Man..........I had my day off yesterday!.......when the winds were down around 30 to 50kmh, not to be put off by this, I did watch the forecast closely yesterday and this morning again and with the strongest winds expected late in the afternoon, so
today I hit the water at 10.30am.
The next part of the plan is choosing a good stretch of water, and this is where the motorway course from Petone to the Interislander terminal ticks all the boxes.
What I ended up with was a fantastic paddle in a 37kmh NW
gusting to 67kmh quite frequently. With the NW you don't get so much of a downwind swell down to the Interislander.......just plenty of strong gusts coming down the valleys and the Ngaraunga Gorge...... so the shoreline is the best place to be both ways.
I made it down to the reclaimed land in 35 mins with the
tailwind and on the way back I got into my work and made the return journey into the mix of head
wind (and sections where the wind swirls around behind you) in 39 mins, which is the stretch I wanted the workout on, in the end it was 1hr 14mins for the 13km. Pretty happy with that stint which should bode well for the 21 km of possible SW headwinds at the event in Dunedin this weekend.
Like many extremely windy Wellington days the toughest part of the journey is getting the ski out there on the van, and then being smart on the course you paddle is always a decision worth weighing up carefully, whether racing or just out for a casual session. There's always people out there watching what we all do, so setting a good example is always an intelligent option in my books.
Photos: From Today at Petone and a selection from the weekend.
I also have a you tube video from Brodie McGregor on the SUP from the weekend.........our blogger vs the link is throwing a spaz and we can't quite upload it at the moment so click on this link http://youtu.be/9YG8gsgcqXQ
Click on any photo to enlarge
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