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Sailing Log
Sailing Log
A place where I include links and comments regarding my own sailing sessions
2025 Dec 12
No wind - sailing the Garda in side onshore conditions
BOARD 1984 Mistral GARDA
SAIL 190 Neil Pryde RAF CAM 6.0Powerhead
LOCATION Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia
TIDE High Tide
WINDS NE 5 knots / 8 kms/hr
WATER flat with speed boat waves
CONDITION Beautiful sunny day with wind dropping from 10-5 km/hr (water temp 17.9 air temp 24.5)
THOUGHTS Just a nice day to float around and enjoy the beach. No wetsuit (light chill in the water but ok on a sunny day liek today)
IDEAL COMBINATION NA
2025 Dec 4
Strong wind - sailing the Maui in direct onshore wind
BOARD 1984Mistral Maui
SAIL 1983 Gaastra Powerhead
LOCATION Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia
TIDE High Tide
WINDS N 20-30 knots / 48 - 55 km/hr (good but tough onshore)
WATER Big waves for the bay, High tide made falling in a bit tougher - Mid tide would have been nicer to 'beach start' after a fall verses a challenging waterstart or very wobbly uphaul.
CONDITION Plenty of waves (but not visable on Blairgowrie Yacht club beach cam). Wind was consistent
THOUGHTS I struggled on this day. The Powerhead was a challenge because I initially had the boom too high (works better on a shorter mast) and then because of problems being able to determine where the sandbars were. Overall the conditions were a bit grey and gloomy. Definitely a retro session
IDEAL COMBINATION The Take-Off and a 5.0 fully battened sail would have been easier in these conditions. I need to work more on handling direct on-shore conditions
2025 Nov 26
Strong wind - sailing the Malibu in side shore conditions
BOARD 1986 Mistral Malibu
SAIL 1986 Neil Pryde RAF Speed 4.9
LOCATION Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia
TIDE Mid Tide
WINDS W/NW 20-30 knots / 35 - 60 km/hr (excellent)
WATER nice chop, perfect side shore
CONDITION Looked pretty wild out deeper, quite a few whitecaps in the first 1/4 mile. Constant wind and tides were probably 0.9 - 1.0 - could stand up waist deep on 3rd sandbar
THOUGHTS Perfect conditions for high speed / wave fun in the bay. The wind is side onshore so very safe. Malibu and RAF speed were great to get some fast runs even with some cavitation caused by waves. (Had a nice catapault when I got caught up on a buoy). Wore long John and Jacket as it had been raining on the drive and temp was about 14 degrees and stormy grey skies.
IDEAL COMBINATION Ultimate fun in these conditions would probably be the Take-Off and a wave sail - probably a 4.5 as things got windier.
2025 Nov 20
Medium wind - sailing the Maui in offshore conditions
BOARD 1984 Mistral Maui
SAIL 1990 Neil Pryde RAF CAM Dynamic 6.0
LOCATION Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia
TIDE Mid Tide
WINDS S/SW 15 knots / 32 km/hr (good)
WATER flat
CONDITION Could see white caps further out but not a lot. No whitecaps in the area where I was going to sail. Sunny weather only requiring a wetsuit jacket. OK standing in water in shorts but could feel slight chill in legs.
THOUGHTS Typical offshore condition - impacted by gusts - hence it was important to have floatation (Maui) a centreboard and willingness to ride the gusts and plod through the lulls. If you want to have some planning in these offshore Southerlies then wind needs to be showing 30+km
IDEAL COMBINATION This was a good combination in the gusts. Could potentially have used to Mistral Competition to stay on the plane.
2025 Nov 13
Very revealing sail. The wind shows to be 35-40 km/hr with shifting direction W / WSW
BOARD 1982 Mistral Take-Off
SAIL 1989 Neil Pryde 4.5 Wave
LOCATION Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia
TIDE Mid Tide
WINDS W - WSW 20knots / 35-40km/hr (Poor direction)
WATER flat
CONDITION When I arrived there were plenty of whitecaps and the trees were blowing. Direction was side-offshore (Not ideal). To summarize - the wind dropped quickly from the time of arrival but appeared to be VERY PATCHY anyways making the set-up unsuitable.
Will monitor conditions for sailing when the wind is this direction.
THOUGHTS Wrong set-up for the day. Felt like 2-4 knots with occasional gusts.
IDEAL COMBINATION Probably stay at home. If anything by the time I left maybe the Competition and a 6.2 sail.
2025 Nov 12
First high wind sail for Summer 2025/2026 which actually started in Spring (Australia).
BOARD 1982Mistral Take-Off
SAIL 1992 Gaastra Speed/Slalom 5.0
LOCATION Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia
TIDE Mid Tide
WINDS WNW 20 knots / 35-40km/hr (perfect)
WATER small waves up to 0.5 meter
CONDITION Felt windy, looked windy, was windy for the entire session. Could just touch the bottom on the furthest sandbar but conditions were ideal for waterstarting. Overcast weather and early season start dictated wetsuit - but was quite comfortable except for setting up and tearing down when it was chilly. (Tides 0.9m 3rd sandbar available to stand on - waist deep))
THOUGHTS Great combination. Was overpowered at some times but always had speed to jump and waterstart. Hard work, but lots of fun and got some great footage.
IDEAL COMBINATION Could have possibly gone with a 4.5 but would have been underpowered sometimes.
2025 October 8
This video is of my first sail for Summer 2025/2026 which actually started in Spring (Australia).
BOARD 1984 Mistral Maui
SAIL 1989 Neil Pryde RAF Slalom 5.1
LOCATION Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia
TIDE High Tide
WINDS WNW 10-15knots (good)
WATER medium waves up to 0.5 meter
CONDITION A bit annoying in that the waves overpowered the wind and there wasnt enough wind to keep planning. Patchy conditions meant waterstarting was not an option so uphauling was neccessary (as is often the case). It was quite hard to judge the conditions because the waves made it look rougher (in terms of wind) than it actually was.
THOUGHTS Board and sail were great - looking forward to trying this combination in a bit more consistent conditions. Because of the wind/wave ratio it was hard to tack or gybe as there wasnt enough wind to keep planning and the waves were big enough to be annoying but not big enough to keep you planning through a gybe.
IDEAL COMBINATION Tough - Maybe the Mistral Competition and the 6.2 Neil Pryde Garda sail.
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