7am and there are 5 cars lined up waiting for the tide to drop to get in. SW to WSW 30-40 knots. Looks pretty good.
Dammit, I was enjoying team SEQ's lead over the "Sandy Point Advantage".
Good luck, take some photos too 
I noted yesterday that SP was going to get a good week. I hope some is left for Al's event.
Ahh well. Not much luck for me. The tide kept us out until 7.15am and then the wind was 25-30 gusting 35 but way too SW and tight for me. Lucky to get 115 off the wind, maybe less. I managed a few runs and peaks of 41.5kts with 4.4m sail but has to leave at 10am to get back to work just as the tide had dropped enough to get a clean bank and smoother water. I wasn't too worried as the wind was so far SW that from the end of the speed course we could sail straight back up the track. Then I got back to work, snuk a look at the wind readings and saw it had backed to WSW and got stronger for the two hours after I left. Bugger!
If that shift (at the Prom) translated to Sandy Point there could be some smokin' speeds come up tonight!
The weather patterns have definitely changed back to a Spring feeling. Bodes very well for Al's event!
Oh to be disappointed with 41.5 knots, I'd be celebrating till nobody could stand me anymore!!
Who was out sailing today?
I havent been down for a couple of months, How are the dunes at the start of the course - are they getting bigger?
Out today: Mal, Mat, Shelby, Peter, Ian, Andrew, Tom, Stephen, Mike(?) Perhaps someone else turned up after I left......
The Dunes... Hmmm. They keep changing a bit but not noticeably worse over winter. In fact, the last really high storm surge flooded right over the over the low part of the spit and smoothed it out well. There are now 1m knobs free standing here and there with the small tufts on top of them. I did notice today that at the eastern end of the course the small dunes may have grown somewhat which affects us a bit on a really southerly day for the last 100m or so but no a problem on a good wind direction. Maybe I'm being optimistic.......
Rumour has it that Mal Wright did a 44 knot 5 x 10 sec average, which is just phenomenal!!! What were his 2 sec peaks, what fin was her using, etc?
Mals Info from GPSS
Bloody good session by the looks
Date......:.....Monday, September 17, 2007
Spot......:.....Sandy Point, Victoria, Australia
Board.....:.....F2 Missile XS
Sail......:.....Naish Stealth 5.0
Fin.......:.....Time Machine TM45V7 Super Carbon 23
Average speed...:.....44.04 knots (44.8 44.2 43.8 43.7 43.6)
Max. GPS (display).....:.....45.9 knots
Max. 2 sec. (software)...:.....45.7 knots
100 m run..........: 45.2 knots
250 m run : 44.4 knots
500 m run : 44.3 knots
Windspeed : 25 knots
Windgusts : 33 knots
Remarks : Too tired to write too much. I used the proto TM50 for the first 5 runs and managed a 45 knot peak on a tight course, which is fantastic for such a little fin. This fin should really go when it gets a bit more wind and broader angle.
Also did another five runs on the TM45 V7 which was the faster of the two fins today (as it should be) with an incredible ability to haul ass on the tight course in moderate winds (mostly around 22-28).
Three GPS units running and all pretty close in results. Showing the middle results here. I'll post all three tracks up on my site later at:
This was another truly stunning result from Mal. I huge testament to his fin design skills and attention to rigging and set up detail, but also his sailing skills, honed many years ago on the world speed circuit.
This was a very tight course and although there were short gusts occasionally to the low to mid 30's (knots), most of the time it was in the mid to high 20's. Mals runs were consistently fast so it was not a matter of just getting a good gust. It would have been interesting indeed to see how Mal would have fared at Walvis Bay during the recent Speed Event, as I am sure the conditions they had would have very much suited his talents.
A huge congratulations Mal!
I'll second that. I was doing did a 37kn run, but I hadn't realised that Mal had started behind me (or me in front of him...). He overtook me by at least 5knots board speed.
Hey Mat, it was not a problem for me. Hopefully I didn't get into your way also. We both needed the gust to get going and I was just keen to get enough runs in before I had to go to work and figured we could get away with a simultaneous run, so put the hammer down!
And thanks again guys for your comments. It was a particularly interesting day for me as I got to try the TM50 Super Carbon, which was machined back in April but haven't had a chance to use it till now. This is a very small fin at 130 sq cms and yet it managed to handle the tight course, not just downwind but upwind also. Its slowest peak speed for the day was 44 knots and also set the fastest 1000m run for the day at over 40 knots. Probably because the wind was a little better in the first few runs but shows enough signals to me that it will be a very fast fin.
Now I just need to get the moulding right on this fin. The boys machined a beautiful mould for the TM50, but the first samples out of the mould were using a sub-standard resin and were way too soft to be any good. My super carbon prototype is much stiffer so more work required on construction of the moulded version before I would consider selling one. We are trying a new resin this weekend so fingers crossed it does the job.
