It was supposed to be windy all day long so I was happy to arrive at the Launch Pad at 3pm and get on the water at 3:30… The wind was 20 knots from the west and the rain and hail squalls were south of us but made for a spectacular view.
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| Excited to go shortboarding |
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| Booties on for 10c water |
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| Great views of the storms south of us |
I unpacked the Skate 108 which I’d already put away for the season! I didn’t think I’d actually get in a shortboard session during our 48 hour closing visit. I was tempted to rig the 4.8 but decided since the wind would likely eventually taper off, to take the already rigged 5.6 Idol.
The wind was 8c and the water 10c. I was happy I decided to wear booties, and the 6/5/4 hooded wetsuit kept me very comfortable. The water was nice and clear again so it was easy to see the shoals. For a few minutes I saw a nice rainbow, so maybe they aren’t so rare?
I started making my way upwind and stopped and restarted my GPS watch which was actually working - just showing weird info. So the total session would up being 30 km in 75 minutes. Max speed was 45 km/h and I was planing for 77% of the time.
I did make a few duck jibes and had a few decent planing jibes, but most jibes were short radius slow jibes to help make my way upwind. I tried one carve 360 and one Vulcan; neither were successful. I was wearing booties and thinking if I’d landed the Vulcan I’d need to be like Andy Brandt and wear booties forever?
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| View from the west - navigating the islands |
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| Post session weather report |
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| I caught the windy part |
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| Some nice long runs in the 2nd half. |
While derigging I noticed that the Idol needs a new batten. After 4 years of being constantly rigged all summer (and one 2 week session in Bonaire), it definitely takes its toll on battens.
We got the place closed up for the winter - I left my 4.2 rigged to try on the snow - and my 2 inflatable wings are up there - hope to try those with skates again.
