I went to Canton yesterday when the W came through. I got stuck in a traffic jam possibly caused by powerlines bought down by the wind..Stuck on the Toukley bridge I looked across at the water
3-4 ft steep chop with crumbling tops , spume blown across the water and lines of mist /spume . @## don't think I'm going out in this!
I got to Canton and everyone was just standing hanging onto their gear so it wouldn't cartwheel away..
It died down a bit so I rigged the 3.8m + 95ltre board. I was standing ready to beachstart and the wind blew the board upside down. Then the whole lot got blownout of my grip and blew 20 ft downwind . When I got it the fin had been impaled 1/2 " into a bit of wood that had been floating on the water.. I thought this will be an interesting sail..
Actually it was brilliant. I'd been out a few days before in rough water & averaged 25% success with gybes & spent a lot of time deepwaterstarting
Felt like a hero in the flat water as I was getting 95% of my gybes & planing out
. At one stage I was so overpowered I decided to just let the sail go and carve the board & see if I could gybe & I planed out!
Pity I can't do it in chop..
and make for exciting visuals for the spectators on shore as they watch me attempt to bury myself head first into a sandbar while my whole rig says bye
and travels on without me. 
