Nothing at Plimmy, ripping in the ditch. What the f#@$?

Saturday - another solid 4.4 ditch day. I've never seen such clean waves in Evan's Bay before! It was sweet - shove-it heaven! Troy was getting real close on them, not to mention throwing a lot of fat forwards out there.
The shaka's are a LONG way from being realized... I think I need to get a pointer or two from someone who knows what they are doing.
Leland was working hard on e-sliders and getting real close!
After my Gorge knee injury, I am finally beginning to get a bit more comfortable with forwards again. Still not going big like the blokes here, but maybe some day.

Ever sail in a big Chocolate Fondu?

Well, it was sweet!! There's been a ton of rain early this week, and the harbour was very chunky and brown... but last nights 4.4 session was ON! For some reason, the extra density of the chocolatey brown water, laden with extra 'stuff', made the grubbies go like butter. I like it... I like it alot!!

Another Killer Weekend...

Four days straight on 4.4, 3.7, 4.4, 3.7. Shit there is a lot of wind here... too much some times.

James was on fire today - a number of push loops and a couple double forward attempts... Wow!

Sailed Plimmerton Thursday night, and both Saturday and Sunday. Ditch on Friday - 3.7 over the top, stupid windy.

Some nice waves rolling through in Plimmerton the last few days. Nice air to be had, stuck my first "crazy pete" (half back loop with sail flip). Received a royal bitch slapping on a goiter attempt.

Killer Weekend

Despite the chore of moving flats, I was still granted 2 day passes and got out for a couple of fun freestyle sessions in the Ditch.

Saturday dished out fine northerlies at 25-30knots, sunday about 20-25. Not too shabby. Tom Taylor is back from Dunedin, and showing us all how to do anything and everything. I witnessed a bunch of flakas, ponches and shaka attempts. Pretty sweet. Another visiting french sailor was also dishing out some 540s, grubbies and clew-first grubbies.

The work on the shakas begins. I tried lots on both days and can tell this is a trick that will take a while. Leland happened to mention that it was known, on Maui, to be called the impossible trick. Well - its not!!! So I gotta learn them. They are certainly fun to try!

Lyall Bay delivers...

It was general insanity out there, and I got spanked and had my ass handed to me on several occassions. Lyall Bay went off the charts yesterday... big big swell, well over mast high in some sets, and winds 35knots gusting to 45-50.

I got down there at 5 o'clock, no-one else out, and it was windy as hell. Waves were breaking across the bay. Rigged the 3.7 flat and hit the waves. At first, with full strength, I did alright. One of my first waves out the back was enormous and I went for the sky. Not really wanting to, it just shot me into a backloop rotation. It was one of those where it could have been pulled back straight, but what the hell... needless to say, it was a high-altitude bail out. Its cool though, since being here, starboard jumping is feeling a lot more comfortable for me.



I sailed for about half and hour, snagging some front side hits and bigs airs, but it was too over the top for me to try any forwards or other tricks. About 1/2hr in is when I botched my first crucial chicken jibe and went down. My kit was no-where to be seen. I was in the middle of the bay, and a long swim from the beach. I could catch glimpses of my gear about 30-40m ahead of me, but there was no way I could catch it! The swimming was hard and the rip was strong. After about 10 minutes, my kit hit the beach and another 5 minutes later, I made it to shore like a soggy puppy. The walk of shame ensued...

I took a rest while Lawrence rigged up his 4.1. Lawrence was killing it, sailing as if it wasn't 35 knots - there is no way I could've held down a 4.1! I could barely hold onto the 3.7. Lawrence made it out no problems and sailed like a veteran king. Woo showed up a bit later and rigged his spanky new 4.0 and did the same, dishing out a number of controlled forwards off the shorebreak. A brilliant demonstration of sailors with a LOT of experience in these kind of crazy conditions.

I went out a couple more times with similar results. Thankfully, I never had that frickin' long swim again, but just held onto the rig for dear life as we got thrashed in the churning froth. I am thankful I did not break anything, including myself. Within a short while later, the winds just ramped up a notch more and blew us off the water. I was happy that I could at least get a couple of shmacks on small inside waves before calling it quits.

It was just one of those days that showed me how immature my sailing really is, and that I need to get those chicken jibes sorted. ARGH! Nothing more frustrating that botching those chicken jibes. This day was probably one of the most challenging days on the water I have ever had.

It was great just to have given it a shot! YEAH! Lyall Bay rocks!