'The Golden Lake'. South Australia

Fantastic day! Maybe the best of the season for me so far. 

Forecast was good so hung off sailing until around 2.30pm, not wanting to wear myself out before the wind peaked. I think we got it spot on!

Went with the 5.4m Koncept, on the theory that I need a slightly larger sail here for the very sready, but not so strong winds. I think it was the right choice.

I first went out of the JP54w 70L slalom with the 20cm Lessacher Duo Bull Rake40. Fin felt fantastic. Impossible to spin out! But I couls not get much over 38 knots. This board feels great in choppy water but feels like it sticks too much for my weight in flat water. Probably a touch too flat in the rocker for me for top speeds. After 40 mins or so I cam in and switched to the CA40 with 17cm rake 40 symmetrical fin. Straight away I was going 2 knots faster. Raining 40's. 

Latched on to a few brief, but good gusts and saw a 43.2 on the GW60. Sail felt great. The wind seemed stronger and steadier on the North side but the gusts on the south side on Port tack, brief as they were, felt like they had more puch. Got all my best speeds on the South side/Port tack.

Tried for a few NM's but hard to get the right angle and good wind all the way. Finally snagged one I was very happy with.

After 2 1/2 hrs I went in for a rest and had this crazy idea to test out my 1 hr setup. The idea was to just do a few runs and check out the fin and sail balance. After a few runs I was really feeling good so I thought I might go for a half hour to see the potential. 20 mins in I hit the bottom on a gybe and had a great crash! I thought I would give up then, but looked up and saw that Mat and Eric were pounding back and forth, looking like they were doing a 1hr as well. Ah, stuff it. Might as well go for a bit longer. After a while I was felling OK (for an old bloke) and actually entertaining the idea of continuing for the hour. All looking good until about another half hour when I fumbled the gybe and missed the boom with my hands for another stack. This one took only as few second to recover from so, what the hell, might as well keep going now and try to at least eliminate the first crash. Another 15 mins in and I cought a lump of weed on the south saide during the gybe. I dont even know why, as the gybe felt just like every other one in the same place. I went sideways for a few seconds, it didnt look like it would clear itself, so I stopped and quickly wiped the fin with my foot. Up and away again thinking this was the last straw but I might as well keep going to keep the other guys company. I finally came in just after Mat but Eric was still pounding for a few more runs. I suddenly realised I was pretty tired and a little stiff in the back and shoulders! Not sure why???

Got back to a hot shower and a great curry cooked by Mat and found my Mate Peter had actually done a 40 knot 1 second peak! First time he had workedout how to use the GW52 GPS and he was on a 90L (?) Futura with a borrowed BP50 20cm deep weed fin!! 5m KA Koncept. Lots of contratulations and smiles!!  Got to sign him up in the team no matter whether he wants in or not! 

Very pleased with the 1 hr and the setup was fantastic: SB IS50, Lessacher 20cm Duo Bull rake40, 2018 5.0m KA Koncept. The board is just right for me having almost as much speed as the CA40, but a little more width (46.5cm) to drive the fin, and a bit more room for the feet in the gybes. The crashes were just my old body not keeping up with my 20year old brain. 

The best Alpha was during the 1 hr on the IS50!

All in all a most enjoyable session the the 'Golden Lake'

But I think I will be paying for it tomorrow. 

Gear: JP54 with Lessacher Bull Duo rake40 20cm, Then CA40 with 17cm symmy rake 40 Tribal Proto. Both with 2017 KA Koncept 5.4m.

Then SB IS50 speed with the same Lessacher 20cm and 2018 5.0m KA Koncept.  GPS-GW52.

i recon the wind was 25 to high 20's with the odd gust to low 30's at the best of it.

Great to sail and share smiles with Hardie, Firebob, Eric, Mat, Issac, Peter and Dezza.