Having not grown enough winter coat for tassie, I've spent 13 hrs of air time going NW. Mauritius seemed like a reasonable destination and I've discovered plenty of like minded humans thought same. I'm staying in a kennel at Le Morne on the SW corner of the island and I've learnt to ride a (rusty) bicycle 3kms to Club Mistral.

We've booked 7 days of board hire and whilst we had to predict what gear we might want 2 months ago, it seems there's enough gear available on the rack should change our minds, which is happily accommodated. (Fanatic FreeWave 106 has been my favourite thus far)

Typical tassie effort yesterday, saw wind, lots of it and sailed most of the day regardless of conditions. The "lagoon" is quite challenging at low tide, the beachfront briefing involved a few rules and instructions that included "go there and we won't take responsibility". So our our first outing on unfamiliar kit saw me pile in on one of shallow break sections and Ben took a beach walk. Very rusty first half hour but then things started to take shape, particularly as the 2' tide came in and provided more scope. The general swell direction is perpendicular to the beach so 25kts of cross shore makes for a pretty nasty chop in some areas. In an area about 2km square, the is almost every condition imaginable. The big boys who put on a "red rashy" are telling the chilled local guy with binoculars (on the beach) that they're going to the outer reef, Manawa. Supposedly this so they will be rescued promptly if it all goes upside down.

The anticyclone will have an effect until Tuesday which means wind variable and big chunks of overcast. Not as warm as anticipated yet, I sailed in a shorty and Ben in a vest and boardies. Everyone has booties and yesterday we found out why, lots of rock and coral chunks to bump on.

Kiting is the dominant presence and would outnumber polies 4 to 1, more than 30 at a time on our section. Convenience of carrying your kit internationally is obviously a big influence. Quite a bit is done to keep separation (mostly decided by water depth) but when the tide is in, it's everyone everywhere. Not unusual to be head to head, side by side or have overhead strings. Lifting a kite to clear other other mobile obstacles is commonplace.

Today saw somewhat more settled conditions and we both sailed better with the 1st day excitement behind us. The lagoon offers every discipline of sailing except for speed sailing, although there is a midwater patch between breaks that serves as a sensational launch pad.

I managed to catch my first proper wave today, a modest but solid 3' and realised that the single fin 106 Fanatic Freewave could've have been better with some blades in the outer slots. Penalty for stuffing up in the white zone is pretty light as there is another 200m of deeper water prior to the shore.

Managed to get white washed once when the single fin gave way, with no damage. Punched a hole in the sail later on when I tripped over some 1' double chop. This is all good if you have bought the insurance option up front, "this sail has a hole in it, could I please have another one rigged?".

Got to the beach at 1030 today, handed our gear back 1700. Time to crash

Superb guys.
You do realise you forgot me, your gear carrier?

You had me scouring ka72 for your tracks, after driving up and down the river yesterday to find the wind ;-)
Hope you continue to have a blast - stay safe..keep the pics coming!

a few more from yesterday...

I am a little green....

Live it up boys you won't get that treatment back at goon bay "this sail has a hole in it, could I please have another one rigged?"."loving the photos ;I feel warmer already

Goondog you look pretty good in bikinis...............

DAY 3

woke up to no wind but headed down to the beach anyway to see what was going on. The lagoon had 10knots blowing over it and the learners were out in force. After spending the morning trying to figure out how to go diving without having a hole burnt in our pockets we headed back to the beach for a snorkel around 2:30pm and found a consistent 15knots had matured.

With the rental shed due to close at 5pm our army of dreadlocked caddies quickly whipped us up some gear (fanatic gecko120, north volt6.9) we lazily put on our harnesses.

sailed the rest of the day away on flat water with a rolling swell just big enough to push us onto the plane.

sorry Houston, goondog didn't put his bikini on today so we don't have any photos to share.....maybe tomorrow

Great way to test some gear, going through multiple board sizes and different sails!.
What are the Geckos like ?. meant to be the next thing in freemove boards these lower volume and wide boards.

Hope you get heaps more sails

How is the wear and tear going......I think day four and five are often the worst then the body starts to get into the routine?

The gecko:
Dad jybed 10 times in two days while we we're riding freewave106s in stronger conditions but knocked out ten in a row on the gecko.
I would have preffered a 7.8 in the conditions (6.9 is the biggest club mistral carry) but found the gecko popped onto the plane quite easily with a few pumps of the back arm and stayed there with little encouragement. However only once did I feel as though The brakes were truly off. It behaves in the air and planes away from landings without thought. Al's starboard atom (from memory) feels lighter under foot and more manoeuvrable, the gecko feels more grounded and predictable.

The bodies:
we both have callouses through to flesh, trying desperately to keep them from lifting and I have no skin on the outside of my right thumb from not wrapping it around the boom like a normal person. But truth be told our biggest complaint is our backsides which are becoming less and less excitedly about mounting our bare plastic bike seats day after day.

Today looks like like a rest day, no wind at all....perhaps a surf is in order.

Looks like a great sailing venue. I'm going to start saving my penny's for next year. I think I may even survive the 13 hours of air time with three small kids for such a beautiful blue water sailing destination. Can't wait to hear more.

Day 4.

There was absolutely no wind....it was fantastic.

Started the day with a SUP out to and on little reef, SCUBA'd a Japanese Ship Wreck over lunch and then finished the day off with another SUP.

This evening's meal was a joint BBQ with some of the surrounding apartments, lots of food and self serve cocktails for about $15pp. Of the 25 people at the table 8 were Tasmanian and 23 were kiters. I sat with a team rider from RRD and another from Ozone and managed to talk about the dark side for an hour without embarrassing myself....I think.

Can you guys stop posting please I am finding this all too painful ! Maybe a post of some really crappy weather a cyclone and stuck inside reading a book would make me feel better!

Day 5 Another dot day, the club mistral guys used it to move the 'camp' down the beach to a new club house. Dad went diving and I went for a SUP. Nothing else to report from paradise. P.S. For your peace of mind Parky we did see some rain on the horizon today

Guys, Must be a good bit of wavesailing action there ?, notice quite a few tri waves in that "pile".

Lucky buggers...so jealous

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geared4knots said..
Guys, Must be a good bit of wavesailing action there ?, notice quite a few tri waves in that "pile".

Most of the sailing here is wave. While there is a little bump and jump before you get to the reef, coming here with the intention of only sailing on flat water would be unwise. Big blue ocean sailing isn't really an option as the wind relies on the mountain for strength so gets lighter as you go further off shoreThe Waves: Small Reef....a gentle 1-4ft right hander over 2-3foot deep water. Wave interval is enormous so water starting between waves isnt a drama and theres pleny of space to pick up speed before a big launch. Chameaux....Bigger version of small reef in deeper water but there are a few big bommies lurking beneath the break One Eye... Pro sailors and Surfers only, Club Mistral doesn't let there gear anywhere near it. Shallow reef will make you pay for mistakes Platin Rouge....looks nice from a distance but is allegedly riddles with pillars beneath the surface....now one goes there Manawa.... MASSIVE rolling left hand break, slow and deep. 1-4m but very forgiving...will get you some photos soon. For now here's a few of dad hitting Small Reef...

Hey Ben can you bring some of the gear sherpas back to the goon with you??? They could be handy!

Hey Ben the focus point on the fourth pic you posted seems to be between you and the water edge. I can't really pic the water action out too well.

Looks like a beautiful place with heaps of watery things to do.

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Parkster said..
Hey Ben the focus point on the fourth pic you posted seems to be between you and the water edge. I can't really pic the water action out too well.

Yeah I'm still learning how to use this damn DSLR, I'll do better next time.

Day 6

one of ten southerly breezes they get here each year provided a taste of lagoon sailing....which is by the way, just as good as it looks In the catalogues.

Still plenty of waves about but dad and I both managed to catch our fins on the bottom of the reef they were breaking over, another guy tore a fin out of his quad....a little worrying.

We were out most of the day, Dad On 5.9/gecko112 and I went a little gear crazy sailing 6.4/skate111/gecko105/freewave106. Knocked up 85km and my new English mate James taught me to duck jibe.

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BFlood said..

Parkster said..
Hey Ben the focus point on the fourth pic you posted seems to be between you and the water edge. I can't really pic the water action out too well.

Yeah I'm still learning how to use this damn DSLR, I'll do better next time.

Day 6

one of ten southerly breezes they get here each year provided a taste of lagoon sailing....which is by the way, just as good as it looks In the catalogues.

Still plenty of waves about but dad and I both managed to catch our fins on the bottom of the reef they were breaking over, another guy tore a fin out of his quad....a little worrying.

We were out most of the day, Dad On 5.9/gecko112 and I went a little gear crazy sailing 6.4/skate111/gecko105/freewave106. Knocked up 85km and my new English mate James taught me to duck jibe.

Its been southerly here to ........did you guys get the snow down to 500 metres as well?

Day 7: wind was back to its normal direction but very up and down, got a sail in but constant gear changes made it a pain.

Day 8:

The wind is back and today saw some pretty big action all the across the lagoon.
Ben and I had a solid 4 hour outing on Fanatic Freewaves/Triwaves with 4.5 and 4.7s, must've been windy for Ben to be on a sub 5metre! We tend to be sailing bigger volumes than normal and I must say the my 96 litre did everything required under adverse conditions.
Pretty much like the first day we were here, but windier. We have learnt lots of things about the sailing area and have come to respect the potential hazards, in fact the more you get to know the place, the scarier it gets. All across the lagoon there are coral bommies and protrusions. Little Reef which used to be a play pen turned into a fickle trap today as the wind turned cross shore and the swell increased. There's a patch on its outer corner that has enough outgoing current (pulls you off your feet) to keep you neatly trapped in the white wash. Spent 5 mins there yesterday and it actually occurred to me that I might need help.
So most of today was spent "in the chanel", this section is really deep takes the outflow of the entire lagoon. As the day went on, even this area got challenging, much like out the back of Bell Boy when the gale is cross to swell. Great opportunity to scoot along the front of big rollers for rides that went at least 500m. The cross chop on the face being big enough to actually halt progress, good practice in luffing the rig whilst dodging through the bumps. On one run in I actually turned around and went back out cos there seemed to be too much white water between me and the beach.
The big breeze cut the population of kiters to less than half. We had most of the lagoon to ourselves because the serious kites were outside the reef. Saw some absolutely epic swell at One Eye, the beach point where everyone hangs out is about 800m from the big break. When we got there today we were in time to see a windsurfer fully engaged on a massive face until it was evident it was closing and there's nowhere to go (water wall as big as your mast on the left, effectively dry reef on the right). The guy got absolutely smashed, Ben and I thought we'd witnessed someone's demise. No matter, after a while we watched him disappear/reappear over the reef to the inside, then sail home completely intact ( when he got back he put his board on the sparse grass because "he didn't want to get sand on it"). His family had hired a boat to sit inside the reef so daughter could use the
500mm/f2.8L series Canon lens to "take some shots". Lots of giggling when they got back to the beach and showed Dad the evidence. Unbelievable.

That's an awesome looking wave, I take it the reef is too shallow that's why there's no windsurfers on it.

Fully smackable!! Looks full on!!

I think it's the one Scott Mckercher ripped to pieces on one of those triolgy type contests when it was breaking double mast in half mast or less water depth (some sic footage somewhere in u tube)

Styling . Thanks for showing and saying the real LeM. The kennel sounds interesting, budget accom ?
And A & G yes it rocks i wasn't ramping it up when reminiscing at the LHI lagoon hoon in years gone by.

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windanza said..
The kennel sounds interesting, budget accom ?

'The Kennel' is a self catering apartment in the 'Pik Pik' complex across the road from 'The Paradis' resort, 3km from the beach. We're paying about 50euro a night for our room, it has 2 queen beds in a single room with a small kitchen, a bathroom and a veranda (where we spend most of our down time) there's also a small pool (which we haven't seen anyone use) and a tennis court. The other apartments are filled with kiters (both amateur and professional) who are always happy to chat. Every now and then we have a communal dinner with 'The Palms' apartment complex down the road which is another great opportunity to meet like minded people. There is almost always a roving employee keeping an eye on the place and all the windows are barred and the doors deadlocked so its quite secure. The cleaners come 6 days a week to do everything from make your bed to doing the dishes. The bikes provided are good enough to get to the beach but if you want to go to the supermarket (La Gaulette) its a 400Rupee ($15AU round trip)

Day 9:

Our board hire ran out yesterday but the manager offered us a pretty good day-to-day rate so I went back and sailed 5.0 on a 95L TriWave for 2.5 hours. Dad took the day to rest, take some cracker shots and study for his looming SCUBA exam

Peak Hour in the channel:







"Matrix", THE INSTRUCTOR

My best piece of sailing and Dad's best piece of photography for the week:

The bottom of my board:

The kiters here make the kiters at home look like kindergarten children:

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houston said..
That's an awesome looking wave, I take it the reef is too shallow that's why there's no windsurfers on it.

Ummn, well yeah thats's kind of right. As per yesterday's description, some windsurfers do actually go there and were probably the first to do so, ahead of kiters.
I spent a little while at "The Point" today to capture how its done. Fluro is overly optimistic in regard to the mast vs water depth ratio. If you could get over the reef with anything more than a wave fin, I'd be amazed. It can go dry at low tide and the range here is only 600mm.
The following has a picture story at the end. (Photes shot at 400mm f10 cropped sensor)

Superb photos and objective reporting . Have you seen the Sega dance yet, its a treat. Mauritians have many good musicians and a unique rhythm and sound
thanks for info on the pikpik scene.

Hi William hows the north coast, warmer than here I bet

Love the photos, it looks like a solid swell is hitting Mauritius.

Here is an older Video of One Eye

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