46.3 Knots!

The day after Speedweek concluded Sandy Point turned it on. With Wilson Prom showing gusts of 70 knots plus, the Pit got pasted!

Chris Lockwood, Peter Dans, Craig Spotty and a host of others stuck it out and were rewarded with a massive day.

The Koncepts got a great workout in extreme conditions and a host of PB's were set.

Chris pushed further ahead on the speed table for the year, turning in a massive 46.3 average and a plus 48.3 peak!

The number says it all... (enlarge)

The following was taken from Chris' GPS Speed Surfing journal...

Once upon a time... windguru got it wrong! But in the right way. I couldn't believe it when I got to the inlet to see it going off like in 2004. So much for 22kts! Dejavu. With the tide predicted to drop with the wind swinging more south and building. Couldn't ask for more.

I rigged the 5.0m and 4.4m. First run was on the Carbon Art 50cm board, with a 23cm fin that I used for the speedweek event on my 6.6m. It was a tad big for the 45kt gusts of wind, but still managed a 44.2kt peak. Not bad for a board I practically float on (its a very buoyant 83liters due to the volume distribution), with a fin setup for 15 to 25kts wind.

Then came the 44cm board with the 20cm fin. First run, 47.1 on the dial. Second run a misfire timed with a lull ("only" 44.7). 3rd run another "misfire"- 45.6... After that a string of 47s.

The wind was quite savage at times. The sand was blasting way out over the water, and penetrating every gap it could find- including my eyelids and ears. Hovering around the 30 mark, with lulls to low 20s and gusts to high 40s with similar duration and short spacing. Some of the guys had a ball, setting PBs, but it was not a day for efficiency. Others were struggling for control with the large changes in windstrength all through the run. Many looking forward to the lulls!

Most of the time I felt underpowered on the 4.4m, but was thankful to have it that way for the viscious gusts blasting over the course. They didn't seem to last more than a couple of seconds, making it tricky to find a good balance point. The tracklogs reflected that with very jerky speeds. Believe me, thats how it felt on the water. Mostly "c'mon gust" with occasional "yeah this is it".

Due to the strength of the wind, the fastest part of the course for me was right at the end of the run, a good distance from the shore, running relatively broad over the back of the rolling chop. There was a point where the chop got too dangerous to continue, usually coinciding with my peak speeds for the run.

On my fastest run, I recall feeling really comfortable. I hadn't reset my max speed from the previous run (47.5) so I wanted to see how I was going. I looked back at my arm and saw it hovering on 47.5, and decided to go for a 500. By then the chop was getting pretty hairy, so I went for it. The chop was over 30cm when I started to slow down, making it one of the most scary windouts I've ever done. Got to the beach to see 48.3 on the dial!!!

The new KA Koncept was working great. It was totally controllable going down the course even in the biggest gusts. That gave me complete confidence to drive straight into the flying sand over the water.