ALL AT SEA
Timo was first out as I realized I’d left my uphaul off my boom while double checking my gear. This definitely seemed like the sort of day you’d want it at times so I hung back to fix one up. Watching Timo navigate the tricky channel it was clear it was a lot bigger than it looked watching from the safety of the car park. I was glad I was wearing a flotation vest under my suit! Timo’s mast tip was just visible as he crawled through the feathering sets in just enough wind to get moving. Occasionally a gust would come through and I looked on nervously as he just started to plane in front of a mast high wave on the way out, catching unwanted air as the updraught from the breaking wave lofted him above the lip. On the back side of the wave, where he was falling into, you could see there was little to no wind and with another wave bearing down on him it did not look a happy place to be. I could see him tucked up mid air trying to bear away so that when he landed he could keep some forward momentum and not stop dead in the water. The tactic worked and he was in the clear, for now.
