11 October 2009
So far, this windy season has
been a bit off. However, the whole of the week
of 5 October saw lots of airborne turbulence care
of a number of fronts coming inland. So here's
the run down of the weekend :
Friday - hot
prefrontal 20 knot north westerly wind. The sailors
(tossers) - Julian, Gabi and Breda while the rest
of us earned an honest living.
Saturday - WindGuru
predicted exactly 3 knots. Rather odd then when
I woke up and it was coming through in 12 knot
gusts. Later in the day, around 2PM it came through
solidly at around 20 knots from the NW. Sailors
- Julian and Gabi (the new inseparables aka Kona
moffies), Tarifa Pieter (who spent the whole day
cruising on a 9, packed up and left only for the
wind to come through) and DJ Don and Christoffel
(the old inseparables). What is it that makes
mankind want to move around in packs ?
Sunday - lots of hype throughout
the week as Guru had predicted big winds for this
day. Woke up to the sound of trees swishing in
the wind and my cell phone ringing. And so it
was that the majority of the windsurfing population
in Gauteng converged on the hallowed shores of
Dronkwordspruit Dam. The crew - Gunter (The Stig),
Breda, Pieter (Tarifa), Peter, Johan, Julian,
Mike, other Peter (four quarts ain't enough!),
Glyn, Deon, Sean, Donovan, Chris (Paparazzi, our
official photographer), Andy and wife, Alain (the
French Connection aka machine), Ray, Gary and
me.
What a turn out - can't remember
when last I saw 11 sails on the dam at one time
! However, there were a couple of obvious omissions
from this crew - Gabi, Jeremy (cycling ?), Adrian
G (he who prefers throbbing machinery between
the legs.....) and Jarrod - boet, why do you sail
from the papgooier's side of the dam ??? And was
that Lourens I saw sneaking down the road to another
launch spot ?
Anyway, the shore was a sight
to behold - 20 boards and sails in carnival bright
colours, folks milling around talking sailing
and the slap-slap-slap sound of boards coursing
across the water at high speed. The wind is 20
knots plus and the Stig is on a 5.7 and planing
! There's white caps on the water. It blows solidly
for several hours from the N/NNE but around 1PM
starts to fade. Most of the guys pack up and head
home. A few stay behind - okes who haven't had
enough and carry on using big sails.
Around 4PM, it suddenly picks
up from the NE and before we know it it's up to
15/18 knots consistent. Having packed up intending
to go home, I'm enticed into unpacking everything
again and rigging in extra quick time. Donovan,
Andy, Glyn, Johan and myself have an excellent
1.5 hours late afternoon blasting session fully
powered up on 6.5/7 sq.m sails. So all in all
an epic weekend by Bronks standards - three solid
days of wind and a record number of sailors at
least in the past 10 years. So the score then
- Bronks sailors score big time but Bronks wind
also scores a couple - two cracked noses and one
or two shredded sail panels and a bunch of sore,
worn out hands and stiff muscles. But it was all
worth it.Maybe we'll still have a late season.
Some
observations :
- Title of Mr. Miff has been taken (by unanimous
vote) by DJ Don who still thinks he's going
to get Sterkies wind and swell at Bronks. Anyway,
couple of nice airs boet.
- Snitch - how many quarts was that ??
- Glyn - join us on soul sail and put that
90 liter board to good use.
- Gunter - thanks for selling that peach of
a JP to me. I initially thought it was a dud
but then realized it was because we had had
no wind up to now.
- Tarifa Pieter - give her the nose job she
needs.....
Till next session...
Donny doing lunch
Space Man
The Stig
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