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June 08, 1997
PWA Fiji Wave Classic
PWA Fiji Wave Classic

PWA PRESS RELEASE Namotu - The O'Neill Fiji Wave Classic 10 - 19th May 1997

On May 9th, 1997, 60 of the world's top wave sailors arrived on the island of Nadi, Fiji. It took
a convoy of trucks and buses to carry the sailors and their equipment from the airport to the
port. At the port the sailors and crew were met by a 110ft cabin cruiser which transported them
to the event site, NAMOTU.

Namotu, which translates as 'magic island', is surrounded by a flat coral reef which contains some
of the most spectacular sealife to be found anywhere in the world. The island is tiny, barely the
size of a soccer pitch, with accommodation for only 10 people. The sailors were forced to live on
the nearby Plantation Island, and used the cruiser to ferry them to and from the event site daily.

The waves on Namotu originate from extremely low pressure systems which run across the Antarctic
from between Australia and New Zealand. These waves travel thousands of miles un-obstructed before
hitting the circular reef surrounding Namotu. When the waves break on this reef, perfect sailing
conditions are created with the waves wrapping all the way around the island. This break gives the
best conditions for windsurfing anywhere in the world.

A tropical cyclone swept across Fiji and directly over Namotu shortly before the event,
temporarily knocking out the swell. The winds remained light initially and the sailors filled
their time surfing and fishing, but the swell gradually built again every day, and by the 12th and
13th the waves were between logo and mast high. Expectations were high...

Friday 16th May, the forecasted 15-25 knot trade winds arrived, allowing the first half of a wave
performance elimination to be completed in logo to mast high waves. Saturday saw a return of the
South westerly trade winds and a building swell with waves approaching mast and a half in height
for the final heats. The conditions for the contest can only be described as epic.

Eight sailors progressed to two 4 man semi finals. The first semi consisted of S 10 Anders
Bringdal, KA 1111 Jason Polakow, KZ 1 Scott Fenton and US 12 Scott Carvill. Carvill entered the
O'Neill Fiji Wave Classic as a wild card and blitzed his way past names like Robby Seeger and
Kevin Pritchard on the way to his place in the semi's.

The standard of sailing throughout the entire contest was so high that sailors were forced to push
themselves to the limit to be in contention. Anders Bringdal pushed his equipment a little hard,
wrecking two rigs in his semi-final, a mistake which ended his progress. KZ 1 Scott Fenton, who
had some of the longest rides in the entire competition, lost his rig in the same semi-final and
went over the falls after a mistimed aerial. He spent most of the heat swimming.

The second semi final was equally strong, consisting of US 6 Josh Stone, K 77 Ant Baker, US 1111
Robby Naish and E 11 Bjorn Dunkerbeck. Ant Baker was having a fantastic contest, drawn in the same
heats and sailing an identical board as his mentor and team-mate Robby Naish. However, Baker was
kept out of the final by Josh Stone who was having the competition of his life in the huge waves
and perfect cross-offshore port tack conditions.

Stone finally achieved his aim of defeating Dunkerbeck in his semi-final with arguably the most
stunning display of wave sailing ever seen in a PWA competition. Naish also progressed to the
final to meet up with Stone, Carvill and Polakow for the ultimate showdown.

Head Wave Judge, Klaus Michel, increased the heat duration to 30 minutes for the final, with the
best three wave rides counting. This format allowed sailors to really push the limits of their
sailing and equipment in the knowledge that they could easily have replacement equipment rushed
out to them if necessary.

With the swell continuing to build and waves now approaching twice mast height, two different
styles of wave riding prevailed in the final; the consistent and solid waveriding style of Naish
and Polakow, and the almost unbelievable aerials performed by Carvill and Stone. After a riveting
30 minute heat sailed in the ultimate conditions, the five judges awarded 1st place to the master
himself, Robby Naish, ahead of Scott Carvill, Jason Polakow and Josh Stone.

In the women's contest, KZ 15 Barbara Kendall returned to PWA competition and snatched a victory
from US 6 Kelly Moore and KA 191 Jane Seman with G 680 Jutta Mueller 4th.

All the sailors were stoked with the contest; from those who were eliminated in the first round
right through to those who made the final. The shared opinion was that the PWA O'Neill Fiji Wave
Classic had brought the highest standard wave fleet together for the highest calibre wave contest
ever held in the most incredible conditions ever seen.

Comments;

US 93 Matt Pritchard - Plantation Island "It was unbelievable. I've never seen a wave, sailed a
wave, or witnessed a competition that was more unbelievable. So I think the sailors, the PWA and
O'Neill scored big!"

USA 6 Josh Stone - Namotu "The best contest in the history of windsurfing."

O'Neill Joost Bellaart - Behind his desk, Holland "The Fiji Wave Classic is a great opportunity
for O'Neill to stay in the water with the PWA and where windsurfing finds it's roots, this is a
fantastic result for all of us."

Final Results

Men

1 US 1111 Robby Naish
2 US 12 Scott Carvill
3 KA 1111 Jason Polakow
4 USA 6 Josh Stone
5= S 10 Anders Bringdal
KZ 1 Scott Fenton
K 77 Ant Baker
E 11 Bjorn Dunkerbeck

Women

1 KZ 15 Barbara Kendall
2 US 6 Kelly Moore
3 KA 191 Jane Seman
4 G 680 Jutta Mueller
5= Z 14 Karin Jaggi
B90 Sigrid Rondelez
Z 3 Sandra Gubelmann
H 444 Lucienne Ernst

(C)ssm1997

For further information contact SSM Freesports
tel. 44 (0) 171 376 7446
fax. 44 (0) 171 376 7786

wiNZurf - <webmaster@winzurf.co.nz>[ back to INDEX ]

June 08, 1997
PWA LYON indoor - Scott Fenton again
THE FUNDOLE PWA 1997 LYON INDOOR
27-28th March 1997

For the first time since the Indoor began 8 years ago, the event did
not occur in the Palais D'omnisport at Bercy, Paris but moved instead
to the Halle Tony Garnier in the spectacular city of Lyon.

The stadium is instantly recognisable by it's distinctive stepped
roof. The relatively low roof of the Lyon stadium makes a different
arrangement for the stadium than normal. The main seating is located
at either end of the pool,
with
an additional all standing area , filled with 1500 raging fans, along
the pool opposite the turbines.

The Barcelona indoor event saw a bigger pool and more powerful fans.
The Lyon event sees the same, more powerful fans with a pool which is
even bigger still. The rolling start, debuted in Barcelona also
returns. Competitors are given
a 15
second countdown, shown on large displays at either end of the pool.
At 6"
prior
to the start 5 red lights are illuminated and 1 is extinguished each
second prior to the start. Competitors may leave the beach at any time
the wish during the 15 second start sequence.

There are two penalties built into the starting sequence, a 30"
penalty for competitors who leave their assigned lane during the start
sequence and a variable penalty for being over early.

The timing trial prior to the show saw French, indoor specialist, Yann
Bouvier take the 1# seed position from Scott Fenton and Eric Thieme.

The quarter finals saw some big names fall. 2# seed, Scott Fenton
mis-timed his start and was left floundering as he suffered the wind
shadow of the three sailors above him. Heat 2 saw a storming
performance from Robert Teriitehau who literally flew out of the
blocks and built up such a commanding lead that
he was
able to aerial gybe the last two buoys, much to the amusement of the
capacity crowd. Naish and Baker both progressed from heat 3.

The men's semi's saw local hero, Teriitehau in commanding form again,
finishing ahead of Z-62 Jerome Bouldoire. The upset of the second semi
was the
elimination
of Robby Naish, kept out of the final by US-93, Matt Pritchard.

The final format was also the same as that introduced Barcelona. A
four man final is held and positions 3 & 4 are decided. The first 2
sailors then
sail off
in a best of three final.

The man-on-man final saw Baker, sailing with a radical custom indoor
version of the Total Flow F-1, up against Teriitehau. Teriitehau
fumbled the start in the first round, giving Baker a vital 3-4 board
length start, allowing him to
choose
his line into the first gybe and control the race.

In the second final, Teriitehau timed the start to perfection, leaving
the
beach
at the same instant as Baker and covering his wind. Teriitehau,
pulled out a 1-2 board length lead into the first gybe. The dual that
ensued was
riveting, as
Baker attempted to find a way through at either gybe mark. On the
final gybe on the outside, Baker found a gap of barely 1 board width
and took the initiative and the slalom title for the night with a 2 -
0 victory.

In the jumping, Teriitehau, Thieme, Bouldiore, Baker and Naish all
competed in the Jump final. Nik Baker, showed tremendous courage by
competing and then winning the jump contest after sustaining a serious
ankle injury on the Barcelona ramp last year.

In the women's contest. the no.1 and no.2 seeds LeLievre and Ghibaudo
both progressed through their heats to the slalom final.

THURSDAY NIGHT RESULTS
JUMP RACE
1 K-66 Nik Baker 1 K-66 Nik Baker
2 US-1111 Robby Naish 2 F-35 Robert Teriitehau
3 Z-62 Jerome Bouldiore 3 US-93 Matt Pritchard

1 F-12 Nathalie LeLievre 1 F-12 Nathalie LeLievre
2 I-25 Alessandra Sensini 2 F-44 Valerie Ghibaudo
3 E-77 Nicole Boronat 3 H-444 Lucienne Ernst

FRIDAY NIGHT
Friday night saw top outdoor race seeds, Dunkerbeck, Bringdal,
Buzianis and Belbeoc'h all fall in the first round. KZ-1, Scott Fenton
had a blinding first heat to finish ahead of Baker. Fenton and Baker
both progressed to the semi-finals, to sail against F-13, Yann Bouvier
and Robby Naish.

In the four man final, Teriitehau was first to the upwind mark,
closely followed by the chasing pack, headed up by Naish. On the second outside gybe
Baker attempted to gybe inside Naish who had priority at the mark.
Naish gybed tightly to the mark and was totally 'nailed' by Baker attempting to force his
way around the inside ( a manoeuvre for which Baker was disqualified). Robert was
also penalised for being over-early an dropped to 3rd position,
leaving Naish and Pritchard to compete in the man-on-man finals.

Robby took the first round of the final by 3-4 board lengths after an
excellent start. On the second round, it was Pritchard who timed the
start to perfection and led all the way to penultimate gybe. Kevin
fumbled the boom as he sheeted in on the gybe exit and dropped the rig. The drama increased when he was
able to catch the mast before the rig hit the water and began to
recover. His recovery was a second too late and Naish gybed inside to
take the lead an the slalom win for the evening.

LeLievre again dominated the women's racing by winning both rounds and
the final in a repeat performance of the LeLievre vs Ghibaudo showdown from
Thursday night.

Josh Stone very nearly missed his opportunity to compete in the Friday
night jump contest. He was so disappointed with his performance in the
pre-show qualification that he neglected to check the results sheet.
When Josh arrived to watch the show that evening he was adamant that people telling him to
'get his suit on quickly' were winding him up!

The women's jump was first-up in the Friday night show. Nicole Boronat
was in contention to make the final after a dry-landed donkey kick.
However, her second jump almost ended in disaster, she missed the fin-slot on the ramp and
went 'over the bars', fortunately she avoided injury when her mast
quite literally broke her fall, snapping just above the mast base.
LeLievre completed her domination of the entire event by winning the
Ladies jump with two tidy forward loops.

The men's jump contest was spectacular to say the least. Josh Stone,
was first over the ramp and pulled off a huge forward, complete with a
dry landing. Stone did not reach the jump final however after being
marked down for repetition on his second forward loop.

Robby Naish failed to make the jump final, quite possibly for the
first time in the 8 year history of the indoor. Robert Teriitehau
suffered the 'feet-out' phenomenon on his third jump. He and his rig
executed a perfect back loop, unfortunately, he wasn't strapped-in and
the board didn't accompany him!

KZ-1, Scott Fenton, undoubtedly the fastest sailor onto the ramp,
opened the jump final with a very high, tweaked table top which he
landed on the plane and almost out of the pool. Fenton finished in 2nd
position.

F-808 Erik Thieme, dressed in a yellow wetsuit with big black leopard
spots, executed the highest jump of the entire contest, a late
forward. Thieme went on to win the jump contest with another very high
jump, a table-top. This discipline winning jump was completed in the
full leopard suit with the hat and tail attached ! Robert Teriitehau,
also a crowd pleaser, lived up to his full-on image. After his final jump, he sailed the length of the pool and
jumped out of the pool, over cameramen, and onto a stage located at
the bottom of he pool.

OVERALL
Nik Baker's two discipline wins on Thursday and 4th position in both
Slalom and Jump on Friday night were enough to secure the Overall
event win ahead of US-1111, Robby Naish with Robert Teriitehau in 3rd.

In the women's contest, Nathalie LeLievre was the clear event winner
after winning both disciplines on both nights. Alessandra Sensini
finished in 2nd overall after consistent results in both slalom and
wave.

FRIDAY NIGHT RESULTS
JUMP RACE
1 F-808 Eric Thieme 1 US-1111 Robby Naish
2 KZ-1 Scott Fenton 2 US-933 Kevin Pritchard
3 E-66 Stephane Etienne 3 F-35 Robert Teriitehau

1 F-12 Nathalie LeLievre 1 F-12 Nathalie LeLievre
2 I-25 Alessandra Sensini 2 F-44 Valerie Ghibaudo
3 E-77 Nicole Boronat 3 I-25 Alessandra Sensini

OVERALL RESULTS
MEN WOMEN
1 K-66 Nik Baker 1 F-12 Nathalie LeLievre
2 US-1111 Robby Naish 2 I-25 Alessandra Sensini
3 F-35 Robert Teriitehau 3 F-44 Valerie Ghibaudo

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June 08, 1997
Western Australian Circuit calendar
G'day from WA,

Please find below the Western Australian Circuit calendar which
includes the ISAF World Windsurfing Championship.

The 72 page 1997/8 Circuit Guide will be available in mid-September.
If you would like a copy posted to you please send me your postal
address to Quentin Little at quentin2@ozemail.com.au.

The Circuit Home Page is best reached through the 'Worlds' home page at
www.worldwindsurfing.com.au

Businesses interested in advertising in the Circuit Guide should
contact the Publishing Director, Alene Ivey, at wink@iinet.net.au

Regards,
Quentin Little,
Honorary Chairperson,
Australian Affiliation of Windusrfing Events Inc.

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN
WINDSURFING CIRCUIT
SUMMER CALENDAR '97/8

October 25/26
GERALDTON WAVESAILING CLASSIC
Oakajee - Waves - Elite & Am
WAWSA - John Koch ph: 618 (08) 9332 5268
fax: 618 (08) 9316 5167
email: john.koch@alcoa.com.au

November 15-16
SOUTH WEST CLASSIC
Australind - Slalom, Marathon - Open entry
Mark Locker mobile: 015 98 0387

November 22-23
WABSA STATE SLALOM
South Beach, Fremantle
Slalom - Open entry
WABSA - Hayden Law ph: 618 (08) 9386 4053
fax: 618 (08) 9481 8142 email: jwlivi@isc.gov.au

November 29 - December 4
CERVANTES ASIA CUP
Slalom - Open entry
Shortboard & Longboard - Open entry
including: IMCO Oceania Championship
IFCA Australian Selection Trials
Sailboard Promotions ph: 618 (08) 9314 2995
fax: 618 (08) 9314 6787 email:quentin2@ozemail.com.au

December 8-23
ISAF WORLD WINDSURFING CHAMPIONSHIP
South beach, Fremantle - Shortboard & Longboard
Open entry events
IBSA F42 World Championships
Mistral Open Racing Fleet & Classic Racing Fleet
IWCA World Championships
National selection only required for
IMCO World Championships & IFCA World Championships
Eventscorp WA ph: 618 (08) 9270 3311
fax: 618 (08) 9270 3399
email: qlittle@tourism.wa.gov.au

December 30 - January 4
ESPERANCE CLASSIC
Marathon, Shortboard Longboard, Waves
Elite & Amateur Classes
Esperance Bay Yacht Club
Jerry Maguire mobile: 018 935 228 fax: 618 (08) 9071 5868

January 8-12
LANCELIN OCEAN CLASSIC
Marathon, Slalom, Waves - Elite & Amateur Classes
Nola Woodhead ph: 618 (08) 9655 1817
fax: 618 (08) 9655 1375 email: nola@echidna.id.au

January 16-18
SNAG ISLAND CLASSIC
Leeman - Slalom, Marathon, Waves - Open entry
Roy Bell ph: 618 (08) 9953 1076, 618 (08) 9953 1179
fax: 618 (08) 9953 1075

January 24-25
GERALDTON CLASSIC
Course Slalom, Marathon - Open entry
Greg Burrows ph/fax: 618 (08) 9938 2030

January 30 - February 5
AUSTRALIAN WAVESAILING TITLES
Margaret River - Waves - Open entry
WAWSA - Mike Galvin ph:618 (08) 9384 3462
fax: 618 (08) 9316 5167
email: john.koch@alcoa.com.au

STATE WAVE ROUNDS
Elite & Amateur - to confirm venues & times contact:
Aug 2/3 Mandurah Roger Goodwin ph 9339 5195
Nov 1/2 Scarborough Blair Simpson ph 9384 8266
Dec 6/7 Cottesloe John Geyer ph 9430 7050

November 14-17
AUSTRALIAN SLALOM CHAMPIONSHIP
Largs Bay Sailing Club, ADELAIDE
Chris Dimond ph: 08 8359 2617 fax: 08 8232 7244

'Worlds' home page - <quentin2@ozemail.com.au>[ back to INDEX ]

Sunday, June 08, 1997
THE ARUBA HI-WINDS 1997 PWA WORLD CUP - Final Results, Scott Fenton (NZL 1) 4th!
From: SHAUN WHATLING

THE ARUBA HI-WINDS 1997 PWA WORLD CUP 6th June, the fifth and final day of the Aruba Hi-Winds 1997 PWA World Cup. The results were tight coming into the last two races of this, the second PWA Race World Cup event of 1997. The 1,2,3 at the end of day 4 was Buzianis, McGain, Pedersen. At the 9:30 skipper's meeting, the wind had failed to build as forecast and remained between 11-17kts. Race Director Klaus Michel chose to postpone racing and re-set the downwind slalom course in favour of the upwind course race format used in races #8 and #9 yesterday.

Race #10 eventually started, 30 minutes later than scheduled at 10:30am. A small pack chose to head off on port tack, including G-307 Robby Seeger, and J-25 Norio Asano. For the first time in two Aruba events, KV-11 Finian Maynard chose to start on starboard! First to the windward mark was the young Canadian sailor KC-1 Sam Ireland, followed by KA-7 Phil McGain, with Jimmy Diaz and Antione Albeau rounding neck and neck for third and fourth position. US-34 Micah Buzianis rounded the upwind mark way down in 8th position. The pressure of leading obviously effected Sam Ireland and he lost two places by sailing toward the wrong buoy. As the sailors rounded mark 5 for their second upwind leg it was McGain from Albeau from Ireland with Jimmy Diaz, from the US Virgin Islands, in 4th. KA-7 McGain tacked off early to take the right hand side of the beat and paid dearly when a cruel header left him well downwind of the buoy. F-192 Albeau appeared to have gone way too far out to the left hand side of the course and came steaming into the upwind buoy on a close reach. However, it was VI-11 Jimmy Diaz who came from 4th position to take the lead, judging his beat perfectly to reach the upwind mark ahead of Albeau and McGain who was forced to tack 4 times to lay the upwind mark. Sam Ireland rounded the upwind mark in 4th position ahead of KV-11 Finian Maynard and Micah Buzianis who had fought his way to 6th. The first three positions remained unchanged to the finish, VI-11 Diaz, F-192 Albeau and KA-7 McGain.

Going into the final race results were so tight, the atmosphere on the beach was buzzing. Micah Buzianis was still leading the event but Phil McGain had closed the gap significantly. Phil needed to beat Micah by just 2 places to snatch victory. Positions 3rd through 7th were even tighter, separated by less than three points! At the early afternoon skippers meeting, the wind had built significantly to revert back to downwind slalom with 8 man heats. The top 8 ranked sailors all qualified for the semi finals without difficulty. Buzianis won the first semi ahead of Seeger, McGain and I-33 Matteo Bof. In the second semi-final, Finian Maynard charged to victory by almost an entire leg ahead of I-31 Paolo Ianetti, KC-1 Sam Ireland and VI-11 Jimmy Diaz. The start of race #11, the final was classic, 8 sailors all bearing down on the first gybe mark at over 30 knots with only 4 board lengths separating the entire fleet. All 8 sailors rounded the first mark without incident. G-307 Robby Seeger came out on top from KV-11 Maynard, KA-7 McGain and US-34 Buzianis. McGain pulled out all the stops trying to catch and pass Maynard, a move which would have won him the event. His challenge was resisted as he could only match Maynard's straight line speed and the 4 board length gap remained stubbornly constant. Buzianis was also matching Maynard and McGain knot for knot and the three sailors held their positions to the finish.

The result of the final of race #11 was as follows: 1st G-307 Robby Seeger, 2nd KV-11 Finian Maynard, 3rd KA-7 Phil McGain and 4th US-34 Micah Buzianis.

The loser's final had to be re-started after Antione Albeau crossed the start line over 2 seconds early and took all but three sailors with him! The three sailors that remained in the re-started loser's final finished in the following order: KC-1 Sam Ireland, AA-0 Jeroen Westrate and KA-6 Mark Pedersen. The final results in the Aruba Hi-Winds 1997 PWA World Cup saw US-34 Micah Buzianis take the victory by just 0.4 points ahead of KA-7 Phil McGain and KV-11 Finian Maynard.

With two victories from two race events Micah Buzianis must be feeling confident. All eyes will be fixed on Micah's performance in the surf-slalom conditions of Dominican Republic which will prove to be similar to those of Gran Canaria only much less windy !Finian Maynard in third position was stoked to finish on the podium in two consecutive PWA events, second in Leucate speed, and third here.

Next up...An update and results from the 1997 Aruba Hi-Winds Amateur event and a look forward to the next PWA event in the Dominican Republic.

THE ARUBA 1997 PWA WORLD CUP FINAL RESULTS AFTER 11 RACES (2 DISCARDS)

pos sailor sail 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 tot disc pts ovrl pts

1 BUZIANIS, Micah US-34 3.0 0.7 9.0 0.7 4.0 3.6 3.0 43.0 16.0 27.0 0 1671 North,Drops,Nifty, Tectonics,Pro-Limit 2.0 7.0 6.0 4.0

2 MCGAIN, Phil KA-7 9.0 10.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 2.0 46.4 19.0 27.4 0 1530 Neil Pryde, Bare, 0.7 0.7 3.0 3.0

3 MAYNARD, Finian KV-11 8.0 9.0 0.7 8.0 0.7 0.7 16.0 68.1 33.0 35.1 0 1434 Gaastra,ACE,Gulftech, SunValley,Sunfan,CNC 17.0 2.0 4.0 2.0

4 FENTON, Scott KZ-1 4.0 2.0 5.0 15.0 3.0 2.0 6.0 68.0 31.0 37.0 0 1350 Neil Pryde,ACE, DSL 55 , Dirty Dogs 6.0 4.0 16.0 5.0

5 ALBEAU, Antoine F-192 2.0 6.0 2.0 6.0 6.0 4.0 4.0 65.0 25.0 40.0 0 1276 Neil Pryde,AHD,Rusty, Neway,Select,ATAN 8.0 9.0 2.0 16.0

6 DIAZ, Jimmy VI-11 8.0 3.0 8.0 2.0 8.0 6.0 5.0 57.7 16.0 41.7 0 1209 North Sails, Visual Speed 5.0 5.0 0.7 7.0

7 PEDERSEN, Mark KA-6 0.7 4.0 6.0 7.0 2.0 3.0 9.0 78.7 36.0 42.7 0 1126 Gaastra,Gorilla Grip, Oakley 25.0 3.0 8.0 11.0

8 IRELAND, Sam KC-1 5.0 5.0 7.0 9.0 16.0 18.5 16.0 105.5 34.5 71.0 0 1090 Nifty,Fiberspar, Tectonics, Da Kine 7.0 8.0 5.0 9.0

9 SEEGER, Robby G-307 22.5 22.5 4.0 26.5 9.0 9.0 0.7 122.9 49.0 73.9 0 1044 Simmer Style,RRD,, Wash & Go 3.0 10.0 15.0 0.7

10 ASANO, Norio J-25 10.0 22.5 13.0 10.0 18.5 12.0 8.0 129.5 41.0 88.5 0 1002 , 4.0 6.0 7.0 18.5
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Saturday, June 07, 1997
Plimmerton to Wellington Epic
Plimmerton-Wellinqton sailboard trip. On Saturday April 1st at 11.00 am Steve Macris and myself set out from the main Windsurfing beach at Plimmerton with our destination being Oriental Parade Wellington. The wind on this day was 8 to 12 knots from the North Northwest and despite my earlier resolution to only attempt this trip in a Southerly the fine weather and steady wind convinced me that today was the day. From a safety point of view we had three flares, spare rope, spare UJ, food and water. I must say when Steve emerged in his lifejacket and helmet it made my solitary Wetsuit seem a little inadequate. We also were also being followed on the land (where possible) by my beloved Fiancee Carolyn Garside.

So we set out from Plimmerton on a broad reach out towards the south end of Mana Island, last stop before the Cook strait. The next Hour was spent zig-zaging down the coast to our first and only meeting point with Carolyn at Makara Beach. so down the hatch went a power bar or two and it was off to the south coast. When we arrived at Makara Steve was struggling to plane, 15 minutes out of Makara the wind had increased to around 18 Knots and we were low f'lying thinking just how amazing it all was. The wind from that point steadily increased and in an hour had gone from 18 through to 30 knots, with it our thoughts went from "wow how cool is this" to "hell so that's a back slam on a Mistral Imco" . At about that point Steve's number one camber popped off and my gaskets dislodged in the ever increasing sea that was building. so we met up and fixed the damage, discussed the ever deteriorating situation and then set off again.

Two things had become apparent by that point, one we got separated real quick and two at the rate the wind was increasing the point at which we could no longer sail was not to far away. The coast line from Makara to Wellington was hostile and not one that you could negotiate with a few to leaving the water so from there on in it was no return. Had it not been no return then we would have returned because about 30 minutes after our talk 30 Knots had turned to 45+ with the most amazing 80 to 90 foot walls of spray barreling down on you from up wind. We were sailing one design Mistral Imco's with 7,4 meter sails and I recall vividly when the first gust hit me and 1 got cartwheeled over the front and chucked 6 or 7 meters clear of the board. From then on Steve and I Forgot about sticking together and focused only on getting to Island Bay which is the first habitable Wellington beach. Fifteen minutes or so after getting biffed over the front I witnessed Steve being subjected to a very vigorous back slam then when that gust arrived at me it lifted the board 5 or 6 feet clear of the water then in to some sort of involuntary backward loop. But don't worry because I well and truly broke the boards fall.

One hour was spent in that wind and I arrived in at Island bay with no Steve. As I had not seen him for over 45 minutes and had no hesitation in alerting the Wharf Police to the situation. Upon putting the helicopter on stand by the Police rescue team headed out to find Steve. This they did and he was able to sail in unassisted.

In summation we spent 4 and a half hours on the water and covered approximately 100 kilometers . spending more time on the water would have been all right but for the level of wind. This experience has proven valuable for the planning of more such adventures and help identify and quantify the level of and type off danger likely to be encountered. Although we did not make our original destination of oriental Bay we were happy to be in at Island bay having negotiated one of the worst stretches of water in the North Island and still in one piece. My earlier thoughts on not attempting to sail in a Northerly were confirmed as the wind on the south coast was offshore and more than a handful, But we live and learn.

With the up and coming solo crossing of the Cook strait one other important lesson I learnt is the importance of having lots of time on the water in the build up to a long distance sail. The over all experience has definitely left us hungry for more.
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