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.
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