"Optimism, Captain!"

We had a nice wind blowing all day at work, about 10km further north up the lake from Locus. First time I check the webcam in the afternoon - there's freakin' nothing at the Locus beach ...! I keep an eye on it till knock-off time but no change at all! Decide to head down anyway.

Sit on the lake beach with all the other junkies waiting for something to change. It slowly picks up by about 5:30pm and so I decide to unpack "that white thing" as the locals call it ... it launches and kinda flies so I noodle around on the beach. Wind picks up a tiny bit more, so I try the board out ...

... I can get up on a plane but when I have to work the kite again on an upstroke, I'm sinking. I walk back up the beach. Keep playing around for a bit then suddenly, the wind starts making an impression on the back of my head!

Jump in the water and lo! I'm up and riding! Sure I'm going downwind but I'm riding :D by the time I've made a few tacks and run down the beach, started the walk back up Hironobu has hit the water with his Naish Park 14, Uncle Pyro has launched his Best Waroo 14 and that other guy is pumping up his Cult 12 like a madman. Brother Chubby gets his 15m Bandit up in a hurry too.

I get back on the butter-smooth water behind Hironobu but I'm making better ground upwind than him! Hail the Silberpfeil! Same vein; we continue to ride downwind a lot but the wind eventually picks up enough that I can make a couple of tacks upwind :o do some silly small jumps - I'm underpowered but happy to be riding. I'm still making more ground upwind than the other though - gotta love the SA2 and the Flydoor! They're the only reason I'm riding, I'm sure.

Wind finally dies right as the sun slips behind the hills; Hironobu had landed his kite already but the other guys all hindenburg like erm the Hindenburg although Uncle Pyro manages to keep his Waroo up by running backwards on the beach - but it too eventually hits the floor. I walk upwind with "that white thing" in the air.

Well, it was better than watching TV.

JMA reported the windspeed as 6 knots. I dunno what to believe cos reported 10 knots at 3pm when there was NOTHING on the webcam - not even a flag twitch.

What I learned today ...
• bottom end for riding on the SA - pretty freakin' low!
• I'm a sad junkie :D