Here we go again.

Last year was tough because the wind picked up right before the start. This years was tough because there just wasn't much breeze at all...it's always tough!

Let's hear everyone's stories!

Aus1111, what is the band that all the competitors are wearing around their ankles?

cheers

Planed on 3runs then slogged it out and got 45th overall. But will be back next year...Chris I saw your rig and it had like 3 battens broken on the leach.... What happened??

Windxtasy said...

Haircut said...

Aus1111, what is the band that all the competitors are wearing around their ankles?

cheers

That contains the microchip that registers them when they run through the gate at the finish and records their time.

And they are all handed back in so we know everyone is back - very very important when you have 200 entrants and 50 organisers who are all about to go to mega p!ssup.
You can see how easily a non finisher could be left out there unless it is done thoroughly

Doesn't seem like there is as much enthusiasm around the race as there has been in previous years, maybe because it was a slogfest??

Anyway it is very lucky that the race happened at all given the forecast leading up to the day - better a slogfest then nothing at all.

As for my race, I rigged my 8.6 Warp and put it on my Manta 69 (110 litre). This was a reasonable choice of gear and pretty equivalent to what some of the top ten were using except that the middle two battens on my sail were snapped in half.

For some reason I decided that this wasn't going to make much difference which, in retrospect was....well...wrong! The difference it made was in fact the difference between planing and not planing and so, despite a good start, things were looking very average half way to the first boat, and I didn't plane at all on the second leg so was probably close to 100th.

I managed to haul a few in over the ensuing legs, including 15 or so on the last leg into the finish - after 25 years of this I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve

Finished 41st.

Party was awesome!

See you next year!

AUS1111 said...

Doesn't seem like there is as much enthusiasm around the race as there has been in previous years, maybe because it was a slogfest??

Anyway it is very lucky that the race happened at all given the forecast leading up to the day - better a slogfest then nothing at all.

As for my race, I rigged my 8.6 Warp and put it on my Manta 69 (110 litre). This was a reasonable choice of gear and pretty equivalent to what some of the top ten were using except that the middle two battens on my sail were snapped in half.

For some reason I decided that this wasn't going to make much difference which, in retrospect was....well...wrong! The difference it made was in fact the difference between planing and not planing and so, despite a good start, things were looking very average half way to the first boat, and I didn't plane at all on the second leg so was probably close to 100th.

I managed to haul a few in over the ensuing legs, including 15 or so on the last leg into the finish - after 25 years of this I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve

Finished 41st.

Party was awesome!

See you next year!

not to mention me by running down the beach [}:)]
ah well i have learnt for next year bring it on
as for my gear choice, even though i'm really light 90 litres was not quite right

There seems to be less enthusiasm for telling stories this year but there are many on the GPSTC site. gpsteamchallenge.com.au/index.php?country=1
Just click on entries for 14.1.2012, especially for the WA teams.

Did this race get any video coverage, you tube, etc where we can see it?

Can't wait to see the edit on one hd. The heli followed me for half a run when I was practically on my own so hopefully i got on it haha I doubt it though.....

Used an iSonic 120l and KA 7.2 44cm Flying objects pointer.

Had my normal terrible start (even worse than normal actually).

Had to stop a few times to clear weed of the pointer fin (should have organised a weedy or used my 31cm weedy but I thought it was too small).

Managed to snag a craypot at the second last outside mark, didnt crash but then did during the jybe, trying to swim under the mast proved impossible with the *** PFD - I think it was me getting trapped under the sail that popped a cam off the mast.

I thought she'll be right but on the next (last inside) mark just couldnt waterstart, managed to get up by reversing the sail so it was the "right" way round for the popped cam but it just wouldnt rotate or "fly" out of the water properly. Then fell again and after a few more waterstart attempts and a bit of a rest thought stuff it a beer on a boat sounds good. Was just too stuffed to attempt uphauling.

Got into the boat who it turned out had been watching me (I couldnt see as the life jacket was like being inside a rubber room when in the water, tunnel vision ahead was all I could see).

The guys on the boat had had a great day, had a very nice size spanish mackeral and an english accented girl (Stephanie or Sophie cant remember which now) already on board. they nearly threw me back I think !

But seriously it was all better than I expected and when the isonic was planing was great, I think my fitness was probably the main issue.

I have to say thanks to all the organisers and volunteers _ the blokes in the boat even gave the me last cold beer they had - thats commitment ! then when I returned the electronic ankle thing the second question after "did you finish" was have you had a beer ! Priorities spot on.

The thursday night part in the park is also a great event, I recommend that to everyone.

I second your comments Chris - AUS1111 - bring on next year !!! (Im the guy who was in front of you in the queue at the registration).

I think next year im going to see what number I get "before" registering. Several years in a row in the 190/290 end of the beach is enough. Ill either register early or just wait for the 200's to come around and get one of them ! the difference between being 191 and 201 is huge (different end of the beach).

The other good thing this year however was the the tide must have been a bit higher as I didnt touch any of the reef I sailed over.

Did have one German (I think) who waved us down in the boat as he was lost - couldnt find the finish line and was sitting in hole in the wall wondering where to go now.

Maybe they should consider bring back the big black kites they used to have years ago. they made finding the outside marks a lot easier and made it clear the line you needed to take into the tavern. Not an issue for those of us who have done a few but for "newbies" it would probably help a lot.

Looking forward to Jan 12th 2013 now.

My story

First up i had rigged the 7.0m Reflex3 and the SX68. Afer slogging out 100m i came in and rigged the 7.8m Reflex3 and plugged in my RRD X-Fire 122 with a 46cm weedy. This was a better choice. Right before the start i was telling myself off at being so soft for not rigging the 8.5m.
I'm still scarred from the DNF of 2010 where the wind filled in majorly.

My start postion was right behind stringer and big BD so i has some nice clean air by the time i got going. I then planned pretty much the whole way but i was not powered up. The only lowlight was at the 2nd boat i gybed and went to pump and there was no wind at all. i looked over my shulder and there was Darryl blanketing me with his 11m[}:)] 30secs of pumping i got going again and sailed to the finish. It was one of the cruisiest races i have done and the easiest of the 7 i have finished.
oh and i finished with dry hair

premo said...

I was on 122 isonic and 8,4 point -7 ac-1 , would have a nice start but a bloke above me smashed his mast in to my sail breaking both of my camber battens! once I got on the plane i did not let it go and that involved some full on pumping after each gybe, i have been gaining ground on each leg and finished 32nd, which is my best result so far in my three years of taking part in this great event. i also got to quaterfinals in waves in open so i am pretty happy with the result as i am in the heavy weight category and prefer much stronger wind, anyway great event again, more wind next year please;-) congrats to all the winners and all sailors that took part !

Premo so that was u that i duelled with the whole way. You sailed closer to mainbreak and i gybed just up wind of you i got ahead right at the end. We had a good tussle. i reckon we over took each other at least 3 or 4 times

Brad's already related the hot and stressful lead up to the race as our masts went pop! I ended up using a 460/490 hybrid in my 8.4 and got myself down to the beach just as the prep signal went up, with no time to go for a test run.

The start line was carnage as the guys in front of me threw their boards in the water too early only to have the wave suck out from underneath and the next wave drive their gear backwards. Eventually got off the beach and onto the plane to the first mark and started to cool down and relax.

Also learnt how not to round a Cray Boat on my first attempt as I caught my fin on the mooring line which dropped me off the plane before wobbling around the gybe and falling off. Fortunately was still upwind of the boat so could still waterstart my way out of trouble.

Was seriously underpowered on the deep incoming legs but setup felt good on the legs back out to sea. Enjoyed the rest of the race until rounding the last mark and getting thoroughly confused about how best to get into the lagoon. Ended up doing way too many gybes and still running dead downwind through the gate. This made the run into the finish extremely slow and painful. I think I would have lost around 3-4 minutes on the guys around me at this stage.

Finished 33rd on my first attempt, with some surprise beer money courtesy of coming 5th in the Open division. I will try to get back for some more LOC action in the future and would recommend the race to other travellers from Queensland and interstate. It was definitely worth the effort.

Gear = CA SL70, TR6 8.4, Venom 46.

Had a great run.

Was feeling pretty ordinary the week before, but antibiotics on Friday night seemed to do the trick. On Sat morning I was considering not even driving up. But I figured I could watch if not sail. About an hour before the start I was feeling no worse so decided to half rig my biggest stuff and leave it on the beach next to a couple of boards ready to go. Did one short run out and back about 15 minutes before the start, using a fin I made the day before and finished a few hours earlier. Nothing like using the gear you know Felt fine on the short run I did.

Coming back in I felt a bit better so decided to do the race. I figured if I could cruise down the course it would be worth it. A top 10 finish would have been a bonus. On the start I practically walked to the water as the 2nd row guys ran around me (sorry if I got in the way, but I didnt have the energy to run).

Surprisingly I got an OK start, and reeled in a dozen or so guys as we headed to the police boat. I was aiming higher than the other guys to do a long slingshot down to the boat as we got a bit closer. But when the other guys realised they were headed to the wrong boat they were on a deep downwind mission to the right mark. I couldnt go low enough since I was not far behind but a long way further upwind. Not to worry, I only overshot the mark by a few hundred metres and there were a lot of guys stalled out near the boat. I pumped like crap through and out of the gybe for what seemed like a minute to get onto a bit of a ramp and surf it behind the boat. Worked OK and already I was in the top 5.

The rest of the race was a battle of downwind power. Rowan got past me on one of the downwind legs heading in, but I got him back on the next leg which wasnt so broad, and also reeled in Jesper by the mark. He pulled away a bit downwind, but I didnt have the power at that angle so had to try the high road. Unfortunately half way down the leg I ended up faced with a few hundred m of craypot minefield. Jesper hooked down to miss it but I had to go much much deeper, pumping like crap to stay on the plane and get around the float at the bottom. He was long gone... and then the chopper appeared and was following him. Upwind And the inevitable happened. BAM goes Jesper. I had a laugh as I sailed past (eliciting some karma perhaps).

Didnt take long on that downwind leg to get passed again in a lull. After that it was all back and forth, Patrik made a mad dash on the last outside leg to take on Jesper. After the last gybe it was pretty close, but it soon became obvious that it wasnt possible to make the finish line in one go so they gybed and started heading back out. Seeing this I found a swell and gybed as fast as I could, charging off as hard as I could downwind. They gybed again on the inside, lower down, but knowing I had a metre less sail, figured to go out a bit further to reduce the angle on the way in. That plan seemed to be working and I passed Patrik at the gates. He gybed a bit too early on the outside and couldnt make it down to the gate through the main break (no wind in there). But my slightly lower line to the finish ended up in disaster- sailing into a really light patch of wind, and weed infested patch of water. I soon started gathering cabbage, and drag. I started pumping to stay on the plane but the weed eventually slowed me to a stop as Patrik powered over the top. I was spent and grovelled into the beach, unable to run to the finish line. By then Isaac and Rowan were much closer but I didnt want to look back to see one of them running past me as I walked up the beach

Wicked race. Had a great time. Finished way ahead of where I expected to finish considering how I felt in the morning. But next year I'll be more prepared so I can at least match the sail area of the guys that beat me

Peter smashed everyone, showing how 9.6m sails can perform in those conditions. Jesper sailed great, and despite the short downtime where the chopper caused him to fall in backwards, at least he didnt go over the front and end up with the mast pointing to the bottom . Patrik had a few crashes but caught up at the end. I reckon he had similar speed to Peter having caught up on the front pack like he did.

Isaac made a good comeback to get past Rowan. The 3 of us were the first of the "8.6m" pack (although their sails look about 0.3m bigger than my NP). Stoked to see you guys up there.

Well done to everyone who finished. Pretty cruisy race despite the hard slog bits. At least the water was really smooth!

Last years highlight was basting in the bay after the race with Bjorn D!
This year bit of yarn at the bar with him joking about his dodgy busted mast!

Love that we get to sail and mingle with world class pro's in such a low key way!

Hate the fact that their really wasnt enough wind as it become a race for the few that own big equipment.

Again amazing organisation, so well run...congrats and thank you to all involved.

Only constructive thoughts,

A)appoint a PR/Media person who updates, Social/Digital media etc leading up to and after the race...a bit more engagement with with the sailing community would have engaged easy another 50+ sailors, on the promise of a light seabreeze, it costs nothing to do, maybe use F/Book as the medium?

B)have a big screen at the party to play Windsurf highlights (any) ..seeing there is like 500 million people at the party (most who dont sail!) missing a great opportunity to remind them what the event is all about and promote the sport!

Bring on 2013~

JonesySail said...

B)have a big screen at the party to play Windsurf highlights (any) ..seeing there is like 500 million people at the party (most who dont sail!) missing a great opportunity to remind them what the event is all about and promote the sport!

that wouldnt hurt, especially seeing as more and more each year aren't at the pub for the windsurfing they are there purely for the party