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.
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