There were a dozen guys rigging up on faith this morning at 6am. There was barely 10 knots but guys were rigging 5's, 4.4's and even 4's. Some looked a bit worried that the wind wouldn't turn up. It was a bit late but it came in with a bang at about 8am. 30-35 in the initial burst and quickly strengthened to 40+.
Unfortunately, apart from the initial 15-20 mins, the wind was waaay too south (square course) for good speeds. To illustrate that, Ado got a 40 knots peak going down and a 39 peak coming back!
After a couple of hours, at about 10.30, most have given it away as the tide is quickly rising and the wind squalling at least to the high 40's. Sand and spray everywhere! The east end of the speed run was getting too shallow and choppy for me and the sand dunes at the western end were blocking the wind just as you got to a good angle. For me there was no point in getting thrashed, trashed and worn out for no results.
Most of us are planning to go back after high tide to see if the angle has improved and the wind eased a bit.
I think Jaques (5m) and Adrian (4.4m) got 44 peaks before the wind swung. Mat (on his 4.0m Koncept) had a 42, I had a 41.5 and Kato was similar to me, both on our 4.4's.
sounds amazing...
Wife just rang me and said that next door neighbours trampoline has ended up over the 8 foot high fence and onto our roof... tad windy here too....
Good luck for this arvo!!
Update. Just went down to see what was happening. Most had paused sailing and were having hot chips. Wind has eased back to a pretty steady 30 knots, although there seemed to be the odd stronger squall still. The ones who had just got off the water said they were fine with 5's. Kato was putting the pressure on for me to hit the water for a fast 1hr and some Alphas but I resisted. I pointed out that the forecast was the same until after dark and conditions would be better as the tide goes out mid to late afternoon. I hope the forecasts are right! The conditions should be as good as when we did our PB's a couple of years back.
I just got out at 12.45 before the sand was covered by the tide. Looked like a few were staying in but I think most were planning to hit the coffee shop for a couple of hours.