First Time on Water in 2011 :-)

TUE 26APR2011 -- Finally made it out onto the water - after work today. Did NOT get out in FEB like redsurfbus :-) Winds were still ENE and 12 knots with 16 knot gusts. Went to the Riviere Milles Isles which is five(5) minutes from my house. Since it was ENE, I went behind the church in Ste-Rose - shore facing North. The wind was light when checked from shore, but looked much better further out. Rigged the MS Pursuit 8.5 loose on the AHD FF 160 board with the mast base in the middle and the "new" used Select 48 XL fin. Air temp was about 55 Fahrenheit or about 15 degrees Celsius. Had the 5/3 BARE steamer, "new" used life jacket, boots, hood rolled down and thinner Chinook gloves. Winds were up and down with some wind shadow near shore. Managed to plane a few times and had a spectator sitting in a car watching me. NO-ONE goes windsurfing there other than me. Could have used my 10-oh, butt would rather be under than over on my first time out. So, was NOT perfect, but had a smile on my face when planing. Was on the water for about one(1) hour before started getting dark and slight drop in wind. Looking forward to the next session - no more steamer nor gloves hopefully. The jacket and fin were great. One was a trade and the other $20. My windsurf budget can handle that with NO issues. Still looking at 7.5 sails that will fit on 490. Will probably end up with a Sailworks Retro. Nothing wrong with that sail !! Asked on the Australian windsurf forum about suggestions with smaller sails on 490 mast and got NO response at all - surprising !! Yvente and Bruno Artis both tell me I should be happy about the Gaastra Flow 3X 7-oh and they are right - stop wishing for more and be satisfied with what i have $%^&*() and stop the shop %^&*() Get on the water like today and only change what needs to be changed %^&*()

Wanted to go Wednesday as well, butt my wife would not let me :-( Tomorrow / Thursday  is BIG winds - do i bring my stuff n go directly after work ?