WSA/Strath Windsurfing Shop Summer Slalom Series

Race 5 was a different kettle of fish. No seabreeze like usual, all frontal wind from a front that passed over and settled in during the day.

As the squalls came through at regular intervals, the pre-race warm up had everything from people looking well-powered on 5.4's to longboard weather! People were rigging up and rigging down in an attempt to second guess the wind.

Wind was W with a hint of N in the squalls, so the far buoy needed repositioning. I plodded over and moved it with the trusty Kona One, but as I was picking it up I dropped the sail on the buoy with a horrible splintering sound. Yikes. But rather than a broken mast, the 20 L drum that we were using as a buoy had smashed with brittle plastic pieces. I guess leaving them out all summer wasn't such a good idea - I think the UV got to it. In the end, the figure 8 course was set and was OK, but challenging to reach the outer buoy in one tack when the wind shifted. Seems that is the story of a figure 8 course. If things are perfect, you get 2 beam reaches. But a slight shift in the wind and you will need to go upwind at some point, and scary fast off the wind on the other leg. Next season I think could see some refinement in the type of buoys and how we set them, but in general I think we had a doable course for each race of the series which is great.

We had 7 die-hards on the water for the race. PJ and Tim were down at Lake George - hope the same front turned it on for you guys too.
The flag went up to mark the start of the 1 hour. Unfortunately, 5 min previously the wind had hunkered down to somewhere between 25 and 30 knots. Total anarchy. I had a choice of a 7.5 race sail or a 5.3 soft wave sail. I did the first lap with the 7.5 more or less out of control, then swapped for the wave sail. More in control, but a strange untested match for my slalom board. Through the mist I could see Mark and Juan were powering along, I think with 5.something sails. Lachlin, Gareth and Richard B-S I think all made a sail and/or board change, but it was hard to be a roving reporter with a lot to do just navigating my own craft. By the end of the hour, the wind had been up and down in the range 15-30 knots, and somehow we all got a few laps in. Mark prevailed with 12 laps looking in control of the situation, then Juan, Richard B-S, Richard U on 11 laps, Rob on 10 laps and Gareth and Lachlin on 3.

Hard to pick the optimal gear for the conditions, but it probably was something like a 100 L board and 6.5 m race sail? I got no idea, but no-one in the fleet was on that combination :-) Thanks again to Michele for the record keeping. Tough job because by the end of day, it really felt like winter had arrived with a bang. Thanks to Gareth and Michele for the BBQ and beers too. Perfect!

The overall winner of summer series was me, and Lachlin was the most improved - results below. Many thanks to Strath Windsurfing Shop for my prize - a Billows RDM carbon mast extension. I'll report on these extensions in another post as I have used them before. Lachlin took home a six pack of James Boag. Well deserved, with consistent improvement through the series from Race 1 to Race 4. Also, in the event I have spelling your name wrong all summer Lachlin, my apologies :-)

A bit embarrassing me getting the overall win because I don't get involved in helping organising these things for that, but I like the personal challenge of trying to improve for a competition and the way a comp brings people together. Thanks to everyone who turned up for making it a fun series. I did have a chance to dial my gear in in the previous series, and it paid off for this series. The next series will be great. Richard B-S was out on his new (newer) gear at the end of the day with tuning tips from Chris D, and was looking pretty ominous. Talk of training for the Ledge to Lancelin was kicked around, and I have my long held dream of a local equivalent.

Cheers, Richard U