Good wind...FINALLY! It's been a while since I had a chance to pull my mast track all the way back. Initially the wind was gusty and patchy...those sorts that I simply hate. It's like the type of wind where u think someone is holding on to the wind tap & turning it on and off...the sorts that suddenly increase by 5 kts and threaten to catapult u. Well, I got catapulted and slammed er, 3x or more...not as bad as my fren Ching whose catapult resulted in 2 broken battens & a broken ego. I was not much better, grunting most of the time as I climb back up on the board. Plus, it didn't help that my wkday gym trg always manifest on my first wkend windsurfing, not to mention the sudden shocks the gust give to my tight forearm muscles. I was cramping up a lot there. Thank God, the gusts dropped and the wind became more consistent throughout. It was blowing around 15 kts steadily. Boy was I enjoying myself by then...a bunch of us sailed up to Padang, broadreaching all the way, pulling through occasional patches of lulls. Soon u will be able to predict when the lulls come and quickly open up your sail & get yr feet off the foot-straps. We did that twice till we launched a 'search & rescue' mission for a 'missing' team-mate. We realised that he's been missing since the storm. Ben & Harold went off searching towards the easterly direction & I headed towards the ships, half expecting to find him stuck under a ship's hull or anchor-line. Nah, I was actually worried sick for him. I prayed for his protection and hoping NOT to find a mangled mess of flesh, sail, mast & foam. Later I found out he's actually gone back to shore to drink water. I was fuming mad plus relieved all at the same time. There goes our training & the wind...the wind died as I was searching & I ended up at PA ordering new sets of MOD equipment for the Japanese sailors. How convenient, I thought! This Jap friend of mine is a Supergirl, as I call her. One of the rare windsurfers who bother to pen out emails and share her goings-on etc...Back to my 'training', the wind died, expectedly...to a 0 kt or less...ahaha... However, I was feeling more than satisfied with the planing and good sailing I did. I could hold off the big boys in the winds and not letting some of them catch up with me. I was sheeting in nicely and reacted well to the lulls without slowing down too much. Those old long harness lines helped a great deal, as did the new postions I placed the upwind footstraps. I reached the upwind Mark, Keta buoy 3rd among the 6 of us and maintained this psn as we hit Padang buoy in a straight reach. I tried to minimise the bouncing but couldn't. I will have to figure that out later. Also, I thought my harness lines outta be further back in the stronger winds but din have the time to fix it. Coz 90% of the days we have reallie light winds so my equipment is set to light wind conditions. Of coz, my sail was too full initially for the gusty conditions even when I pulled tight everything possible. Overall, I was happy with the free n' easy session today as I felt much stronger. My gym trgs r manifesting good results, despite the initial cramps. I could still pull off 4 chin-ups after that...which was quite a record for me! ahahaha...i'm indeed very motivated to focus on my physical trg as it makes so much difference to my endurance. Not to mention my diet's got to work or I'll sink very soon even with a life-jac on. Looking forward to tomorrow's session as we are meeting our chinese coachy for the first time. Either his English improves or our mandarin...aha! Hope he can formulate a good physical training program for me to work on in the weekdays so I can make full use of the wkend water trainings. Minus the typical chinese mentality of work and life, I would suck every piece of windsurfing knowledge out of him. I hope coachy & sailors can click well, on and off water. I certainly do not look forward to the regimental way of training in China where you sail coz it's better than working in the farm or that your family cannot afford to upkeep another child. The politics and sociology of sports...arghhh...I'd rather not expound on this for it'll take more than a thesis. Meanwhile, I'm suspecting that my toes are hurting a little...ouch! More later... &