EQUIPMENT CHOICES
Simon and I being bigger competitors (over 85 kg) opted for 8.6 and 7.9 sails and 135 and 116 litre boards. I certainly would have liked a 9.4, but as we soon found out, the coral can be a lot closer to the surface than it looks and using a 9.4 would have meant using a 48-49 cm fin and risking hitting the coral. It takes a while to muster up the balls to go flat out across these reefs, but as the locals say…”just follow me and you’ll be fine man!” Mitch Wagstaff, SA-1111, had some interesting advice about navigating the reefs – “The Mauritians build your confidence by saying if it black turn back and if it brown go around ha ha!” Simon and I decided to preserve our big F-hot fins and go for a 44cm fins with the 8.6. Chippers also went 8.6 and 7.8 with a big 128 and 114 medium board, whilst Jersey Chris being a little lighter at 80ish kg opted for 7.8 and 7.0 with 140 and 112 litre boards, along with Danny, our resident flyweight competitor, who also went with a 7.8 and 7.0.
Regarding equipment set up it was pretty much business as usual to how we would set up for slalom. For the long distance I decided to go for a 2 cm longer fin to allow for any potential upwind work and lulls, this definitely paid off on the return leg as it was a tighter angle and the wind dropped a little.”
It takes a while to muster up the balls to go flat out across these reefs.