Day 24 - My Last Sail.

I got up this morning completely exhausted, After the customary look out side to see how the day was beginning I made my way to the couch. I jumped on the net and checked out the forecast, Yep there would be wind but much later in the afternoon. It was the hottest day we've had so far, It was only 7am and you could feel it already. The wind was coming from the east and bringing all that hot desert air with it, By 11am it was 40 degrees and not very nice at all. I got myself a cold drink and positioned myself on the couch under the A/C, It wasn't long and I fell asleep.

I must have needed the sleep as I dozed on and off all day and finally felt like getting up at about 3pm. I headed down to St Georges for what possibly would be my last sail of the trip, It was still blowing SE and there was a massive wind shadow near the beach...You needed to swim your kit out about 50m before you could water start.

Not overly strong I had a 6.7 up and my X-cite ride, Just good cruising. The wind swung from SE to S all afternoon and at times made things quite interesting. The sun was dipping lower and It was getting harder to see out to sea, I was blasting out and caught a pot rope at full speed and took a massive dive, now that woke me up. I got it together and sailed back to the beach...That would be it for today. As I packed up I noticed that I had dinged the nose of my JP again...A good one it was. Thank god its getting chopped up when I get home.....I may have cried, It didn't smash the nose, didn't even crack the paint.....It's just a perfect imprint of the mast and about 20 cm long.

It's been a great trip and I hope you have all enjoyed my blog...This may be It until I get home.

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone back at the swamp and can't wait for the next trip to SP.

See you all soon.

Day 23 - No Mental Health Day.

Back at Coronation today, About midday and It's already 25 knots and I'm armed with a 5.0 and my 95. Had some good wave rides and even managed to get my first aerial today, Wasn't huge but it felt good, just a nice little pop off the lip......I'm starting to get hooked on waves, That's all I'm thinking of at the moment....Waves.

By late afternoon I was fully powered on my 5.0 and starting to make mistakes, I was tired and wasn't sailing my best so I called it for the day.

Heading back into town we pulled into Sunset Beach for a look and a couple of beers, for our enjoyment a single sailor was out putting on a show, They weren't big waves.....Just nice.

We watched for about an hour, It was pure magic...What windsurfing is all about.

Enjoy the pics.

Day 22 - HOLY F@#%ING SHIT!

Wasn't a very nice day today....For me anyway. The wind really started to pick up about lunch time, I went out for a few hours on my 5.0 before the southerly really kicked in. The BOM only registered gusts of up the 30 knots but it had to be way windier then that.

On the beach looking out over the water waiting for a chance to launch I was being battered by the wind, My 4.7 nearly being ripped from my hands as I waited. With my 95 still in being fixed It was going to be a ruff ride, I was not looking forward to it...But with only a few days left I was not going to let It go.

I beach started an within milliseconds I was maxed out...Full speed and not even in the straps yet, A few awkward moments later I was settled and blasting out. Out of the smooth stuff I hit the chop out the back, Not good. I couldn't keep the board flat, Tried to pinch upwind to kill some speed but I just went faster, Tried to sheet out...Didn't work, I was not liking It at all.

Back at the beach I tried to kill some of the power in the 4.7, downhauled and outhauled to the max. It made no difference at all, I kept at It for about an hour and managed to survive...Just.

Everything was hurting, my ankles, Shoulders, Knees and the graze up my leg had been opened up again....I called it quits. I sat on the beach felling a little sorry for myself and just watched the last few sailors finish out the session. As they come in one by one I checked out the sails, 4.0, 3.7 even a 3.2, I had no chance.

Next year I'll bring a 4.2 and a board around 80 litres, If It's still to windy for that I'll sit on the beach and watch.

It's my last few days, It's been nothing short of awesome and I'll definitely be back next year. It looks like there will be wind up until Wednesday and then nothing for the rest of the week. If the forecast does not improve I'll leave early and make the trek back across Australia, I'm looking forward to coming home and catching up with everyone.

Another 25-30 knot day tomorrow, If I don't get my 95 back I'm taking a mental health day and just going to chill. Wednesday will be 15-20 and that will be it for the wind until Sunday afternoon at which point I'll be well on my way home.

Bring tomorrow on....

Day 21 - 5.0

8am and It's already blowing 25 knots outside, It's going to be a big day.

We packed the van and headed for Coronation, We arrived about 10am rigged and hit the water. It was really flat to start, not much swell but it was building.....As was the wind. I didn't have my 95 fixed yet so I was on my 113 with a 5.0 and it was quite a good setup for the day, The wind was a bit gusty today...not like at home, but just gradually undulated from between 20-30 knots.

Being on the 113 today was good I didn't have to think about my balance and could just enjoy my sailing, Tacks are super easy and there's plenty of float to get me through the gybes and to surf the waves.

3pm and the swell was coming in nicely now and the wind had finally settles into a constant 25 knots, I had just enough power to cruise out to the waves and catch a ride back in. Some of the sets were coming through head high now, It was awesome fun....You were purely just surfing the waves as there was bugger all wind while on the wave to power the sail.

I decided to call it a day and just sit on the beach and just watch for a while, Wasn't long before I noticed the Naish sail of Kai Lenny out in the waves, We hadn't seen him for a few days and no one had actually even seen him arrive here today. A few loops later he came into the beach, stepped off his board, Effortlessly popped his kit on his head and walked up the beach and placed it down next me.

"Hey how's things, Are you heading out" said Kai, This started our conversation. Turns out he's here in Australia for some sponsor commitments with RedBull over on the east coast, Once he completed that he came west for some port tack training. They had been up at Spot X for most of the arvo and then sailed down to Coronation. He was an easy kid to talk to, never had a swelled head, just loved anything to do with water sports. He plans to finish school next year and then do collage by correspondence so he can concentrate on the PWA Tour, He wants to be world champion....You can tell. We talked for a while about windsurfing in general and what he thought about Australia.

It was time to go....Same sort of forecast for tomorrow.
Must make the best of it, My last week.

Day 20 - Wipe Out.

Today was awesome, Powered up 5.4 and my 95....Coronation Rocks.

There was some good swell today which produced some nice little wave rides and some jumps. I was getting quite confident and going after some of the bigger waves with some good results. I wiped out a lot but I was having fun, My recovery and waterstarts are quicker so I'm not getting put through the washer as much these days.

I was getting a little too confident...The wind picked up and my brain was telling me to come in and change down, Did I listen...No.

Well overpowerd and just screaming, I kept it all together for quite a while before I lost It....

I lost it in a big way, Damaged board and blood....

As I turned downwind to enter a gybe I knew I was over powered but I continued, I sheeted in hard and started the carve...I got smashed with a gust and some how lost my grip on the boom, As the sail sheeted out and the board lost grip everything just exploded. I got whipped around the front and I felt my knee hit the board then I hit the water. When I came up I was about 10m from my kit and a head high wave was about to smash me. I ducked under the wave and when I surfaced my kit was now about 50m away...I don't like swimming after my kit....

I eventually got to my gear, waterstarted and headed for the shore...It was time to change down.

I got to the beach and noticed a big crack in my boards rail, It must have been my knee....I had the shits now. I know that damaging stuff is part of the game we play but I don't have to like It.

I left the board on the beach and took my sail up to the car, While returning to the beach for the board some dude asked me If I was ok and was pointing at my leg...There was blood from my knee to my foot, It appears as my right knee hit the board and crushed the rail I had slid my left shin over the non-slip deck and had a graze from my knee to my ankle....Nothing life threatening but It could have been avoided If I'd listened to that little voice that said "Your out of you league, Go and change down...NOW!"

Anyway the boards in getting fixed and the leg is not a problem, Skin grows back...eventually. It did sting like a bitch when I got in the shower though.

Its back on tomorrow 25-30 knots....Can't wait.....I will listen this time.

Looked like a good one...

But after we cleaned it up, Nothing more then a graze.

Day 19 - US-1112 Comes To Town.

A good day today, We started with a lunch time session at St Georges beach on a fully powered 6.2 and 113, The swell was back...It was a blast.

Apparently I did a massive rocket air today, Onlookers were waiting for a backie....I was to busy shitting my shorts. I know It was big as it took forever to come down, I had time to look around and pick a spot to crash, lucky for me I landed it and with a few pumps I sailed away.

There was some dolphins out playing in the surf today which was pretty cool, Surfin the waves and playing games with us...Dolphins aren't afraid to drop in on you.

We packed up and headed home for some food and to packed the esky for the trip out to Coronation for an afternoon session. We arrived about 4pm and for a change Coronation was uncrowded, Probably a dozen riders at the most. Talking to one of the locals at St Georges, They were all heading for Gnaraloo as the wind and swell was heading that way, They can have that It's not called TombStones for nothing.

As I looked out deciding on what to rig I watched this dude pull of a massive backloop, Text book and almost in slow motion and landed perfectly. I watched on for a bit just to see what else he was going to do. As he got out to the bus stop and tacked to come back in he proceeded to absolutely cave up the waves on the way in, He was good.

As It turns out It was US-1112, 17 year old PWA super star Kai Lenny....It was awesome, I just sat there all afternoon and Watched the show....It didn't bother me at all not to sail.

I finally remembered that I had a camera in the van so I got a few shots, hope you enjoy.

Day 18 - Sandboarding.

Well that's what we were going to do...We'd got the word that the wind was a bit better up north so we got in the van and drove.

We ended up at Kalbarri...A National Park on the ocean, It has it all. Extreme tours every where, Jet boats, Sandboarding, Quad bikes, Mountain biking and Nature walks galore and the list goes on. You can buy a resort there for 3.6 million...A bargin.

The plan was to do a half day tour on the quad bikes and finish up at the 280 foot tall dunes for some sandoarding...The plan changed.

As we drove into town we were met with one of the best flatwater windsurfing locations I've seen. The Murchison river mouth, Protected by a natural rock bar that does not let the swell in...Its just super flat.

The wind was not all that strong....gusting to about 20 knots and perfectly side shore, I rigged my 6.2 and 113. A few pumps and I was away, the runs were not all the long but it was good fun. The water looked to be only a few feet deep but I'm sure it was deeper...It was just crystal clear.

There were fish everywhere, It would be a good place to drop a line...If we were not having so much fun ripping back and forth.

The wind was much stronger up near the river mouth, Maxing out the 6.2 at times. The better sailing was a bit further down, Super flat....It looked to be freestyle Mecca...No one else was here.

It Didn't bother us at all, Having this all to ourselves...The sandboarding would have to wait again .

We got back into Geraldton about 5pm....Pulled into St Georges for the customary after sail drinks. There was a few locals out so we rigged and went again...we sailed to about 7pm and called it a day....Should sleep well tonight.

I snapped a few pics of the river....Its good isn't it.