Swimming with Turtles

Over Easter I took the kids on a tip out to Lady Elliott Island. This was their first time snorkelling and first visit to the Great Barrier Reef. It turned out to be much better than I remembered from my last trip 14 years ago. We swam with turtles every day. They were waiting for us out at the edge of the coral lagoon. We would simply wave to them and they would swim over for a back scratch. These green sea turtles like a good back scratch because it helps keep their shells clean.

Possible Irakandji Sting?

Has anyone else woken up the day after a windsurfing/kitesurfing session with a blinding headache, sore joints, aching back around your kidneys, cold sweats, feelings of nausea and fatigue? - and no I wasn't on a bender the night before ;)

Cool New GoPro Mast Mount

Today I received my new TrickCam GoPro mast mount in the mail. The really cool thing is that its made from 3D printed plastic!

Nevs board repair - PART 2

The deck on one of Nevs wave boards had become soft and spongy between front and rear footstraps. It needed repairing before the damage spread - this article concludes the repairs...

Nevs board repair - PART 1

Winter winds are fickle around here, so its a good time of year to repair broken and damaged equipment. The deck on one of Nevs wave boards had become soft and spongy between front and rear footstraps. It needed repairing before the damage spread - this is how we did it...

DIY Mast Tip Extension

Here is how I made a mast tip extension out of an old mast top. I needed to extend this mast tip in order to improve the cam rotation in my Severne CodeRed race sail (because its NOT rigged on the recommended mast).

Freedom Wagon Destroyed

Today my freedom wagon (a Holden VY Commodore station wagon) was destroyed. My car is a total write-off, and I am really going to miss it. Many great sessions were had thanks to its spacious gear carrying capacity.

Tabou Rocket Mods

Without doubt my Tabou Rocket is my favourite board. I read a lot of reviews about this board before I bought it, and it did not disappoint. Even still there are a few things I needed to change to make it perfect.

Board Nose Repair

Hitting sand bars is a real hazard at Elliott Heads. Here is how I repaired a major nose crunch on my Tabou Rocket.

Predicting the Wind

Windsurfers and Kitesurfers get a little bit obsessed with the wind. Of particular interest to me is being able to predict conditions a few days out so I can make arrangements with work or family to get out on the water.

Seat Harness Repair

Windsurfing gear is constantly being pushed to the limit, the more stacks you have the more stuff you tend to break. This time it was the straps on my seat harness.

Change is the Only Constant

The Elliott Heads river mouth estuary is constantly changing, but maybe not for the better. Not only has the channel moved up river, but it has become narrower - both at the pinch in the middle and at either end. This is potentially a problem because Elliott Heads has become more and more popular for wind and water sports, while at the same time the area of water we all play in is shrinking.

Personal Locator Beacons

Sometimes there are a lot of people out on the water, other times there are none. So I take a Personal Locator Beacon, the Spot GPS Satellite Messenger with me, particularly when I head out to sea.

Go Pro Tips

It can be very disappointing when you have a great session, only to find that your Go Pro video is foggy or obscured by water marks. These are my tips for getting quality pictures and video from every session.

My GPS Setup

In this article I go over my GPS setup, including the unit itself, the mods I made to it, the utility I use to transfer my tracks, and the software I use to analyse them.