Friday evening was 25-30 knots with maybe the odd slightly stronger gust. I counted 13 speedsailors which is more than I can remember seeing at a non contest weekday afternoon.
Mal Wright topped the speed charts with 43's and 44's. The best of the rest were in the 40-42 range.
Saturday morning there were quite a few more speedies but the traffic was pretty well organised and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. The wind was better quality but mostly a bit less than yesterday evening and the tide was low making for very nice water.
A bunch of SA enthusiasts made the 10 hour drive to get a taste of Sandy Point in good conditions. They were not disappointed with pretty much everyone getting new PB's and a few delirious faces on those who cracked the big 40 for the first time.
Chris and Matt made it from WA for the Saturday morning session. Matt was one of those who cracked the magic 40 for the first time and Chris had some 44 knots runs and a peak over 45.
Mal Wright was again pulling 43's and 44's while most of us were happy just to get a few runs over 40.
Tony Wynhoven has turned up for the afternoon session so we have the 3 fastest GPS Aussies here now. The roll call here is pretty well a who's who of Aussie GPS speedsailing!
The wind is forecast to get stronger this evening but the angle has backed around the the WNW at the moment (5.45pm) and it is a bit uncertain that it will come back to a sailable angle before dark. Fingers crossed.
I will try to post some more words later if we get to sail this evening. Sunday morning is also looking very good!

Thanks for the update
Only ESE here at Chris's home stretch

Way cool Guys

Glad you finally got a bit of puff over there it seems you've been a bit starved for a decent blow this summer.

Look forward to hearing about the sessions

7.45pm:Blowing hard at times but way too WNW. By the time you get on the run you are 135+ off the wind and broader before you have gone 200 meters! Nevertheless, Chris L has done a 47 peak!
Too hard for me. I am sitting here in my wet gear. Came back to the house to get a drink and a bite. Going back for the last hour or so of daylight hoping it will swing.

9.41pm:

There is a rumor going around that there has been a very special run at Sandy Point.......................

Don't hold us in suspense, whatja get?
Or was it the grinning slowboat?

just got it from the horses mouth that a 50.09kn was seen on a dial today!!!
can you guess who??

I can now
Will take a month of Sundays to get the grin orrrrfff his dial

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snides8 said...

just got it from the horses mouth that a 50.09kn was seen on a dial today!!!
can you guess who??

Awesome!!! effort CL, its 1 am in Melb, ands its blowin its nuts off here hope it continues for the AM session for a crack at 500, throw in a few zig zags down the course when you do it. Just to get that stupid debate b/n straight 500 and so on to rub it in a bit.

Great work Chris - was there more of the same today? More PBs around the place? Thanks all for an awesome couple of days on Fri/Sat combined with the drinks and comotion at the download at Daffy's. Hope Sun was good to all the travellers before they head home!

Today, (Sunday) was great! Classic Sandy Point. WSW, (swung around a bit early but soon settled) and around mid morning on the low tide conditions were superb. About all one could have wished for was a trifle stronger wind as it never go much more than 30 knots. Less wind in the gusts today but the efficiency factor was right up.
I lost track of the PB's a bit today with about 20 speed sailors ripping up and down but I think Matt from WA and Chris D from SA both have new PB's and I am certain others will pop up in the postings.
Craig Hollins what there at dawn looking very serious about chasing a distance PB but the tide kept him out until about 7.15am. He hit the water at 7.45 but kept having minor problems, like broken harness lines. .
I was on about 15 mins behind him and soon there were about a dozen on the course. We were all a bit underpowered at first but the wind filled in with the odd cloud band and by about 10am there were reports of some pretty good runs floating around. It was unusually hard to pick best times to run today so I just decided to do as many runs as I could before I wore out and I think that helped.
The wind started to ease at about 11am and MI was set up. We stopped to watch them make a run at about 11.15 and it looked really good for a few seconds. From where we were it looked like they were almost flying the crew pod over the sand. Suddenly, it seemed that a gust hit them and the pod rose a bit higher for a few seconds and then just as suddenly it dropped back into the water and they quickly stopped before the end of the course. I was worried that they had landed the crew pod on the sand but it turns out they didn't and had actually had a partial wing failure again and dumped the power to save it disintegrating. It will be interesting to hear what speed they hit because looking from the start area it certainly looked fast and well on track for 50+. I hope they can fix it quickly and be back for the next earliest opportunity.

Three days and 4 sessions of great speed-sailing in a weekend. How good is that?!

I just posted a clip on youtube which I think is CL doing his 50 knot run....

Enjoy!

WOW!!!!! Looked very windy though can't see the bear away?........ one imagines whether one would be good enough or have the cojones to actually go for it?? I'm afraid to answer that for myself

Classic as he sails into the rainbow collecting the pot of Gold with 50 knots in it

It looks like Chris almost gets taken out by someone elses flipping board and rig at the bottom of the course.

Holy crap- nobody told me they'd lost their rig- that looked way too close for comfort! Yeah that was definitely the run. Way more wind in that gust than the rest of the weekend. The fastest part of the run was right down the end. Thanks a bunch for the vid!!! The run was almost as exciting as Daffs tree drivethrough on the way to the pub! What an awesome weekend.

faaaaark that was close,would need a decent helmet to stop that one!!
awesome footage of the sand streaming off the beach

WEEEEEEELL DONE CHRIS , You are a bloody amazing
The flag is back to WA , he he he

Yeeh looking the vid, not sure if it someone falling off just after you pass or maybe the speed gear!
"Suddenly, it seemed that a gust hit them and the pod rose a bit higher for a few seconds and then just as suddenly it dropped back into the water"

sam- the pod thing was a reference to MI doing their run the next day. Poor buggers. They were well on track for the record. Everything was looking spot on- gust of the decade- a steady 20-25kts, and they were totally going for it. Then the rig died again...

Yeah that rig flying is a common theme at Sandy. Its easy to have the sail ripped from your hands while you are standing there. I feel maybe I lost a few of my 9 lives that day .

he he was it Tony W? i think he mentioned some where he watched you come down the course on the gust of the day!.......maybe he let it go on purpose

I have seen you but dont know you slowy but that wont stop me from saying awwwwsome effort, I am stoked to see a WA local smashing the rest of the world:)

Now dont ever get in my way mate while I am trying to bust my first ever 30kt run ok!

Heheheh well done.

Cheers GT

Well done Chris, congrats mate

thanks guys! Nice to know others enjoy the same thing I do. That run will be stuck in my memory for a while- the terror was up there with some other all-time moments. How was that rainbow?

BTW, it turns out that WAS Tony who tried to kill me , and then later it was Daff's turn to have a go by aiming at that parked tree on the way to the pub. This team challenge thing seems to be getting a bit serious

Top work Chris, thats amazing... you also beat MI. Tim told me they did 49.66 max before they pulled the pin after noticing a structural fault.

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slowboat said...

<<<<<<<< This team challenge thing seems to be getting a bit serious

Congrats Chris, fantastic run!


But when are you going to post????? We've now relinquished 1st to the pit crew, now tying 2nd with the onboard speed demons, now we'd like to know where your posts will put us.

Please put us out of our misery, don't keep us in suspenders any longer.

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decrepit said...
[br
Please put us out of our misery, don't keep us in suspenders any longer.

But I like wearing suspenders

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hardie said...

decrepit said...
[br
Please put us out of our misery, don't keep us in suspenders any longer.

But I like wearing suspenders

Well all except you then. Just don't let poor reli see you, there's no knowing what might happen!

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windjunky said...

Top work Chris, thats amazing... you also beat MI. Tim told me they did 49.66 max before they pulled the pin after noticing a structural fault.

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite thats moving as well hope they get their you not what together and break the record.i take it they are in official mode?

Re MIs 49.66 peak, Chris you were right on remarking when we were watching it take off at the dunes that this could be their best chance for a 50 500. Hopefully they get it fixed soon, they seem so close when there almost at 50 at at the end of the dunes with such ease. Word is Thursday morning maybe their next chance.

by the way they attacked that run they were going for broke... unfortunatly broke happened. The record was toast if the wing held up... No doubt 50kts would have been dusted officially. It was incredible to watch. First time I've seen those guys firing in anger. Big respect.

Cool, Chris its good to see you back on the top of the list !
Aussie Aussie Aussie
JJJJJ that bloody speed is going up quicker that the CPU technology!!
Soon we will look silly with the 40
ps: that video is like god's hand, Chris flying toward the rainbow for the 50