2012 Goya, Backies, Speed & More - 60 Days of Summer Days 47 & 48

By my own admission I have been taking it a little easy of late and I have been rather slack on my writing. I didn’t sail on day # 47. One reason for my lack of water activity on the north shore has been the state of my board quiver which has taken rather a beating. Thankfully after three days of sanding, filling, laminating, sanding, spraying, sanding, my wave board was ready to get back on the water and considering the amount of water that had come out I am confident that I will notice an improvement in performance! The added bonus of smashing up the Tabou was that I could fix the speed board at the same time and that is looking great. There is a speed event coming up this weekend so it will be ready for action, my personal aim is 37 knots but that will be difficult on the extremely bumpy course that we have here, the best guys are maxing out here at 40 knots but usually in the 39 area.

On Day # 47 (they are going so fast) the wind was good and with a few waves so I decided to make up some lost ground and got to Ho’okipa early for an all day stakeout. I have really been trying to improve my backloop statistics as I can crashing far too many landing and I had earmarked today; BACK, BACK, BACK and MORE BACK and when I first went out I found ramp after ramp and did just that. I tried a few ideas to improve my landings with mixed results but practice does make perfect so I need to keep at it. The second session was not as productive, the wind was a little more inconsistent and it was harder to find waves, I found myself rotating a lot but generally in the forward plane. A really fun day on the water. Almost forgot, had a good run this morning, I have been wanting to increase my distance and today I did with an 8km stretch, will look to do a 9 and a 10 later this week. Legs are now sore!

Back, back, back...

Both the Goya team and Ezzy crew were out in force testing sails today. Dave and Graham have been working with their Wave Panther III recently and I guess that a few more arrived on the boat today as they had other sailors testing out the new gear. Personally I like the look of Graham’s orange version but am not so keen on the green/blue colour scheme. Performance while they look great (as always). The Goya crew including Francisco were all sharing one all white 2012 FOUR BATTENED wave sail prototype which looked to have a very short mast and very high clew with the batten layout much like that of my HSM Bolts. So it looks like a totally different and more compact look than the 2011 Guru or Eclipse but I guess it is the earliest of days yet in the 2012 cycle.

JUMPFEST – the contest continues to get good press and voting continues. It looks like Graham is pulling away from the pack in the Pro Men while Morgan and Tom are battling it out in the Am Men. Nadia is fighting off stiff competition but it looks like she may take it. In the Funnies Bjorn has stormed into a substantial lead but I wonder if Tom will be able to catch him. Check out the action and cast your votes. Remember that you can vote once in every 24 hours and that by leaving your name in the comments section you stand the chance of winning a signed and mounted print of one of the shots of your choice.

CAST YOUR VOTES at WINDSURFINGMAG.com


On the Horizon:
Friday, Saturday & Sunda - SOUTH SWELL: looks like we are in for a treat so it'll be bags packed and off south for early sessions.

Saturday 28th – The Black Project Maui VMax Speed Challenge: do if you are in town dust off your speed board and GPS unit and let us see how fast you can go. There are divisions for Men, Women, Wave and Kids. There will be a number of GPS units available for loan so if you have never tried before then this could be the day. Confirmed entrants include Tom Hammerton and Dan Ellis fresh from his travels on the PWA tour.

Time to get back on the 6.0 GPS...

Sailing record: 83% (39/47)


On water record: 87% (41/47)


More to follow…