Erin provides Thursday night fun

With Erin over the Texas mainland, we got some good winds on Travis this Thursday. Tim, Brian, myself and a few other AWC club members braved the rain forecast and hit the boat ramp for some of the best winds we've seen for probibly 5 months.

As the evening wore on and the weather seemed to worsen, the wind picked up nicely. We pretty soon went from worthy 9m to hang on 7.8m. I had a Pro Kid formula (a kooky little 117ltr formula style board) and a 160 ltr wood formual setup and ready to go. By 7pm the wind was gusting over 30 and the ProKid was screaming. As black rain clouds came over the Oasis down onto the water, the three of us scanned long reaching runs at almost 90 degrees out from the boat ramp, carving huge formula style jybes in the shadow and smooth water behind the boat dock.

When the rain blown by the wind started to hurt ont he face, it was time to call it a day. We all sailed until 8:15pm and packed and wrapped under car headlights as the darkening storm and increasing storm came in.

Just SUP osin

The last 7 days has been a windsurfin wonderland, well for Austin anyway. I've sailed powered-up formula 4 times and I put it all down to my new SUP (stand Up Paddle) board. What do i hear you say, how can having a SUP mean more time on a formula board...

So it goes something like this. I've got the 12.6 Starboard SUP in for demo (let me know if you want a go - thats why its a demo). Its basically a long board that you stand and paddle if the winds below 5 and stand -on and sail if above. With this new baby in arms, I'm always ready to hit the lake, no excuse, not ever. If there's nothing, I'll practice balance tricks, ride the boat wakes or just get an awesome core workout paddling about. If the wind comes up, I'm right there on the beach ready to go... So I'm at the lake having fun paddling around and you know what, the wind comes up a bit, so I throw on a light weight 7.5m and have some free style fun, rail riding, gliding the waves lovin it, and you know what, the wind come up a bit more so I throw on a big-a** sail and blast around full-on, gap closed rip-roaring rockNroll on my formula gear...

So I guess what I'm saying is, confessional time, YES its true, I'm a long boarder. I'm an old school convert, long in the board and short in the sail - AND proud of it :-)

Now today was a bit of an exception, no SUP required at all. It blew stonkers all day. Maxed out on a 9m - probably blowing 12-20knts (with all the meters down including iWindsurf, bit hard to tell for sure)... Needless to say, about 5 days straight on the water and the August blues just aint there any more, my soul is at peace, at least until my hands stop throbbing any way..