Last Sail I reckon...

Squeezed in what will likely prove to be my last pre-child windsurf session last night. Try as I may, I could not stick the pushloops. I was just not willing to hold on!! ARGH!! The one that I came closest on was a direct result of accidentally hooking in mid-rotation - completed the rotation but landed on my sail... Thankfully my hands were still on the boom!

Freewave #3.

Back to the ditch. It was slated for Plimmerton, but I generously acted as windy dummy, or more appropriately, wind complete idiot, as the wind was absolute shite and turned worse. A thumbs down for Plimmerton again.

The ditch was doin' wierd stuff too. There has been some nutty wind patterns around here the last week or two and everything was messy. T'was gusty and slightly E of N leaving a bit of a wind shadow by the normal Hatchery-style jibatorium. Bugga!

Anyway, it went off... I swapped between the 95 and 76 L boards, but stuck to the guns on the 4.4. Once again, Tom Taylor blew the competition to pieces with his goiters and flakas, and I think he may have even nabbed a shaka in there too, the bastard. I definitely witnessed a pretty sweet switch-chacho attempt. Hands-down he deserved the victory.

I kept to the usual standards to keep myself in 2nd spot, landing my grubbies, spocks, one-handed shove-it, forwards and a meagre upwind 3 to top off the lighter inside wind kookery. Clayton followed up in 3rd. I saw him do some real long clean body drags and snappy forwards. James was whipping up a willyskip frenzy and Troy was coming close to those shove-its himself. To top off the action, Gary made a special guest appearance during heats 3 through 5 tossing out his awesome looking wymaroos and one-footers.

Another fun day! So, I sit tenuously in 3rd place overall and it all comes down to the final event. Word on the streets is that Tom is back to school and will not make it, so the top podium position is up for grabs!!! Clayton is at 7pts and will head into the final event with the advantage and lead, with me at 9pts, James following up at 11pts, and Woo at 14. All I can say is that if the event is in the Ditch, I have a fighting chance at #1 or #2. If it's at Plimmy or Lyall Bay, I am f#%$ed and will be hoping to claw my way into 3rd overall. On the other hand, if Tom shows up, I am also in trouble where ever mother nature takes the event. February 17 is the day.

Thankfully, the babies will be here soon. With my 3 wks of paternity leave, no doubt I'll be sailing everyday and be as sharp as a knife. ;) Oh wait, maybe I have that wrong... Perhaps sleepless, exhausted and fat is more appropriate.

Trying shakas in Evan's Bay on a grey overcast light wind day. Another nice shot by Leland.

Xmas Holidays...

It's been a while since my last update... Oops.

We had a pretty sweet holiday on the South Island for Christmas and windsurfing was not the focus, but I squeeked in a few days on the stick. Did some incredible hiking up in the mountains of Nelson Lakes and Hanmer Springs and enjoyed the remote beaches of Golden Bay. One particular hike up Mt. Isobel in Hanmer Springs comes to mind. Cheryl kindly shuttled me around the base of the mountain so I could gain access from the remote north-side via a pole-marked ridge route. The weather was all over the map - I shlogged up the steep incline deeper and deeper into the fog. Many times, I could not see the next marker until I ventured out past the last one... making it a bit difficult to find the way up the ridge with any degree of confidence. Weather went from drizzle, to driving hail, to snow, then to sun!! This short day hike reminded me how much I love hiking, and especially more challenging, off-the-beaten path routes... the elements almost make it even more fun!

Another One of the highlights was exploring the Whanganui Inlet in Golden Bay with Cheryl. It was a long dusty gravel road in but at the end was a jewel remote beach at the outlet of the Putarau river. Stunning views of the ocean, white beach and towering cliffs were everywhere. I couldn't help but think about how incredible it would be to pull up and camp there for several weeks, enjoying the remoteness and natural beauty. You could climb new routes there for weeks and never do the same climb twice... there was so much quality rock there, not to mention big-ass waves for sailing. It was somewhat windy there on the day, and I gave it a shot in the big waves... Unfortunately, it was not enough for the lone 5-0 pole-boarder and I had to leave the fun to the collection of tea-baggers who had invaded the spot on this day.

On the kid front - thankfully no premature labour on this trip! We happily remain a two-person family unit for now. We are at 35wks+1day and the signals of pending dad/mom-hood are getting a bit more frequent. Despite gaining a few notches towards hardcore status last weekend, a we little stomach bug had caused Cheryl some contractions last night and I feel the grip of Daiperdad-mania creeping in. Our first sleepless night of many to come... but all is good and things have somewhat settled. The next ultrasound is next week... if we make it that far. As of last night, every single neo-natal bed in NZ is occupied. Hold 'em in there Charla!

Pics to be added shortly...