Epic Saturday, 84nmi sailed, 934nmi total.....nearly there

Woke up in the van at 5.30am, got up, went outside the van and decided it was cold so got back in bed. About 10minutes later Swagger (Portland Pirates Team Cap'n) rolled up alongside so I felt obliged to get up then. I was glad he did.

I rigged my 7m Tushingham X15 and my Mistral Slalom 95l. The wind was around 20knots and low tide so I didn't want a big fin. We played around on the Harbour with no one else out, it was brilliant fun. Then Camel (B-team Cap'n ;-) ) turned up with his Gopro camera and proceeded to do some of the best gybes, slam gybes, and tricks there are no name for. 

Swags and Camel rode half the length of the harbour with Camel sat on the front of Swags board, they even overtook another sailor while doing it. It was great fun for a few hours. But they deserted me at about 9-10am. I stayed on the water  until 11ish and went in for a break. 

I want to write some congratulations to Marcus for joining the 30club finally, he did it good and proper today with some excellent runs about 100-110 degrees off the wind so that is good strong consistent sailing, on old kit as well! He beat my top speed by 0.2knots which is a first when we have both been going for top speeds and means I must up my game, I did beat him with the 5x10 sec average by 0.24knots though and I did that at low tide compared to his flat water high tide speeds ;-) I knew I shouldn't have sat watching while the best wind went through at high tide, but I had already sailed for a good 4.5hours and covered 68nmi.

I went back out at about 2pm, after using some of Kats handcream to try to stop the stinging from the hardskin. My hands are nearly like leather now but after a session the callouses are quite painful, like pins sticking in my hands. I couldnt hold the boom, my hands were too greasy and I didnt have much grip left as my forearms were a bit tired. Once they warmed up they were fine though. I did about another hour and was dropping gybes all the time so decided to call it a day. There were no other team members out to get distance today as the forecast was for wind in the morning and that was all. 84nmi sailed in total for the day, giving me a grand total of 934nmi.