The crew from WV, The ZU Boardsports, AWA and the event sponsors have been working very hard on the planning for the Downwinder from Bonbeach to St Kilda. Unfortunately the weather forecast for this weekend does not suit. The Southerly wind direction would spread the fleet out more than our support craft from Life Saving Victoria could handle and that it would majorly increase the effort required on the entrants. To ensure we can have safe, exciting and fun event, we have decided to postpone the event to another date. We will be looking at alternative dates over next week. Please stay tune for future updates!

Good call, I think. The wind strength was looking pretty dodgy.

agree as well, disappointing but the right call.

So I assume there is no need to register tonight for the next date?

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Jman said..

So I assume there is no need to register tonight for the next date?

With new date come new deadlines

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Jman said..

So I assume there is no need to register tonight for the next date?

Bit of a waste you staying off the grog for the last 7 days Jman

Bummer, I drove from Sydney for it. I understand why it was cancelled and I appreciate all the work done by the Victorian windsurf community so far.
I'm thinking about doing a training run tomorrow morning. Anybody want to join me? I will probably set off from bonbeach about 9am. And later I'll be down at Elwood with a bunch of Patrik boards including the same board Ricardo has been using lately. I'll drive home around 4pm so if you want to test a patrik board come around lunchtime

Me and a mate are looking at going for it at around 1-2pm.

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jermaldan said...
Me and a mate are looking at going for it at around 1-2pm.

And if anyone calls the cops I'll F****n kill em!

Justin Lord from NSW has launched from Bonbeach and is just about to reach Ricketts.

Conditions marginal and he's on and off the plane.

He has a 10M Avanti Sail with a Patrik Slalom board and 46cm fin.

Wind on the beach is SW.

You can track him here through followmee:

jerzyfilatow.wixsite.com/home

He is Tracker number 10.

Love this technology!

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jermaldan said..

Justin Lord from NSW has launched from Bonbeach and is just about to reach Ricketts.

Conditions marginal and he's on and off the plane.

He has a 10M Avanti Sail with a Patrik Slalom board and 46cm fin.

Wind on the beach is SW.

You can track him here through followmee:

jerzyfilatow.wixsite.com/home

He is Tracker number 10.

Love this technology!

10M

Went for a little sail today.

FollowMee seem to work well

Was pretty marginal yesterday, but I think a 10m would have worked nicely. I got out for a bit with a 6.6 and got moving off and on.

What sort of speed did Justin hit?

Justin gave up at rickets. He didn't get planning much.

I was on an 8m and 131carve and 48cm fin.

Board was a bit slow planning, but real good once it did.

Top speed around 40kmh between Sandringham and Brighton.

Wind was south so I was going real deep over the back on the swell.

On my setup needed at least 15 knots, and sometimes it was under but definitely stronger the further you are offshore.

Good first run. Looking forward to doing it more regularly..

I also learnt a lot regarding how to set up the kit for downwind and other stuff.

- water 1L bladder lasts an hour. Ran out halfway though. Need a larger water bladder say 2L.

- rear footstraps as far inboard as they go. I might also try to go sightless across to change the position of the read foot. Only thing is that it would be awkward for starboard tack. My treat foot was twisting in the deep runs and this may help.

- a free ride board With a pointy nose an a lot of rocker, but wider tail an some V would be what you would want flat slalom boards would. Not be greatest.

- wide spread of harness lines as oppose to forward or back. True more forward and found that at times it feels awkward.

- I actually had quite a large light wind fin. But no issues wit thanking it downwind. Some people say smaller fin may be easier, but I found it looses grip and slides with the excess power if large sails.

Sail with 2-3 guys and at least one person on the ground watching the tracks. FollowMee worked great, and I never lost reception. Best thing I that's it's really good with battery life an drains 5% an hour.

Shut off all unnecessary services on your phone. Notifications and wifi especially. Also when your phone rings don't get distracted. Mine rang 2 times and caused me to loose my concentration and fall off the plane.

If you feel a cramp or stiffness or something. Stop to take a breather. It will only get worse if you ignore it. 5 minute break helps more than you could imagine.

I recommend trying it in the right conditions. South was a bit hard, but SSW or SW or WSW would be great. I can't wait to do it again!

Wow Jez, awesome effort. maybe we could have run the race after all.

I reckon the thing about running races is that its very stressful. I little bit of stress is good for health in that the adrenaline and hormones pump and your immunity actually improves. Too much stress over a long period and you get adrenal fatigue and you get fat and sick.

Competitors get the healthy stress and the race committee trying to make everyone happy and safe get too much stress. A lot of people are involved in this event it seems all along the bay.

I am worried this great event may never happen if we wait for onshore 15-20 knots on a Saturday or Sunday.

I have organised events before (not of this nature) but in the events that I have done and competed in I have noticed how serious competitors take it and how hard they push themselves. I can understand if the race committee is nervous about running a endurance event over a large body of water. Maybe at the briefing its drill in that its a fun event and if your struggling just retire don't push it and don't let your ego take control of you.

I reckon the wind range is increased and any wind direction will do. If a long boarder wins or hard core freestyler or wave guy wins in rough conditions its all good. This event is a good thing for community.

regards Justin

Could be good if a bunch of us get together and do some more informal test runs, even if some shorter runs from Green Point or Ricketts. Actually did a test run with Justin on Fri from Bonbeach to Ricketts and back (22km) on my freestyle gear. Conditions were what would be ideal for the race - SW 17-23 knots.
The Flare was actually good as planes early, super fast (originates from slalom design), cranks downwind and very light & agile in the chop.

SW seemed ideal wind direction for a fast run to Ricketts, though waves and chop were a huge factor - had to concentrate quite a lot to pick a good path and not catch the nose and catapult. Spotting the checkpoints will be tricky too - could be good if we can get a flashing roadworks light or something at the checkpoint.

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jermaldan said..
Mine rang 2 times and caused me to loose my concentration and fall off the plane.

That's odd.

Is this still on