I was on the water at 7:30am this morning at Torquay.
4.7 & 92 Quad.
Great 2 hour blast before work.
Shame we can't organise it for every morning!
Anyone been out earlier?
If Bowen is on then earlier the better cause it usually drops a bit after 10-11.I leave Townsville at 0400 and are rigged and on the water by 0700= 0730, although I don't head off to work I'll stay a few days, a good morning session makes you feel alive.
Did a couple of 24 hour windsurfing races on the windsurfer one design, Narrabeen lakes in the eighties. Does that count?
I used to take my Wally out at 10pm on Kogarah Bay when there was a full moon. Just zig-zaging through the moored yachts in a couple of knots of wind under a clear night sky was very zen. ![]()
About 6:00am when camping at Tamboon Inlet, East Gippsland. Didn't sleep much the night before with the tent going nuts in the wind, so as soon as it was light there was nothing for it but to go for a sail. Awesome. Got back to camp at about 7:30 am, still no-one around so I went back to bed for a well earned kip.
Before daylight once when I was young and super keen on Lake illawarra. Brings back some memories night sailing in westerly winds.
1am, though it was more late than early. Windsurfer One Design, Mornington circa 1991. Full moon. Butt naked.
Not sure about getting on the water early but sometimes I get on the juice pretty early.
Afterwards I usually post something here.
Late eighties around midnight planing along on Trigger Bros slalom out on Lake Hume near Albury NSW, full moon and naked! (except for harness)
Bit of a nude theme going there for a while....
I remember one time on band camp.....
I mean,
I remember a midnight nude sail down here on Lake Connawarrie many years ago.
When West Coast Water Sports was the best place for gear and advice.
Many full moons were seen that night!
It been a while, but Ive seen many a sunrise at the PiT!
Usually starts with getting dragged out of bed in the dark and rigging up in the first faint pre-dawn glow as other mad friends roll in and start excitedly asking 'how strong is it?, what size sail?, what is the angle? what fin are you using?, how long have we got 'tll the tide turns? etc
Someone has usually done a few runs before we see the sun rise!
Best days! ![]()
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I onced sailed down at the pond (safety bay) with my flood lights on back in the late ninties 9.00pm because l just brought a new board & l could not wait to sail it .
Done a bunch of first dawn (around 4.30am in QLD in summer) sessions when you get a SE'er that comes in over night.
Always find it funny when you see someone arrive at the carpark at 9am thinking they're down here pretty early and you casually say you're absolutely destroyed from sailing almost 5 hours already...
When I camped at Lago di Garda 30 years ago, I usually got up in the morning when the sun came up and the wind started to shake the tent. I usually got a couple of hours sailing in before breakfast at 8.
A couple of years ago, I started 10 minutes after midnight, hoping for a 24 hour sail. I was out alone, except for an unlit catamaran with a bunch of drunk guys close by. Made for a rather interesting sail. Fortunately, the wind did not quite cooperate, so I stopped after an hour, when the 8.5 was not big enough to plane consistently anymore. Next morning, I noticed a whole bunch of obstacles in the water that could have been a problem if I had sailed out a bit further during the night.
4:30 or 5:00 AM when surfing a Croatian thermical spot. There's a bay with a mountain above it and when the conditions (10 degrees diference in water/air temp during the day, less than 60% clouds, high pressure etc.) are good it blows through the night and until 8 or 9 am usually when everything's right from 15-22 knots and a bit gusty.