Vic sailing

It has been 3 weeks since I got back from WA - a week of which was spent in Byron Bay for my Dad's 50th birthday - happy birthday dad!

After not getting out sailing for a while I was thankful that we have been getting some strong winds and a bit of swell. Had one session at Sandy Point in wayyy overpowered on 3.6m weather, that was a brutal first session after not sailing for a while.

Woolamai was pretty good last week, enough wind for a 4.2, cross off and clean head high waves. Could of been epic if the swell had been bigger. Got out yesterday at Gunnamatta, in hindsight we probably should of gone back to Woolamai but ended up having an ok sail anyway - pics below.

wavesailing vid

Put together a video of some ok conditions we've been getting over the last couple of weeks. Check it out.



Off to WA soon, so hopefully get some good action over there and end up with a better video!

Sick (for one hour)

Went to Woolamai yesterday instead of Gunnamatta like the other week in the hope of scoring some better banks and cleaner wind. Forecast was really good was I was looking forward to it all week! When we arrived the tide was dead low, blowing about 20 knots cross off with these logo high hollow peaks hitting a shallow bank and racing down the line. It looked sick!

The first hour it was consistently bigger and better than this.


You could drop into glassy, hollow sections rip a few turns and an aerial before kicking out into the channel.

However the awesome conditions ended up being short lived as the tide came in and the swell dropped - just in time with the cameras arriving at the beach!!

As the afternoon went on it deteriorated to this.


Was a fun session nonetheless.




Only a few weeks until we head off to WA so it is good to be getting some decent sailing to prepare! Can't wait to get over there and score some solid stuff.

Cat Bay onshore jump session

Yesterday we had a fun jumping session at Phillip Island. The forecast wasn't great with very border line swell predicted, so most decided it wasn't worth the 1.5+ hour drive and just stayed on the bay battling rain and fluky winds.

Although the swell was small and the wind very cross on it ended up being pretty fun when the sun came out and the wind cranked upwards of 25 knots until early evening.

Jono cheese roll.


Backie


Pushy


Backside riding

Flynns Reef

Scored a session at the incredibly fickle Flynns Reef yesterday. You need a combination of tides, wind direction and a big swell all at the same time. It probably only happens three or four times a year. It was the first time I sailed it - pretty fun wave.
It is really sucky, similar to Gnaraloo but gets a bit more wind affected and is only short. The shorebreak is absolutely brutal as well!
Wind was good for a 4.5 for a couple of hours then it dropped, as did the swell. The pics are from late in the day when conditions were declining.



Zac

Victory!!

On the weekend we had the Round 1 of the Victorian Wavesailing Series. The forecast was calling for 20-30 knots cross shore and about half mast high waves at my favourite local spot - Right Point. Typically the contests we have are in fairly average conditions so I was frothing at the opportunity to compete in decent down the line waves.

Due to the tides we had to get in early so a 9am briefing was called. I wanted to sneak in a warm up sail before the comp started so was up at 6am. Checking the wind observations it wasn't really what we hoped for - it was fairly onshore. At least there was wind and the swell was up. I just hoped that it would swing back cross shore as forecast so we could really let loose.

Unfortunately it wasn't to be, the competition kicked off in a gusty 15-25 knots, cross onshore with half mast high waves and 5 surfers clogging the lineup. The expression session did not go well - I hate sailing in cross on conditions especially if the wind is light. It took me until the final few minutes of the heat to get a single decent wave which was enough to scrape through into the next round.

Semis



The surfers obviously got fed up with not getting any waves and left us in peace as we got down to the business end of the competition. The wind went a bit more cross shore and I was able to pull a few aerials and got the one jump required. Through to the finals! I was then up against 2010 Champ Hock and Joel Ryan to battle it out for the top three positions. The wind went back onshore and became patchy, I knew it would be tough as Hock had been sailing well in the onshore conditions.


On the first run out I wanted to get my jump out of the way so pulled a very clean forward only to turn around and see that the judges hadn't actually put the flag up!! Not a good start. I caught a couple of decent waves for the deteriorating conditions but still couldn't find a jump no matter how hard I tried. In the dieing minutes of the heat I knew I was in trouble so dropped a hand on a sick chop hop, hoping the judges actually noticed and would score it (clearly very low). Then I got a small ramp and rotated around another forward only to see that the flag was down and the heat over! Amazingly that chop hop got me over the line combined with my decent wave scores so I took the win by one point over Hock!!

Finals




Wasn't the sick conditions I was hoping for but still stoked to have such a good result so early in the season. Thanks to everyone that helped out - see you at the next one!

Jon was getting some good jumps but was unlucky to get through after helping another sailor with a broken mast into shore.

13th beach and The Island

We have been getting quite a lot of wind over the past week but none of it has eventuated to anything epic. Wind directions have always been not quite right...

The day at 13th ended up being super hard work, very very offshore wind so there was literally zero knots on the inside and 30knots out the back, with a solid swell. On the wave I was totally overpowered and couldn't turn at all. Ended up copping a few hilarious beatings...


13th beach aerial

that one hurt!

joel on a good one.

the kites were struggling in the super offshore wind


Yesterday had a good day at Phillip island. The wind was about 30 knots and the swell was nice with some over logo sets. Unfortunately it stayed dead cross shore all day instead of cross off as predicted, so the waves were a bit wind affected. Still really fun though! Best session I've had since the one really good day at Hookipa nearly two months ago. No photos unfortunately.

Looks like no swell and no wind for the upcoming long weekend, but planning on heading down the far west coast to scope out a few gnarly spots to see if they are sailable when the conditions align. Should be fun.