What's that smell?

 Could that be the camels on the beach? No, it's the smell of Carl getting skunked.

Circus camels on the beach at Carro, France
One guy out on an SUP with a sail playing in the waves

Check out the wind chart. I got to the beach at 14:00. Folks were sailing, having a good time. 5.4s and 4.7s were all over the beach with 90l wave boards. I rigged my 5.4 and thought "I'll be fine, I've got a 108l board." I got on the water at 14:15 and had an uneasy feeling as the wind got lighter and lighter.

The big lull happens when Carl goes out

Well, I did get planing twice and had two really nice gibes on the outside. But I think there was a current and my upwind - sub planing ability is clearly weak. My last ride track back in shows some weird up and down wind portions, which I'm guessing are currents and eddies as there are large rocks under water. So I wound up doing a 400m walk of shame (along with a kiter who suffered the same fate.)

The Shadowbox ride track - two nice gibes on the outside
then slog back - with currents?

The only upside was that since I was already rigged, and everyone had already left the parking lot, I got to try out the Turfdog land sailer a bit more. I made it back in time to pick up the kids from school. so I kept some nice brownie points from my wife that way.