It has been a solid week of wind here on Lord Howe, we flew in on Wednesday 8th and have sailed every day so far. Those that flew in on Saturday the 4th have also sailed every day. For me the pick of the days has been Saturday, winds 25 to 35 knots, Sunday was in the 20 to thirty range and Tuesday was pretty similar. oOn the other days the bigger sails have seen a little more use.

Thanks to the Tas Windsurfing and Ben I have borrowed a GPS to try out. My message to all you GPS Sailors out there is that you are all a little mad. The first time I went out I logged 20 knots and had a great sail. The next day was a little windier and I reached 25 knots, a little scary but fun. One of the other sailors logged 28 knots the next day and suddenly found myself looking for huge gusts and bearing away at ridiculous angle in search of more speeeeeed. A gentle recreational activity is turned into a white knuckle ride of fear and terror. Its not fun but its quite addictive and probably should be banned!!!!

Go Al, 30 is just around the corner ...

Good stuff Al, 7 days in a row sounds awesome.

congrats on 25 knots... good luck on the 30!

Have you had a look at alphas etc on gpsresults as yet or you keeping it simple while in holiday mode?

Great photos Al, might have to think about a visit there one day ...

3rd pic down looks indicative of most of last year..Love the great chop hop!Is that Tim? Wow the surf on the reef looks impressive in the background..

bearhoover said...

Good stuff Al, 7 days in a row sounds awesome.

congrats on 25 knots... good luck on the 30!

Have you had a look at alphas etc on gpsresults as yet or you keeping it simple while in holiday mode?

Thanks Ben, i am keeping it pretty simple with the GPS. I have to keep it hidden from the locals as they have banned mobile phones on the island and I think if they knew we were communicating with satellites while sailing they would be sending out boarding parties with a tow to Indonesia policy. Hopefully the sun glinting of their tin foil hats will give us enough time to run and hide.

Hey....I thought that was going to stay 'on island'.....

Al Planet said...

windanza said...

Thanks for pix Al, we would have loved to be there this year, the best yet looking at wind stats for the last month. A bit nippy but fast as.
Was wondering if that tango tackin' turbo Tim is there, and looks like him on the beach there with mine host the silver surfer, discussing the chiaroscuro shimmering on the turquoise asphalt of the speedway. Ah paradise,. Is that fish bread Pete blasting the senior class speed record to smithers there too, go well young man.
Did Gill snap those pix, if so thanks

Tim is definitely here, very hard to miss in his boardies. Would have been great to see you here, maybe next year?

Lol's.. Must have been colder last year as I can't remember seeing him in boardies..How many people ? Any women?

Al Planet said...

A few more photos from yesterday.

Ahh, the nostalgia! Pete and Ian... no doubt over there looking for a treasure chest or something... Where's the metal detector?

Hi lee,

Most of it's there ready to sail. Nicely set up place.

Sam.

Are you hiring out metal detectors this year for Pete? That reef break looks huge in the background.

Great reporting Al. Here's my LHI picture.




This is a classic orographic cloud on top of Mt Gower. This would have been a good day to do the Mt Gower climb, it was a close call, a guided tour with local legend Jack Schick was on at this very moment. A better time to experience the unique cloud forest atop My Gower could not have been had.

However the forecast got the better of me and I gave it a miss. Al took the honours this day with a 30.5 knots under less than ideal speedsailing conditions.

A very windy fortnight, not much time for alternative activities.

Dieter and I got lost for second time trying to find the route to the Mt Gower base camp.



The view was good when we gave up trying.




Came across a magnificent Banyan Fig on the way down.




This is a Scaly bark tree, the second largest tree on LHI after the Banyan Fig. A bit of typical LHI vegetation. Over 80% of the Island is still natural vegetation.



Successfully scaled Kim's lookout one morning as a warm up to yet another day on the water.

Thanks Tim and Tas for running another great windsurfing fortnight. We finished off last night with a couple of beers and Jazz at the Pinetrees. The band was running hot, the joint was jumping.

Had the traditional last sail this morning before flying home. Some good runs around Rabbit Island in between the rollers reforming over the reef. A sail in the morning, home by 7, LHI is pretty easy to get to.

alewi62 said...
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Anne! What have you done? Posting a photo with artistic merit on Seabreeze? Shadowy figures in a heritage hut. Backlit by the last squall glistening on the tallow wood floor boards. Shades of Frank Hurley? Even the missing 109 from Tim's orderly array of Supersports is somewhat poetic



Don't read too much into Dieter in the tree. Just your average Seabreeze happy snap.

did u go to Balls Pyramid ?? .. . its absolutely amazing !! would like to see a photo if u did

Wow Nice photos Anne, looks like a great place to sail !
...... and did you really leave your other half at home