I think it's fair to say that most people were feeling strangely underwhelmed this morning. Maybe it's the vast amounts of pizza, the beer, or the efforts of yesterday, but nobody seemed too keen to get started. But we all went over to Sprecks for 11 anyway, on the assumption that it would be crowded being a Saturday and all...
But no, it was empty! Nobody there but us to start with, at least, not staying - there was a kelp diver hauling out the equivalent of large potato bags or nets of seaweed, and stacking them in his pickup. The wind? Pretty good, given that there wasn't supposed to be much. I fancied a 4.7, but it all got complicated because we are currently hosting Max, the Aussie, on the grounds that his van buddy Swedish Jorgen had gone off to hospital to get his knee checked out. Max had allegedly packed some sails in the van, but clearly hadn't, as there was only one of most things that people wanted. So he ended up with a 4.5 and me with a 4.7.
Guy eventually turned up, and we spent most of the day doing taking practice! Hard work, especially as the wind was super-flukey, and waterstarting was a pain. I've now developed the technique of hanging around for a gust to a fine art, limiting my energy usage. But the finale of the day was the pre-forward loop training - doing imitations of crashing bombers, before trying it with sails and attempting to bang the mast foot straight down on the beach. Glad it's rental gear... Nobody seemed to have much energy, but we were visited by Franciso Goya, who came over to try out one of his prototype boards and sails. He was happy to demonstrate a forward! We also got some tips from Robbie Swift, in exchange for Guy teaching his girlfriend how to waterstart. Hmm.
So the day wound down - I tried just one of the pre-loop jump things, where you try to launch yourself in a catapult round the mast. It's hard! Then... I was suddenly seized with a mental image of myself doing it. I threw the cap int he van, since it came off on my initial crap go, and ran back out, and executed three straight off!! A long time dead... the rest of the post-sail time was spent derigging at a frantic pace, just because I could.
And the sun set on a good day...
But no, it was empty! Nobody there but us to start with, at least, not staying - there was a kelp diver hauling out the equivalent of large potato bags or nets of seaweed, and stacking them in his pickup. The wind? Pretty good, given that there wasn't supposed to be much. I fancied a 4.7, but it all got complicated because we are currently hosting Max, the Aussie, on the grounds that his van buddy Swedish Jorgen had gone off to hospital to get his knee checked out. Max had allegedly packed some sails in the van, but clearly hadn't, as there was only one of most things that people wanted. So he ended up with a 4.5 and me with a 4.7.
Guy eventually turned up, and we spent most of the day doing taking practice! Hard work, especially as the wind was super-flukey, and waterstarting was a pain. I've now developed the technique of hanging around for a gust to a fine art, limiting my energy usage. But the finale of the day was the pre-forward loop training - doing imitations of crashing bombers, before trying it with sails and attempting to bang the mast foot straight down on the beach. Glad it's rental gear... Nobody seemed to have much energy, but we were visited by Franciso Goya, who came over to try out one of his prototype boards and sails. He was happy to demonstrate a forward! We also got some tips from Robbie Swift, in exchange for Guy teaching his girlfriend how to waterstart. Hmm.
So the day wound down - I tried just one of the pre-loop jump things, where you try to launch yourself in a catapult round the mast. It's hard! Then... I was suddenly seized with a mental image of myself doing it. I threw the cap int he van, since it came off on my initial crap go, and ran back out, and executed three straight off!! A long time dead... the rest of the post-sail time was spent derigging at a frantic pace, just because I could.
And the sun set on a good day...
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