Nope spent the day watching cricket and drinking beer... aaaah the finer things in life

Wind didnt really come in at home till about 4, figured I will save myself and have a full day of sailing tomorrow. Pity there is no one else to sail with in the middle of the day.

Hey Gestalt,

fear not, life is long.

As an ex Melburnian I used to sail "the pit" a fair bit and was privileged enough to see yellow pages set the old speed record many moons ago - awesome. Also saw them try and fail one day cos there was one inch of chop. !!!

It is worth the trip, but you will need to be there for a while as the wind can be fickle.

Looking to dust off the old speed boards over winter.

- J

drjukka,

i would love to have a crack at the formula record.

have order a new KA sail and will hope to get a gps soonish.

i was thinking somewhere around victoria point in a SE.

Dr J,
i think i can help with the search.

thompson (esplanade), Victoria Point.
only works on a mid to high tide as there is no water at low tide. SE-S. Not much good for formula gear as the fin is to deep. don't see many people there anymore. if you keep heading past the ferry terminal on your run you can sail to coochiemudlo island. prob a 3km run all up. most people used to rig up at the end of the park, keep following eagle street off thompson street along the park until you hit thompson esp.
further upwind (south) from the beach in a SE there is a small island and another channel. can get very choppy but allows for some really long runs.

Bay Street, Redland Bay
it will work in either a SE or NE. very flat and more mid to high tide. the runs there are endless. plus the launch is sandy on the beach. propably the best flat water kiting spot i have seen (i can't teabag). muddy when you get out from the beach.

i live locally and have a mate with a boat who i have asked to tail me up to coochiemudlo from torquay road point talburpin. 6-7 km run.
i have sailed torquay road in 45knot SE and it was full on. i stupidly took out a 5.2 ezzy wave and got hammered. lost the rig and paddled 2km back in. why didn't i rig the 4.2?

oxley place sandstone point. is another awesome spot in a SE. very very good speed location. mid tide is best. used to take a tandem windsurfer out there. it is a sand beach and the run over to bribie is a blast. watch out for the oyster beds just before the passage starts. only do that with an incoming tide. unless you want massive air when you get to the bribie passage. i have sailed 6 foot swells on an outgoing tide and they are very steep. plus there is nothing between you and moreton island if you break something. peter nitschke and myself have been hit by jumping fish while sailing there. pretty funny stuff. once pete came in complaining he had broken a fin and when he turned the board over he had a fish scewered on the fin. (I learnt to windsurf around bribie.)

i love the sail over to manly from wello. really nice. great NE locale i agree. i have chased a few of you slalom guys in the past on my formula gear and reckon from what you are clocking i must be doing around 25kn. the gps will find me out.

only using an 8.5 at the mo, so not to big. i use it for everything up to 20kn. now that is what formula is about. one rig and one board for all ocassions. will get a 10.5 at the end of the year. anything over 20 and i use the wave gear.

lately been going to jennifer ave on the goldie. good for bump and jump. the transition from formula back to wave is a problem i am finding, so i figure it will imporve my technique if i sail more b&J.

i am sure Mike will regain his slot....

Drjukka looks like we might have to check out Vict point some time.

Mark I beleave my 275 is about 90L

I have a 7.8 IQ, it is very good in light winds on older style slalom gear maybe it just dosent suit formula?

The old beer gut hey... the aussie speedsailors secret weapon. I know i'm working on mine at the moment

I dont sail formula gear but lightweight no... got down to 83 last year now probably about 85-90kg. Before that have been as heavy as 110kg. For my sailing style/rig size I use 90kg is about perfect (enough weight to hold rigs down but dosent affect early planing). Was looking through an old magazine the other day and the weights of the pro's , heaps above 90kg or more significantly all the top guys above 90kg.

Cool article, didnt know not to twist body forward. Aerotech make formula sizes down to 9.0m if you can wait for this year's model due in march (Patrice has been working on this one so should be good for formula).