Wednesday, December 21, 2011

A brisk easterly at Mentone

Session 158, Wednesday 21 December 2011

A 15 knot south easterly was blowing later in the afternoon so Stuart and I headed to Mentone.  Once on the water the wind picked up so a brisk 20-25 knots which was great fun.

I did some "Bondi Tram" runs - bar right out and still screeching along at 40km/h!  I depowered the Noise 12m a few times, using the "leash over the depower nob" trick.

The water was clean, the sun was shining and the wind was good.  I popped a couple of nice high jumps, but lost my board landing one of them.  Upwind body dragging didn't get me far upwind - I think I should have powered up the kite fully - but Stuart came by and fetched my board.

There were only about 4 kites out, and two windsurfers.  I was stationary in the water well offshore resetting my depower when one kamikaze windsurfer came straight at me with speed.  It was a bit un-nerving watching this large board heading straight for me.  He eventually passed me just upwind, which mean a big gust could have blown him onto me.  His buddy did the right thing and passed me downwind at a safe distance.

Later, Stuart said he had a close encounter when the same windsurfer came up very close behind him.  Stuart took evasive action to keep away from him.  There is plenty of room out there and no need to go past someone else so fast and so close.  If this windsurfer is reading this, back off please!

We stopped at about 6pm, with the wind getting even stronger.  Nice to have a good stiff sea breeze, even if it was a bit unpredictable.

I stuffed up the control on my Contour Roam video so no footage - there is only one switch but it looks like I need to practice using it.

17km and 43km/h max speed.  Overall a great session.



Session stats


  • Distance: 17.68 km
  • Time: 1:13:01
  • Avg Speed: 14.5 km/h
  • Elevation Gain: 3,269 m
  • Moving Time: 48:04
  • Avg Speed: 14.5 km/h
  • Avg Moving Speed: 22.1 km/h
  • Max Speed: 43.0 km/h

No comments: