Sailed at Auckland, Bucklands Beach
Rated a 7 of 10

Wind from the S (knots)

lulls: 6

average: 10

gusts: 12

Board: BIC Nova
Sail: NP V8 8.5 2002
Fin: Select Ride 50
Suit: XCel 4/3 infinity x-zip.
Air Temperature: 17 C

My son has two weeks holiday, with little to do. Unfortunately there's little wind as well this week. But today there was some. Some between 8-12 knots. My V8 8.5 was repaired somehow (not worth the $95 NZD, I actually had said the shop could throw it way), but I had a sail sufficient for these winds. But only one board still. My new low wind board is arriving next week.

I first rigged the 8.5, Auke complained initially that he couldn't get that out of the water, but it wasn't too bad. After a few starts he could even sail around with it. In the mean time I had rigged the Saber 7.2, but I wanted me to rig the Solo 5. So he sailed with the Saber 7.2 for a while and managed that.

After that time for some harness lessons. We had bought a waist harness a few days earlier and using that with the Solo worked quite well actually. I also let him do a beach start. Wind was perfect for him, enough to make speed, not too much so he had difficulty handling the gear and the water was calm as well. He jibed continually, so that looked cool.

I had a few runs with the 8.5 while he took a rest. Got into planing but the 50" fin is definitively too much once you get planing. It feels like you have a break. Hopefully with my new Carbon Art S80 the light wind days will be as good to windsurf as the 15+ knot days.