF then 16kestrel
First 1.30hr plus was a bit patchy. The gusts were good but I probably would have been better on the 87. Came in for lunch and thought about going out on the 87ltre and 6.6m but then decided I'd do an Andrew.. I really wanted to try the new toy so even though I thought I'd only get a few gusts I went back out with the 70ltre.
Wow the wind actually came in more consistently for once! I was told to use the 16cm kestrel in the 70ltre but I've never liked them so i took the 18cm FF out..It didn't like that at all! Slide sideways..I may not have been set up properly but by now I was pretty tired so came in and plugged in the Kestrel.. Much better!
I'd been out for 3hrs by now and was pretty stuffed but I got a good feel for things.. I can slog along on it ok ( so long as it's deep enough to slog start)..It's a buzz bearing away! I kept being tempted downwind which was a pain as I will need to get used to getting the board and kestrel upwind when not fully powered.
First gybe I would have made but I ran aground, second I killed the speed but made it ok ( it's nice to know I don't need to be doing fully planing ones to suceed ). The next I overthought the narrowness and ended up stepping on my other foot as I tried to change feet..After that I was getting too tired to try.
I'm looking forward to a nicely powered 20kts to get used to it. It really kicked in then and I did a few runs but then figured I was an accident waiting to happen and might end up in the trees so I came in. It felt very fast and I got a 32kts on the way in and I was very impressed with the kestrel holding in the bigger chop..must be the narrow tail of the 70ltre..The front harness line was too far back and by the time i got in my forearm tendons felt stretched and dead so I called it a day.
It was blowing 25-30 by now. Their should be some good speeds from the others.
Looking forward to having another go when I'm fresh.
Lots out - Rus , Mick , Norm , Andrew , Greg , Byron , Lyd's , Jeff , Bruce and others. My sail had so much salt on it i couldn't see through it which was a bit scary checking before I gybed. I've just rinsed it now.
I think the 70ltre will end up a favourite once I'm used to it.
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