Lake George Mission 2 - Session 1

A distance session was the plan but the wind had other ideas. I arrived to see Toby and his mate coming back to shore so I rigged large with the hope that it would fill in.  I had a few nice runs to try out the Lessacher Duo Weed 36 which I bought new 5 years ago and haven't used.  It did everything well and had no problems planing through the thick weed on the surface.  When slogging through the weed it would build up a certain amount and then jump over and dump the bale.  Ended up taking 3hrs to sail 30km.

Lake George, SSW 5-15

HD 83 - E5 8.6 - Duo Weed 36

Lake George Day 2

Session 1 - HD 83, 10m Machine, Duo Weed 36 - S 5-15

Another distance session was the plan but it was looking like yesterday so to get some runs on the board I headed out on the 10m Avanti on the 83 with the Duo Weed 36.  A light puff came through and I was away and the combo felt even more balanced than the 8.6 - what an amazing fin.  Had a few nice runs across the lake with a 31.9 peak on the 10m and some 31 10 second runs so it was time to change to a comfy/efficient setup to crank out some distance.

Session 2 - HD 66, 7.8m Evo5, Tomahawk 27 - S 15-20

Next up was the 7.8 in an old favourite board I built 10 years ago based on the F2 Stoke(Jamies Favourite model) coupled with the Tomahawk 27 I made for last trip.  Once powered up the combo felt nice and cruisey but a little touchy when trying to gain ground.  After 30 minutes or so I headed up wind into the thicker weed as the wind filled in and I was planing out of gybes.  I cruised around for an hour but ended up getting the new bootes caught and fluffed a gybe in the thick stuff. 

**This was by far the best session of the trip!  Plenty of hoots sailing near other sailors and the sun was shining, it was fantastic the interstaters were having a nice session to finish off.** 

I thought that would be ok for the hour but found 15 minutes of upwind work which was a little disappointing. I thought I would try speed...

Session 3 - SXS, 6.4m Evo4, Tomahawk 25 - S 20-25

I took a while to get going on this combo as it was a little gusty near the shore but once going it was ok.  I had 4 optional fins in the backpack come weight jacket.  The board is very light, not like my fallout shelter boards from the earlier sessions and I was wobbling all over the polace trying to get the booties in comfy.  I was also spinng out when heading into choppy gybes which might be a problem with the leading edge being too sharp.  I ended up fluffing a few gybes in the weed again which seemed to be caused by the F2 footstraps being more grippy than the Dakines on all of my other boards.  Starting in the weed was taking its toll so I thought I would try the Mistral 112 with the 6.4 to save some energy.

Session 4 - Mistral 112, 6.4m Evo4, Tomahawk 27 then Vector WS 27 - S 20-25

THis combo felt nice but not as comfy as the HD 66 from earlier so I popped in the Vector 27 from the backpack and tried to head upwind.  I was getting a few weird humming and clunking sounds and which may or may not have been weed being harvested and dumped.  The fin was still Intact when I checked and so I did a few laps of the speed run to take me over 100km for the day.  I would have liked to have pushed closer towards 200 to backup Jimbob but had to hit the road to beat the Roos. I headed in for a quick shower at the caravan park before the 4hr drive home and pulled in the driveway at 9:15.

I had too many gear changes today to pump out any distance and each board had to have the straps lengthened for booties.  I haven't used any in 20 years but needed to invest in some as my feet still hadn't healed since my last trip to the lake 3 weeks ago, the funky bacteria may have something to do with that!

All in all it was another fun trip.  Great to meet Geoff and Bruce and catch up with Glynn and Sue again and of course Jamie!