Cracking after work session... Wind built steadily during time out on water...

Started with SS69 Gold / RSS MKIII 7.8 / Zero 46cm but the 46cm fin soon became too much with all sorts of railing issues! Swapped that out for the 43cm fin which was a big improvement. I think the SS69 only really needs more fin than the 43cm in really marginal conds and it was far from marginal today! Had a superb run around on this combo for a while but as the wind increased I found it was the water state that was creating control problems (fwd rails catching over chop mainly), albeit that the 7.8 was starting to become a handful to hang onto!

Decided to grab my JP Slalom IV 60 for a few runs (only 2nd time out on it!), ideally I'd have used a 35cm fin with it to balance the 7.8 but I don't have one so used the 37cm fin I had for my old Slalom 109. It proved to be a remarkably good combo and despite the fact that I hadn't had a play around on a board as small as the SL60 for 6 or 7 years plus, I found it relatively easy to use and get going. The improved board control over the SS69 allowed me to stay on the 7.8 for a good while longer but looking back at the tracks all the top speeds were on the bigger combo in the (relatively speaking) lighter winds which is why I've posted that as the main board. Only issue on the SL60 was round the corners, still need to fine tune my gybing (and get more time on these small boards) to get those planing exits that it really needs (although I did get PLENTY of waterstart practice!). Surprisingly I ended up sticking with the small board for a good chunk of the session, switching to the RSS MKIII 7.0 and 33cm fin for a while towards the end which improved control even further.

Session marred by the fact that I couldn't see properly as during an early crash I'd lost one contact lens and broke one of my harness lines!!! Must remember to stick some spare lenses in the car!

Lovely to be out on a sunny evening and I sailed until it was pretty much dark - had to put the car headlights on to pack everything away!

More time definately needed to dedicate to improving my gybe technique back to where it was when I was 20-21 and more time needed out on the smaller kit - keep the wind coming...