Sandy Pt rocks!

Comments from GTC:

Wicked day at SP. Tuning mission for me, trying a lot of stuff. I reckon the wind was a pretty solid high 20s to mid 30s. Not much more because it was pretty easy to sail back upwind through the channel. I didnt do any walking except to get back at the end when the wind died. Sailed a few more kms than normal! No wonder I feel a bit tired today.

Sailed the 42 all day, started on the 5.5m EIII. First run was a misfire, but hit a good gust on the second for a 46kt 10 sec and 47.5 peak. I think thats a no weight jacket PB for me and I've dropped to 87kg. After that I couldnt get the power down and was hitting 45/46 peaks. Meanwhile Spotty is pulling out 48 peaks and 47 10 secs so I knew something was up. I sailed back and put the 5.1m on, did a few runs on that, adjusted the harness lines and downhaul, did a few more runs, but still was a few knots slower than spotty, my reference point :). I watched him down the run and he looked so steady and so powered up I thought the sail was going to explode, MI style.

Went back to the beach and changed to the fin I used last year to get my best times. That was even slower. So I was scratching my head trying to figure it out. New board, sail, and fins for SP so what was going on? Right at the end I decided to take a punt and stick in my old KA20 asy. The tide was racing in and the wind dropping, and I had a plane to catch. I managed 4 runs on it and 3 of them were my fastest for the day. I literally picked up more than 2kts, the board was releasing closer to where it should have been, and was praying for a few gusts like we had earlier. I waited around on the sandbar for an approaching rain squall hoping for a cracker run, knowing my window for making the last flight of the day was closing and I was already eating into the transit time margin. Its normally a 3 hour drive to the airport... The squall was a fizzer and the wind swung westerly so rather than losing time wading back to the car from the start of the dunes, I thought I could take a shortcut via the inlet and straight to the cars like I did on Tuesday. I got to the channel marker on the inside of the inlet... and the wind died.... NOOOOOO!!! Swimming for a few minutes... was sure I was going to miss my flight.

Fortunately a low 20s bullet came through and I pumped like crap with remaining energy to get planing and plough back over to the sand bar, further downwind from where I started. By the time I got back to the car the tide had raced in and it was getting sketchy for getting out. There was no time for anything other than get out of the inlet, throw stuff in bags and beeline it to the airport. Matt drove like a champion in his van, and fortunately we had a clear run with traffic. I made it with about 5 minutes to spare before checkin for my flight closed. The airline is very strict with checkin times... On the way out of Perth I was 5 minutes late and they wouldnt let me check in- even though the plane was delayed about 20 minutes. I had to sit in the departure lounge staring at the plane I was meant to be on for half an hour before it boarded and took off. Frustrating. But the flight home was the last for the day so it would have been a mission if I missed it.

All up it was a brilliant trip. Thanks Matt for your generosity and hospitality. Was great to hang out for a few days. Also thanks Andrew (Daff) for allowing us to sit by the fire at SP Central. Damn it was cold!