1 categories

Coodanup, WA, AU  Captain said Coodanup and midday was the place to be.  Based on 4 out of 4 perfect forecasts who was I to argue, so Coodanup it was..and this wind direction meant Chook pond again.  I asked Fangman if I could pick up the FF28 fin I had pre ordered so was arranged to pick up from his letter box.  I informed the flying chicken (Reg) of my plan as last time with a 15 knot forecast on the pond turned out to be one of the memorable magical sails (for me) and an effortless 100km so needed a team mate.

Luckily Fangman had already done the PowerBox fit but also mentioned no barrel nut done yet.   He was pretty busy but promised to try and get that done too by lunch.   I had a bunch of chores to get done so by the time I got to Fangman's place (rough spot by the way that close to the water) I was well behind schedule at about 1pm.  However, it was meant to be as Fangman had just got the barrel nut done.   All that was needed was some rough finishing with the angle grinder and I'd be off.  

Reg turned up about 20 seconds before me and I met him playing with some grass in the wind.   Close by, like in earshot, by some hippy types were playing with a different type of grass.  Reg made some comment about wondering where that weird smell was coming from and they took off.  Reg then inisited on going on a tourist drive and checking out the wind at this place, and then that place.  Knowing this was his style and knowing the forecast wind was best at noon and we already way into 1/2 time meant I was not gonna fall for his antics.

I had brought all my tools to fit a barrel nut and rough sand the fin so quickly took off the sharps bits on the leading edge and blunt it back a bit. Maybe a solid 10 seconds effort.   Didn't bother doing anything else as based on previous experience the rougher finish worked better.  Rigged up asap and got going.

Wind felt good immediately but resited to urge to turn downwind and test the fin out in the open water as I knew it would be good but better in the pond so aimed upwind and chugged to the crossover point.  Once in the pond the wind was better still and got immediately planing which was a good sign and proved the FF28 was a good investment. Slowly worked my way upwind where hopefully like last few times there would be some glass on offer.

Turned for what should have been the first glass run (very tiny bit) and just started moving when hit a very solid submerged object. Damm, brand new fin! Jumped off to investigate and was a monster limestone rock about 1m x 0.5m with a long stringer shooting off about 1.5m long.  Depth estimated was around 35-40cm.  It wasn't too sharp on top but have very sharp edges.  Not sure if I get naming rights for first to hit but this one I nominate "BONG" after the weed smokers and the weird shape of the rock with a sort of weird pipe shape coming out in a roughly NW direction. I'll sketch its shape and post later if I get around to it.  If someone has better name let me know.   Remembered I had a gopro on my head which was water proof so took some underwater footage of this beast.  Its position you should be able to determine from my KA72 track but will endevour to get a actual gps location and post in comments later.

By the time finished stuffing around here the wind had died a bit so the run to the first glass was an anticlimax. Got to it, turned around and hit two more rocks within a couple of meters of each other.   These were deeper and less problematic than 'Bong'   Names?: Phobos and Deimos as they felt like what their images look, miles away and not much of a threat but a bit going on these days with Mars?  

Fully expected the Bantam to have finished his tour de Mandurah and polluting the planet with his pointless quest by now and seeing me planing he would come over.  To pass the time waiting for my 'team mate' I decided to head all the way up wind to the boat channel and then attempt a run down through the patches of glass on the north side.  The trees would make a wind shadow for a bit of the run but those tiny patches of glass looked inviting.

Got fully upwind and made 3 or 4 goes at this "speed" run but the wind wasn't playing ball so I resolved to do a reconnaissance mission down the run for future reference.  Good thing I did.  First found a good sized log right where you would sail, so moved that out of the way.  Near the end of this run, near the inlet from another pond I hit another solid object. (These last 3 hits I all caught on camera)   Jumped off to investigate and yet another big rock, maybe 80cm by 50cm but this one had razor sharp bits all over it and would literally cut your foot in half if you landed on it.   Any fin passing by you probably woudn't notice at the time as its so sharp it would cut cleanly.   I attemped to move this beast but it wasn't going to happen.   I have minor cuts on my foot from testing it with caution.  Oddly while I was investigating this rock a mid sized sting ray came and checked the rock and I out.  Not sure if its appropriate but for this reason I name this rock Steve Irwin.  If there is a better name I have no issue.

After that since there was no sign of Reg and wind was pretty much depleted I headed home.  Since I recorded a bunch of the 'action' on gopro, including hopefull the ray at Steve Irwin rock I will post a video later.  If its not worth it, will at least post the tracks highlightling the postions of rocks and some pics of them.  To be sure I will take some kind of markers next time to indicate position of these.  What are best knowing the sensitivity of this area?  Floating style?   Steve Irwin by far is the worst danger as shallow and sharp as wil take either you or your fin out no question.

120 Tabou Rocket, 8.6 Severne Turbo M4, FF28 straight from the forge.  So glad I had the FF28 as else would have gone with the Tribal Weed speed 33 which would now be a 23 TWS judging by the impact point on the FF28.  I took some photos of the fin damage but they are all out of focus.  Suffice to say, its nothing that 2 secs on the flapper disk won't fix.  Starting to love these fins more and more.

Only regret is doing that one extra chore that I could have done later and thus bagged another 30+mins of good wind.  Not sure what happened to Reg but would have made a more entertaining session and better vid had he just rigged up and come over.  No records to broken today but very pleasant way to spend a few hrs.

1 categories

Windfoil, Melville Beach North, WA

Joined a great bunch of Wingfoilers in pretty marginal wind. Just Daz & I on the windfoils.

Still time on water which is always nice with the bonus of flight time

Lunny Foil88, SV HG4proto 9.0, 950/90&110/250&C55cm

3 categories

Shoalwater, WA, AU

Quick stretch in Shoalwater on the 105 xfire,7.0NX....Great recon session Jim and well researched.Great that you marked those rocks out and in particular the one near the weed bank. Well done.