These last few days in Perth have been really productives. I’ve been able to kite everyday, from 9 to 12 meters kites, in almost every conditions, with a wind going from 18 to 20 knots. Perfect training conditions! So good on tuesday that with a angry freemantle doctor blowing 25 to 30 knots, i had a very good idea…  Over motivated when i left Cottlesloe, i’ve decided to go upwind to Leighton beach, and then make a long tack solo and direct to Rottnest Island!

Of course, i was equipped with a flair for my own safety. During the crossing, i’ve crossed some tankers and container-ships but only one fishing boat, that i waived to, just in case… 36 minutes later, i reached the most eastern rock of Rottnest, jibed around, and started my journey back, full speed!

I mean… not so full speed in fact… Because you don’t want something bad happens where you are in the middle of the crossing (like breaking a line or simply fall hard and get injured), i slowed down voluntarily. I went down to 70-80%, reaching my best speed in the last kilometers, where i was quite sure someone would see me if i was in danger. The funny thing is it tooks me only few seconds more than last year, with a time of 25 minutes from Lighthouse to Leighton! With a total time of 1 hour and 1 minute for the back-and-forth crossing, here are the rest of the session figures : 51 km in 90 minutes, 27 knots avg on a mile and 28 kts Vmax.

Yesterday Rob Douglas and Bill Lynch arrived from the US, to put some spices in the game, it was really cool to see them again. After a nice lunch facing the sea, we hit the beach where i decide to do a short “warm-down” session, the main objective being to save some energy for the race that should happen in only 3 days

And that brings us to today! I had a meeting this morning with one of the main radio in Perth, Mix94.5, where i had my first interview in English and live! With a warm welcome, the 2 radio hosts, Fred Botica (ex pro windsurfer from the 80′s) and Lisa Shaw make me feel like home. They were really great, no sneaky questions and a lot of laughs!!! If you want to discover the show : “The Bunch”

Live on Australian radio Mix94.5!!!

We end the day with a photoshoot for a newspaper, The West Australian. The shoot takes place in a spot on the Swan River, and even if the wind is far from perfect, we cannot miss the occasion of discovering a new spot…. Rob and I have to set up a short choregraphy, him has to pass really close to the photographer and i have to jump in the back. It will take us a little bit of time but finally we managed to do it quite correctly. We will see that on saturday in the newspaper!

A very flat spot!!!

Sadly, after this very cool session, we heard that the competition won’t finally happen, because of the lack of wind in the forecast next saturday (a strong Est pattern and high temperatures will block the sea breeze). The Reb Bull Lighthouse to Leighton has been postponed to a provisional 18th of december, but Rob and I will already be back home… A very sad news, but what can we do, this kind of things happen in our sport!

3 noeuds annoncés à 14h... c'est mort!

Tomorrow we are going to Rottnest Island, with the ferry that time, to take some pictures of this so beautiful island and why not having a short kite session if we can!!!