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.
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