Sod's Law

By Tom

For the last few years I have been sailing whatever boards I can lay my hands on. A wide variety of pre-loved gems have been under my feet from a large selection of manufacturers. Mostly borrowed stuff, but I got a few good deals on trades. That is how I came to own my F2 missile. I think it was 3 years old when I got hold of it. Since then I have pounded it through Maui's rough water for two years. Surprisingly the deck is now soft and the rocker is distinctly negative. This is not good for a speed board.

I am taking the speed sailing a little more seriously these days and I decided I needed to replace it. The boys at Starboard hooked me up and after much discussion with Ian Fox I chose an Isonic W49 as a replacement. Of course such items have to be ordered at least 4 months in advance, so I have been patiently waiting for the container of Maui's Starboards to come in for a long time.


I have not had a brand new board scince I got a wave board back in 1998. It was shaped by Dave Mel (Sailboards Maui) and built by myself up at the old Tomminator Boardworks when I used to work there. Prior to that I had many custom boards and I would have to go all the way back to 1989 to find the last production board I got new. I think that was a Bic Alto. So needless to say this was a big deal for me and the excitement has steadily been building. Everyday for the last few months I've been asking Bart (Kanaha Kai owner and expecting a few boards himself)"when will my board be here?". I must have driven him nuts!

Finally the container arrived last friday morning. It was windy. Unfortunately the container was not to be opened till 9am the next day. I had to work all day with that container in plain sight. The weekend was windy - very windy. One small problem stood between me and my board. This of all weekends was the weekend I moved house! All weekend was taken up with the move and I did not get a chance to even see it.



Monday morning - there it is waiting for me in a brown cardboard box hidden from sight. Naturally Mondays are busy and it was not till the afternoon that I finally got the chance to unpack it. Vent screw, footstraps, she's ready to go!



There is some law in the universe that says the windspeed is inversly proportional to the age of a new board. There is no wind, and none forercast for the next few days. Maybe by next weekend I will be able to sail it. For now I will just have to stare!


The forecast looks like this for a while.