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.

Day 17 - A Few Too Many Brews

Tied one on last night, We packed an esky and wandered over to Point Moore to watch the kiters and the one lone windsurfer who was keeping up the fight. It was easy to pass the time, The show on the water, The sun setting over the horizon, The cool seabreeze and the serenity....Good company, a few tall stories and about a thousand beers later it was time to go home.

10am I woke and didn't like it...It felt like I'd been hit by a sledge hammer. Didn't look like I'd be making the planned sandboarding trip today, I needed more sleep.

Several hours later I got my act together, got my ass out of bed and showered. I jumped on the net and checked out the forecast. Today may be salvaged after all, There was to be no wind today but it was now showing a 15-20 knot southerly...That will be fine.

We got down to the beach about 3pm and it was windy enough for the 7.2, I rigged and went out. I had a blast today, good solid runs and some nice chop hops. I was still having control issues when out the back, the swell was pretty sharp today.....I'd jump one bit of swell and just smash into the next, If I did manage to time it right I'd clear the second bit of swell for a nice landing...but it was rare to get it right.

Experimentation time, I've read that the outboard straps give you a lot better control over a board, Especially a big board like the Xcite Ride. I came in and moved the straps and headed back out...When you move the straps there hard to find. A few runs and I'd found the straps and settled in, I proceeded to blast out past the marker.

I was out into the swell and feeling very comfortable, The board was gliding over over the chop well. The first potential chop hop presented itself...I hit It hard and fast, Launched and tucked myself up into a ball....I actually flew through the air, A long jump rather then just up and down...It was the most perfect landing, Off the wind, nose first and at full speed...just awesome.

We continued to sail all afternoon...It was a good session.

Sandboarding tomorrow.

Day 16 - A Big Kit Day

The forecast was for a 20-25 knot seabreeze....It never came. It threatened all day.....looking like it was going to pickup, Just didn't. It's the first time I've not seen the sun In Geraldton since being here, overcast all day....It just seemed to kill the wind.

2pm came and we decided to head down to St Georges and see what was going on, Nothing that's what. We sat around for a while and the wind did start to build, showed moments of promise so we rigged.

Sitting on the beach with a couple of 5.8s rigged and waiting, Matt rang around a few of his mates to see what was going on...there was still hope.

It picked up a bit more so we went out, a few pumps and I was going....100 meters and I stopped, Slogged for 50 meters and up and going again...It was crap. The wind was alternating between 10 and 20 knots, It was on or off....you could not get a decent run in.

Back on the beach disappointed, another day with no sailing....And with the next 2 days being forecast to have no wind it was going to shit me to tears. Anyways It'll give my hands a bit of a rest, I've developed some serious calluses on my hands due to all the sailing, Not even as a pubescent young lad did I wear my hands out like this.

As I sat there watching the sun descend towards the horizon a van pulled into the car pack and proceeded to unload, out comes a sail, a board bag...Maybe the seabreeze is about to come in, you can't beat local knowledge.

A learner, 180 litres and a 5.0...Anyway its good to see new people taking up the sport. It would have been the perfect afternoon to work on some of the basics and that's what he did, beach starts, tacks, and light wind gybes. At least he was out on the water, As I watched I noticed him pull off a water start with his 5.0, maybe it's a bit windier then I thought. When he next came in I got to talking to him...In the gusts he could get going, So I rigged and went out in search of the wind.

7.2 and 120 litres, That should get me going....and It did, As soon as I got out off the wind shadow I was at warp speed. It didn't last for long, I just caught one of the 20 knot gusts...But I was able to plain all evening. Fully powered at times and just gliding along at other times, I did come in for a smaller fin and to adjust my foot straps but i sailed non stop for a few hours.

As the sun started to dip below the horizon I called it a day.

No wind for the next few days, sandboarding and quad bikes...Sounds like a plan.

Day 15 - No Wind (3/28)

The wind was forecast for a solid 20 knot afternoon seabreeze.....but it never came.

Did nothing at all today.

Tomorrow looks good.

An all day blast by the look of the forecast.

We'll see.

Day 14 - Sunset Beach

6.2, 113 litres and about 20 knots...Was a good solid sail today.

There was not much wind about in the morning so we just went for a drive out to Coronation and went for a SUP and a bit of a swim/snorkel. It was getting hot so we decided to go back into town and get ready for the afternoon winds.

We chose Sunset today, a bit less crowded, less lobster pots and It holds a bit of swell. A few little wave rides, some average jumps and some screaming broad reach runs...It was a lot of fun.

We were having some drag races today and I came so close to a massive wipe out....It scared the crap out of me. It happened so quick I don't really know what went wrong, At full speed and absolutely convinced I was going to set a new PB for myself I somehow became detached from the board. I was going fast and I could hear Matt coming up on my inside, I didn't want to be beaten so I put the hammer down. I was skipping over the chop and accelerating...I knew I had him beat, I glanced over my shoulder to give him a smile and I lost it. I Still have no idea what happened, it was a split second...The board got all crossed up, my front foot was out of the straps and I was going to die. Somehow I managed to keep my back foot in the strap and pull the board back in under my ass and get my front foot back in and sail away.....The adrenalin was pumping. It would have been the biggest wipeout I'd ever had, lucky for me I got away with It.

With that I called it a day....Back into it tomorrow.

Day 13 - Powered 5.8

Fully refreshed after a good nights sleep....The Morning sesh was back on.

11am, 18 knots and building......thought I best rig for was coming, not what was here at the moment. I got out my 5.8 and 113, I'm really starting to enjoy the 113. Sadly this will be its final trip...I just hope the new JP 112 FSW is as good, must be it's got PRO-EDITION written on it.

Wasn't long before the wind picked up enough to have the 113 screaming along, I was well powered and loving it. I put together a quick vid to show how rough It is off St Georges, the water may look smooth but as you can see by the camera shake...It was bloody rough.

The wind picked up to about 25 knots so I dropped down a board size, the 95 sailed much more smoothly in the rough conditions...Though It was harder to keep it from launching off chop, but it didn't get pushed around in the swell. Pulled off a lot of non-plaining gybes, the 95 is much faster in the turn...I just have to speed up my rig flip and foot change and I think I'll have it.

It was about 2pm and we decided we'd pack up and head to Coronations for the rest of the afternoon.

It was gusting up to 30 knots now, a fully downhauled 5.0 and 95 and a few hours of madness, I got absolutely shit scared a few times....Too much air.

Never bailed once.....What will tomorrow bring.

Day 12 - Nothing Real Special

I'm starting to skip the morning sessions now....I'm really feeling it. I'm sleeping later into the morning and finding it hard to get my ass out of bed, I'm saving myself for the more consistent afternoon southerly.

Today was nothing special, 15-20 knot seabreeze...We headed for Coronations and arrived about 3pm, I rigged my 6.7 and 113 Fanatic and sailed through to about 7pm. I worked on my jumps and gybes. Coros is a much better Place to work on the gybe, Flat water and good steady wind. We stopped off at St Georges beach on the way home for a few beers and a chat with the locals...Three beers later I felt like I'd had a session, The body really soaks it up when your dehydrated...thank god Matt was doing the driving.

Heading to bed early tonight, It's suppose to be on tomorrow...I need some rest.

Enjoy the pics from today.

Day 11 - Begins on the couch

Got up this morning on a mission, The carve gybe....Must crack the carve gybe. I loaded my Guy Cribb DVD into the player and pressed play....Intuition, It has to be the best carve gybe instructional DVD available. I watched it not once but twice and what did I get out of it, that fact that I needed to go back and work on the basics.

I hit the water about 2pm with a single agenda, Concentrate on the basics of windsurfing. Stance, foot steering, Rig tuning and control at speed is what I was going to master today, The carve gybe would have to wait till another day.

With the wind being a bit stronger today, 20-25 knots I opted for a smaller kit. I rigged my 5.8 and fitted it to my 113 and stuck with this all afternoon, At times I was over powered but most of the time it was perfect.

The first run out was fast, real fast.....as I headed upwind the board snapped violently sideways at full speed, It must have kept sliding for at least 50 meters before I managed to snap it back in a straight line. My stance was wrong, I was loading my back foot and causing spin out...I needed to get more weight into my harness and off my feet....I raised my boom about 2cm and It seemed to do the trick no more spinout.

I played with my harness lines a bit, moving them back and forth trying to find the sweetspot, I got annoyed in the end and pulled out the famous Cribb Sheet and tried it out, It works perfectly. Who would have thought a piece of elastic could be a valuable rig tuning tool, But it works 100% no need for any further adjustments.

Foot steering has never been an issue for me, I just needed to get more aggressive with it to get my carving skill up to speed. I just did what I use to but really got my heals and toes into it, Toes when carving downwind and heals when carving upwind, Really pushing into the board. My carving was getting quite smooth and I could throw a good bit of spray.

Speed, I've done 31.2 Knots at home on the lake...I know I can go faster, There's just a lot more chop in the ocean to deal with. Speed and not being in control don't mix well...If you are not comfortable your never going to sail fast. The first thing that came to mind in the DVD was to drop my ass down low and point my elbows down, this apparently gives me more down force and thus more control over the board. Sitting down like this also causes you to sheet in which causes you to accelerate instantly, Start using my legs I think to myself...shock absorbers, Hey it actually works wonders. I was flying, full speed over huge chop...the board would only launch out off the water if I commanded it to, I was in complete control.

Cranking up wind on a smaller board, I applied the same technique that I used yesterday for getting up wind and It still worked, Yes I've master going up wind. I could point high into the wind and still hold my speed...things were going well.

I did start on my gybe today, Just a few goes....and guess what...I got around on nearly all my attempts...No planning carve gybes though, just carving round, foot change and rig flip and slog out the other side, One step closer. The one thing I noticed today about my gybe was I use to flip the rig way to late, I'd almost be fully around before I flipped the rig, which would almost be fully powered clew first by that stage....Too much power and out of control. I now change my feet and flip the rig much earlier and it seems to be working for me...can't wait for tomorrow. I think I need to go somewhere a little flatter to crack the gybe, I've been sailing off St Georges and while in close to the shore it's reasonably flat, out at the channel marker there is some step and nasty chop....It can't be the easiest place to learn to gybe....We'll see.

Day 10 - St Georges beach

11am and we're hitting the water, the wind is about 15-18 Knots and It's about to be the best day I've had so far. Not that conditions were anything special, just good comfortable sailing on flat water with consistent wind.

As it was nothing special I rigged my 7.2 and 120lt JP, Straight on the plain and no stopping until I wanted to...It was a good day. We finished up at about 8pm, We were worn out.

The lobster pots were out again today but more then I've seen in the past, I think the local fishermen had it in for us. The pots are normally spaced quite evenly and in some sort of line down the coast, you could always pick a path between them. Not today...Random spacing and at varying locations out to sea. It was nothing short of a mine field, you could get through ok with a small wave or weed fin....A 34cm freeride fin had no chance.

Going upwind has always been my Achilles' heel, I have never been able to get upwind as much as the average sailor...Today that came to an end. Today I finally worked out a technique that suited my sailing style, I've read every book and watched every DVD on the subject, no one thing really worked for me...But I've now got it worked out.

Cranking upwind, I've got the lobster pots to thank for that...If you can't get up wind you loose so much ground down wind trying to miss the ropes. You just end up in no mans land, and with the long walk of shame back. Why not just sail back out you say...Well you could...but sailing into a sun that is setting...you cant see anything, including the ropes your trying to miss because of the bloody glare. When you leave the beach you pick a marker to sail to, this will guide you on a safe course out through the ropes, on the way back in you can pick out the floats on the ropes, you sail back in as high upwind as you can point...Straight for one of the floats. As you approach the float you bear away so you skim past the float on the down wind side, this gets you past the rope on the pot down wind of you and safely through the first lot, the ropes on each pot are about 20-25 meters long, Don't think you safe if your between 2 floats...you may get through, but you may not. If you catch a line It would result in a nasty catapult or at worse tear out you fin box. Once past the first you bear away again and get as much speed as you can to crank upwind to the next float, repeat this process until you have a clear sail to the beach. A lot of hard work you say but it has helped me fix a problem I've had for a while.

Next is the gybe...planning one that is, I'm going to work on this for the rest of the trip. I need to crack it before I go home....It's my goal for this trip and I haven't started on it yet.

Time to get on with it.

Day 9 - The Doctor Never Came. (2/28)

2nd day of the trip with no wind, No drama it was good to rest. We spent the day replenishing supplies, beer and the odd bit of food. We also did the bit of house keeping...I was out of undies so I had to put a load through the wash.

Went for another snorkel around the reef off Sunset, I need to get myself a spear gun...there's some good fish there. Probably should check the rules first...I don't want to get in the crap for spearing some endangered species.

After the morning swim we decided to go to the local cinema to watch a movie, Sherlock Holmes was what we decided on. It was quite entertaining and worth the odd laugh, I'd recommend it as movie worth seeing.

We returned to the cottage and cleaned out the van, had sand everywhere. I noticed a small split in the nose of my JP, It was where I'd previously repaired it before...so while we had some down time I repaired it again. Not a very good job, just bogged it up as it only has to make it through this trip and then its being retired.

We went out for dinner, Topolinis restaurant was our choice...Very wholesome food and cold beer. I had lamb rump with roasted vegetables, Should not have ordered the bread as well...I was so full. It was the biggest portion of meat I've ever had at a restaurant...the vegies were cooked to perfection, even the baby broccoli was good. If your ever in Geraldton I'd recommend paying Topolinis a visit, You won't be disappointed and they do good pancakes for breakfast as well.

Tomorrow has the wind returning, 20-25 knots afternoon seabreeze...am looking forward to it.

Day 8 - Coronation Again.

11am and I'm hitting the water...nothing real special, gusting to about 20 knots at a guess. I rigged my 6.2 and attached it to my 113 and headed out. I'm a lone sailor today, there are others waiting patiently for the afternoon seabreeze to come. I slogged out until I got out of the wind shadow, the wind was cross-off this morning and touched down on the water about 100 meters out. Once I hit the wind I was up and going with only a couple of pumps, It's pure joy to sail in conditions like this.

I spent the next couple of hours working on my gybe and fast tack, I'm actually getting worse...My body is tired, not use to sailing day after day and so powered up. I'm making lots of mistakes and starting to get frustrated with myself, time for a break.

One more go before I break for lunch, The swell was starting to build and I made a run out to the waves, caught a little run into the beach....this restored my faith in my ability to sail. I tacked and started back out, I did notice the odd Bluebottle today as I was sailing but didn't give it much thought, Until I got stung that is. Not that a Bluebottle sting is that painful, more just annoying really. The first sting was across my feet but I just kept sailing out to the waves and tacked, Stuffed my tack and went in. When I surfaced the stings were immediate, across my face and arms. I swam my board into water start position and proceeded to get up and head towards the beach. More and more stings I could feel, on my back, chest and legs. Looks like I was lucky enough to fall into the biggest Bluebottle gathering know to man.

I got back to the beach and picked off the tentacles I could see and one of the other sailors helped pick them off my back, I now had the shits well and good. I called it a day and packed up my kit and headed for town.

A cold shower to kill the sting then some lunch. After lunch I grabbed a beer, took up position on the banana lounge out the back, the cool afternoon breeze on my body was very relaxing...Soon I was asleep.

5 hours later I woke, missed my afternoon session that I'd planned with a few other sailors at St Georges...Obviously my body needed the recharge. I feel good now and can't wait to hit the water tomorrow.

Day 7 - The wind came.

For a forecast that had only light wind predicted the day ended up pretty sweet, We started the day by going to the Batavia Coast Dive Academy and buying some snorkeling gear...We assumed there would be not much else to do today. We went down to the foreshore and went snorkeling around the rocks for a while, It was cool...Might have to look into some diving lessons.

After our morning swim we went to the Geraldton museum to fill in some time...It's been some time since I've done anything educational, my brain kind of hurt. It was actually ok, the ship wreck exhibition was good and kept me interested.

Back to the cottage and time to watch some more windsurfing DVDs, Tricktionay this time...Thanks to Akim for the lend, Most of the tricks in these DVDs are beyond me at this stage but there is still some handy stuff to know.

The movies were over and it was time to do something productive, clean out the van I thought. This lasted all of 2 seconds after I went out side and could see the trees...The southerly was coming. We jumped in the car and went straight for St Georges beach...It was good enough to sail. I rigged my 8.5 Helium and went out on my 120, I was planning within seconds...The Helium is hard work so it wasn't long before I came in and changed down to my 7.2.

The next couple of hours were magic, screaming back and forth, The odd chop hop here and there...It was a good sail. Even got some video...Not the best footage but I'll work on it.

Anyway enjoy the video....Coronations tomorrow and 20-25 knots, should be good.

Day 6 - No Wind (1/28)

First day of no wind...I'm itching already. I'm getting use to the time difference and actually slept till about 8am today, We went for breakfast at a good coffee shop called the Salt Dish...It was very good food, bacon and eggs with a little extra.

While we were out and about I went shopping for all the bits and pieces I needed to get my video cameras up and running, a few cables, some extra rechargeable batteries and some SD cards...I own about a thousand SD cards but do you think I packed any to bring.

What to do in the Windsurfing Capital of Australia when there's no wind, well watch windsurfing DVDs that's what. We started the day with RIP from Robby Naish, followed that with the Polakow movies and lastly a classic, Trade Winds.

It's now lunch time and we decided to go and try out some of the local seafood, Skeeta's restaurant is where we chose to eat. Local lobster was on the menu so I thought I'd give it one last chance, as lobster has not impressed me in the past. Today I was surprised, It was good...not the best thing I've ever eaten but very good. Coupled with a few beers and the view out over the foreshore it was magic.

With lunch over we returned to the cottage and engaged in a few more beers and some tall stories. I decided to see if the laptop was capable of doing some video editing, so I pieced together some dodgy video from the trip over as a prelude to what will follow. Hopefully my video shooting skills will get better as most of the footage shoot was total crap, Could not use it...What I managed to salvage went into the above video. The video I shot at Coronations was so shaky I just deleted the lot, It's apparently hard to shoot video footage hand held in 40 knot gusts, I'll use a tripod next time......The GoPro is ready to go also.

Day 5-Coronation Beach

Not a whole lot to report for today, There was no wind to begin with...So I borrowed a SUP board and just went for a SUP at Coros for something to do. You could see everything, the fish, the reef...on a quite day the water it is crystal clear, Your probably better off not knowing what your sailing over. Caught a couple of small wave on the SUP, A nice board from OES Australia. It was quite fun...wiped out heaps, its not as easy as it looks.

The wind picked up a little and I was bored so I rigged my 7.2 and fixed it to my 120 and went for a light wind cruise. I sailed out to where the waves were forming to catch a few rides and proceeded to do this for the next hour or so. Sailing with no wind was hard work and with the WA sun beating down on me I declared it a day.

As I drove back into town I swung by St Georges to see what was happening and noticed a few locals out....I could not help myself, I needed a fix. Once again I rigged the 7.2, 120 and went for a decent sail this time. A few learners were out, I did have a laugh on a few occasions...It brought back memories of me and where I was 2 years ago. Thank God I've gotten better, It's must have been entertaining for the guys back at the swamp when I started out.. This time around St Georges was the beach I remembered, flat water in close and some good chop out by the Chanel marker. Some nice runs and chop hops were the order of the day. Jumping was limited as the foot was causing some discomfort, It has some nice bruising and is quite swollen...might go and get it X-rayed just in case, don't think anything is broken though(fingers crossed).

The forecast has us down for no wind at all for Saturday and Sunday, What else does Geraldton have to offer...I don't know but I'll find out. We might go fishing or we could just park ourselves in the local and have a few brews and talk some shit...I'm sure we'll find something to fill in the next 2 days. Monday has the wind coming back with green arrows across the week, so some rest will be good as it looks like next week will be on.

Day 4 - Another awesome day a Coronation

A good day today, back on some familiar gear...the trusty JP 120lt and 6.2 Alpha, my favourite kit when i sail at home. Some of the locals looked a bit amazed, i don't think they have ever seen such a big sail or board, at home we regularly use 7.0+.

The day started about lunch time for me, i was the second guy out and even with a 6.2 there was times i was just slogging out. The wind picked up later and a 5.8 and 113lt would have been the weapon of choice, but being lazy i just stuck with what i had already rigged.

Waves, what a wonderful thing they are...They give you so much acceleration and the feeling of riding a wave is like nothing I've experienced before...in a sport anyway. This is my first serious go at wave riding(serious for me that is), I've caught the odd one before but only by mistake...really never had the balls to take them on seriously, In the past I'd just get through the breakers and played around out the back until i had the come back in. Now things have changed, the beauty of Coronation beach is that it eases you into it. You start at the first set and as you gain experience and confidence you just keep working your way out and catch some of the bigger waves.

Jumps, you are almost forced to jump...I tried the approach of absorbing the ramps with my legs, this worked with swell up to about 1m high but anything over that and you just launched anyway and because you were trying to keep the board down you just hit flat and hard. So i went with the flow, some i just cruised over other i launched off. I took the approach of just hitting the steeper waves and seeing how things would pan out...Not a good idea, I found out quickly if you don't commit to the jump you don't have control. Commit and things are much better, pulled of a few nice nose first landings today, i was very pleased with the control i had over such a big board. I played around a lot more with simple chop hops today and even manage to tweak it a little....I thought it was cool, could be wrong.

The day was drawing to an end and i decided to go for one last blast, i went out further than I'd ever been. As a wave reared up at me i thought I'd try again to gybe onto the wave...I'd done a few during the day with some good out comes. As i turned in it was going well but the wave was coming fast so i tightened up my turn a bit more, I was just about through the gybe i flipped the rig and was about to do the foot change but i was too crossed up and couldn't get my front foot out of the strap, I held it for what felt like ever but eventually lost control with my foot still stuck in the strap, then the mast jammed down on my foot and smashed it hard...After what felt like minutes i popped up and i could feel the pulsating pain in my foot. I stayed there for a minute or so until i could think, I was hurt and needed to get back. I swam my board around, each kick letting me know i was hurting. I water started and made my way back in, as i went for the straps a sharp pain went through my foot again, i looked down and could see quite a lot of blood...Time to exit the water(i don't have a love of sharks).

It turned out to be the smallest cut, it just bleed like no tomorrow but i certainly crush my foot good and proper, still hurts to walk.

Man up i hear you all say...That's exactly what i plan to do tomorrow.

Hope you like the Pics from today.