It looks rather messy at the moment, but a good layer of filler today and plenty of sanding and it looks much better, all that is left now is some spray paint and some Sharpie markes (for the graphics) and she'll look as good as new (almost!).
My box of board fixing tricks.
With not too much wind forecast in the 808 state I had half planned an SUP downwinder before the wind picked up enough to get some light air slalom practice in. The downwinder will have to wait until after Saturday as I really need to keep training. It was a very different to normal Kanaha today with very few people at the beach, it was a peaceful and pleasant place to hang out and the 10-14 knots onshore breeze was perfect for the 8.0m and 80cm wide board.
Later in the session the wind picked up a little but not enough to challenge Tom’s record speed of yesterday.
I tried a slightly different set up today with more downhaul, slighter higher boom and longer lines, this seemed to work well and I felt the most comfortable that I have on the big kit. With the sun shining on the deserted beach it was great to hang out and swim with Liz before getting out for one final session. No great speeds today on the GPS as it was a little too light, it would have been good to have tried an 8.8. Thanks to Liz for all the pics today.
Not much wind today but great to be on the water on such a beautiful day here in Hawaii.
So it is just a few days to go until the Neil Pryde State Championships and everyone is getting geared up. It looks like there will be 20-30 knots of wind on the day so looking at the logistics because I definitely need 5.5, 6.0, 6.6 and 7.3 rigged and ready to ensure that I am covered. The thing that I never forgot about racing was the enormous amounts of equipment needed, it is a bit easier here in Hawaii because it is one warm but secondly the wind is relatively constant but it will start off lighter in the early rounds, get windier as the day progresses and be lighter for the later races so I need to be prepared for everything. With the first race at 11:30am I am guessing that my mound of gear will need to make the short journey from my house to the beach around 9am.
It was great to feel a lot more comfortable today in the gear, what a difference from 2 weeks ago!
One more question on my mind is whether to enter the Semi-Pro or the Expert division, I want to race against my buddies Matt Wicks and John Smalley (who I used to race against when I was young) but I don’t want to chew off too much and be at the back of the pack all day. I will get the opportunity to race in the 19-39 category too which will be really tough but great fun. I need to register tomorrow so will sleep on it and make up my mind in the morning. I finished the day with the Kanaha and back run and was pleased with my pace.
Pic of the day - I have talked about the Kanaha run lots in the last couple of weeks so I though that it was about time to include a picture that I took while out on my bike along the path. What a beautiful place to run/ride/walk, it is really motivating to look up and see this.
Click to enlarge
More to follow...
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