Peter Loft Marathon 2017

The Peter Loft Marathon 2017
We had another fantastic race this year with light to moderate winds and brilliant sunshine. A large windsurfing fleet did exceptionally well. John Doolan was looking super fit finishing as the top windsurfer and special mention to a super tough Jorn Khronke finishing the course after falling in 3 times and getting becalmed off Palm Beach.

It was great watching John Doolan (Gosford SC) come running across the beach to ring the bell, a proud moment for windsurfing he only had two foiling moths and a Catamaran in front. Close behind was Doug Mclean (Canbera YC). It was great to hear all the sailors come in and tell their stories. Lea Sitja (Woollahra SC) blasted out of the bay at the start. Steve Newman (Pittwater) used his local knowledge to make good gains tactically. And other guys and girls sharing the stoke, “oh I sailed high on the course”,” I sailed too close to the island”, etc. All the sailors came in pretty close to each other considering it was a true marathon of around 2 hours plus.

My own race was a bit of a disaster in that I didn’t finish. I took a 12m sail on the Formula board and I only got to get planning briefly. I was in last place when I decided it was time to head for home. When I got close to the beach in the lee of the shore the wind swirled around and I thought, oh no I am going to fall in! Better duck around the front, no that won’t work, maybe sheet in. That didn’t work either and in slow motion me and the rig went plonk into the water. I yacht motored by and asked if I was having a good day, Ha. I was having a great day, I was windsurfing! Yeah I said , beautiful day. My enthusiasm had not been dented for windsurfing.

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The day before Dobroyd SC held their first winter race. I asked the guys how did it go? Lissa chirped up, guess how many we had? She seems confident so I bumped the number up and said 15! She snapped back 25!! Wow that is fantastic fleet racing, true fleet racing! A key point for me about this involvement is when I was in last place and then retired from the race I didn’t feel embarrassed or anything like that but rather still accepted. There is something special about this group about Raceboard in Australia and I believe we are building and it won’t be long before Australia has it’s next world champion.  Royal Queensland YS has the centre of excellence for windsurfing which is super cool and they are hosting the national championship in January (check this). I have a RB sail in production and I have drawn up a new Race board hull. I reckon we will develop the fastest gear and with the best fleet racing we will be the champions!! Or we will get fit and have a lot laughs trying, so win win either way.
Regards Justin