So yesterday was my first day solo sailing for 1.5 hours at La Peruse (as suggested by another forum member for southerlies). I was only about 7-10 knots and i was running a 5.9m sail. It was also my first solo rigging. I had a fair bit of fun in an adventurous way, although didn't feel very fullfilled by the end of it as i'd spent so much time in the drink.
Thoughts:
My balance is my biggest weakness. Not being a snowboarder/skateboarder i really seam to be lacking in this area. I only ever successfully jibed once without falling off.
i need to get another board. My formula board is quite hard to balance on and doesn't seem to have the lateral stability that i had on both the board
@Mobydisc took me out on at the beginning of the year or the starboard go i used when i went windsurfing in Maui this year - considering my balance is crap as above this is prob my first priority
I seemed to struggle to get the right amount of tension on my sail to get the battens at the boom height to sit off the mast (they looked like i'd have to bend the mast to make this happen) - what do you think i might have been doing wrong here? The batten would sit to the side of the mast and rubb against it (i was actually concerned i'd rub a hole in the batten sheath if it stayed that way?
I have gone and bought a brush to get sand off before transport, and also want to buy a length of hose - how much do you carry (lenght) and what connection do you have on the end. do you also carry a hose tap for taps that have had them removed?
I also seem to be a bit paranoid heading into to deaper water. This might be a bit for fear of sharks (The Harold Holt effect) and also because i'm scared of getting far out to shore - thoughts? I am a very strong swimmer so not being able to get back to shore/drowning it the last of my thoughts.
