One of the “Jems” of the South Coast of NSW (Huskisson, Jervis Bay), hosted Heat 2 of the NSW Windsurfing Series over the weekend. Hit ‘Continue Reading’ to read a full report on the weekend from Brett Morris. Congratulations to Sean O’Brien for winning the event and Ben Turner in the FE+. Check out the Results and Photos will be online shortly …
Heat 2, Huskisson, Jervis Bay (Saturday 24th October)
37 competitors made the trek to Huskisson, Jervis Bay, which in my opinion is one of, if not the best holiday and windsurfing locations in NSW. Racing takes place on and beautiful beach nested in between 2 separate camping grounds.
The forecast of a perfect NE Sea breezes didn’t quite eventuate. We were instead blessed with a cloudless sky, aqua water and a steady 9-12 knot Easterly, i.e. Perfect Formula Windsurf racing conditions.
The pressure was on a new “race officer team” of on-shore race officer (John Hurley) and on-water officer (Nick Nelson), to make the most of the conditions, which they did with ease. I don’t have a copy of the results, but I do remember 4 races, which were all incredibly competitive, including 3 different winners (2 x Sam Parker AUS-3, Steve Floyd AUS-222 & Sean O’Brien AUS-120). Probably the most impressive racer not to win a race, but lead all of them at some stage was Sam Fawkes AUS-21; maybe he was just running out of steam in the later stages of the race for some reason – and on that note, congratulations to Sam on his recent engagement. A special mention about Steve Floyd’s speed in these conditions; I feel he is doing it way too easy. It is not natural to be able to sail so low downwind, so effortlessly…. And he is clearly enjoying watching the rest of us work like dogs as he cruises by. Yes, I am jealous – but that is not the point.
Not sure who was winning the FE+ fleet, but I suspect it was some new hotshot Marmon Cat (I ‘m sure his identity will be revealed soon enough).
Saturday Night was hosted at my place, mostly because Sam Parker put up a post on the sea breeze forum stating that it was, and I was buying all the drinks. Thanks for that Sam. I owe you one buddy! The truth was that it was always going to be a fantastic days sailing and having a BBQ and Beers on a huge deck over looking Jervis Bay was a no brainer. Happy Days!
Sunday (25th October)
A drastic drop in temp, with zero wind in the morning, followed by a SE 20+ knot front in the afternoon…John and Nick (Race management) nailed it. They put the AP flag up until 1.30pm, when a perfect 15-18knot, side shore front kicked in. The course was set immediately and we were straight into 3 races. Sam Fawkes had no stamina issue in the 1st race, nailing the lay lines, especially when it was difficult to spot the bottom mark in the dark conditions. The next 2 races were in 18+ knots and were claimed by Sean O’Brien, but only after some extremely close racing with the likes of Sam Parker + Fawkes, myself, Anthony Woodrow etc….
As we packed up for the weekend, the rain arrived. Not quite to the extent of Heat 1 at Hawks Nest, but still, a ton of the wet stuff for the whole drive home.
As I mentioned earlier, I have no idea what the results look like, and I’m not too concerned as it was such a great weekends racing, and socialising with all the new faces etc…Can’t wait for Heat 3 in a couple of weeks time at Lake Macquarie (07-08Nov09). www.storm-riders.com.au for more details.
