IN BRIEF...

I have a new slightly unusual waveboard.

I have a new sponsor.

I'm not going to Luderitz.

I went to Cornwall for the weekend. 

THE HOLY COW..

I decided to call it the Holy Cow, and a flying angel cow graphic seemed appropriate. Big thanks to Geoff Hautman (a very talented man -not only as a designer but also 2nd in the bwa masters fleet) for doing the art work for me. 

The unusual bit is the tail design. It actually does a similar job to 'wingers' by allowing a wide parallel sided board to have a narrower pulled in tail. The idea being to get speed and drive from the parallel sides, whilst being able to turn tight and vert off the tail. I've always liked the Channel Islands MTF altered championed by Dane Reynolds and that's where I've pinched it from. 

5 boxes for maximum versatility and fin testing. 

Weighs in at 6.3kg fully loaded with fins and straps. 5.6kg for the bare hull.

It's my big waveboard and is 85ltr, 225cm long x 57.5cm wide with a fairy flat rocker. I'm having another board made for full on logo high plus fast powerful waves, and the 'Holy Cow' is for everything else.

CORNWALL 

As luck would have it a decent forecast for Cornwall finally appeared for the weekend including Friday. 3 days of wind. I started off at Fistral which looked amazing for wavesailing but there were annoyingly too many surfers despite the wind - I thought better of it and went surfing too for a bit cursing the fact that it was pretty rubbish compared to the epic sailing I could have been doing. 

The wind was Southerly but Gwithian too small, so I reluctantly went to Perran, which has never been a favourite of mine, but had a really good sail -once I'd motivated myself to rig up in the pouring rain and walk down the massive dune. Full power on the 5m and new board, with cross shore wind. Lumpy and bumpy as ever but some good dumpy sections to hit. 

SATURDAY started with another surf and then off to the Bluff. Lots of people there moaning it didn't look epic and driving off to Marazion, which was surely far less epic -but apparently less far to walk and I reckon vanity is the real reason with a photographer always there..haha.

Sun was out, it was head high cross shore, 5m and plenty of ramps. I had a really good sail and started to enjoy some decent jumping for a change. Top day loving the board, working as expected. Straps felt weird but started to get used to them. Why do they always put the swimming area in front of the best peak? -zero swimmer, 20 windsrufers, arrghhh.

SUNDAY and another surf at Fistral. This time a nice clean swell with offshore SE wind. Saweeet. It started to get windier..

Choices were a long drive to Sennen followed by a long walk to Gwenver, very gusty Gwithian, or up to one of my favourite spots for small sw swell maximising and SE winds, Constantine.. 

The picture is terrible from my phone and does it no justice. But I promise you on the sets it was logo high clean and punchy down the line. Big lulls in the waves made it easy to get out even when the wind went super light (just as Steve King turned up). Had a beaut of a wave which let me do two big airs and some vertical walls to hit. Good test for the board again -wobble n ride, and some proper dtl.

The wind totally went so we derigged and went surfing, then 10 minutes later the wind kicked back in and by the end a new pulse of swell seemed to be marching in. But it was now 8pm and a little too late. We surfed until 9.30 -I got home at 2.30am.

Great weekend, loving the new board. Tried it as a Tri with 10 Ezzy, 16 stubby but it felt too much like a single fin (too locked in), next time I go tri I'll stick a 14 in (12 Ezzy sides), or a 16 flex to loosen the board up (which is actually what Graham does). As a quad it worked perfect for me (8 Ezzy 14 Stubby). Twin test next time out. Only niggle with the board is I think it's come out 5ltr undersized, or perhaps my perception of an 85 isn't what it should be due to misleading quoted volumes from the brands.. hmm dunno. (I did get through last year with just a 75 which actually felt the same float)

The new sponsor is DryRobe, check them out by following the link to your right. It's basically like a big warm waterproof coat that you can get changed inside or wear over your wetsuit like a rigging jacket. Not something I realised I needed until I had one! Made all the double dips into wet wetsuits a so much more pleasant experience, especially on the first rainy day. 

And finally Luderitz. I've had to concede that it's not going to happen for me - I raised precisely zero pounds and zero pence and have far less to my name. I do alright so there's no complaints. I kind of wish it had never been invented, but for sure this year will be interesting with a lot of big hitting gps sailors from Australia and the Netherlands in attendance so I'm looking forward to it.