On the way north on New Year's Eve I stopped at the Broadwater, I think that's what it's called, and tried out the still unused to me Fanatic XCross 140 (135lt x 260cm + 42 fin). I was going to put the Kona One in but decided to give the XCross a go as the sandbank on the other side looked inviting and rescue me from stuff ups and the wind was up enough for it.

Others there, nice people and good to sail with new faces, had 6.0-6.7 but they looked lighter than me. So I put up the 7.5 Ezzy Freeride and had a few short runs, rig and board flies in this combo! Gusts around 20+knots with a steady 15+knots and I was holding the 7.5 down and just on the verge of being overpowered in the bigger gusts. Flatwater made things more manageable. Straps were easy to get into. Stuffed up every gybe but towards the end of the session I was getting a feel of the board's turning ability...but I was buggered from flipping the sail into possie to waterstart so it was a good excuse to crash and burn. Pity we had to get back on the road north for Peregian, there was another hour of sunlight left. Nice to stand on sand than mud for a change too.

This is the first "modern" shortboard I've used after my waveboard from the late '80s, so after a near 20 year break from it it felt good to be on something shorter than the Kona One. Ironic that the Fanatic is the same length as my old glassboard but at a guess 30+ litres more! Pity the run was very short compared to where I currently sail, I might get a chance to have another go in a day or two in our local lake and give it a decent run now that I'm home. I now know that it can point quite well at speed so dodging oyster leases should be OK...I think.

Also fitted brand new longer adjustable harness lines, a progress from my home made jobbies. Still trying to find the happy medium length as I was literally dragging my arse when reaching but OK-ish bearing away. I lowered the boom near down to the bottom of the boom cutout on the sail as I want to use the tail of the board to help me with water starts, just have to fiddle with the harness line length now.

Here's a pic my son took of me bearing away on my first run, I got on to full plane and pointed it downwind to dodge the houseboat and the board took off like a rocket...wooohoooo! At this speed it was easy to steer/point. Combined with experimenting with new harness lines and boom height = verge of catapulting in a big way. Pics are good to use to analyse sail, rig and body possie, there's a lot to be desired! This is only my 3rd photo of me taken in windsurfing, last one was around '82-83! And no I'm not wearing a Gath helmet...fark all my hair has gone white...geezus I've become an old fart!