Woohoo! Its Windy in Paraparaumu. A Southerly was forecast and it kicked in as predicted.
Location: Paraparaumu Beach (Marine Parade)
Equipment: Naish 3.6m, Naish Hover Ultra 125L
Wind: 8-14 kts S
A nice Southerly wind at Paraparaumu Beach meant I unpacked the 3.6m Wing today. It was slightly offshore and there were holes in the wind but I was keen to get out there and keep progressing. The water was pretty choppy and the current was flowing North.
Today was Challenging. We had positioned the foil further forward on the board to try and encourage the lift. But after my first tack out and back I felt very unbalanced and was struggling to stay on the board (still not on the foil yet). So decided to move it back to the middle. This felt much better and I had a few great runs (not on the foil) in Challenging/ Choppy water. BUT I was relying on increasing my speed to try to get the foil to lift out and it wasn't quite coming together. At one stage tacking back to the beach I thought I felt some lift and then the board just shot straight downwind from under my feet and I was in the water before I knew it! I tacked back and forth for a good few runs before fatigue set in. I haven't done this much activity for a while so the body is starting to feel it!
My ever patient partner was on photo duty and was observing and willing me on.
He has some great tips for me to try next time so I can't wait to get back out there again. There isn't a lot of wind in the forcast for the next few days so I will be able to rest and be fresh for the next session.
2 comments
Thanks Jan. I don’t know about being a natural but I do like water sports. I’m sure you and the kids would enjoy this too!
That’s awesome Annette to see you out there and taking up a new tricky challenge. You were always so naturally good at sport? – good for you! 👍🌸☺️