Feb 15th Bass Strait practice run

Went out on Calypso 11 for a practice run in the lovely rough washing machine called Bass Strait.
Took sea sickness tablets and did not throw up on the way out this time (unlike the previous 2 times!)
We went out through the heads and drove 10 miles out over big waves. Glad I had my wet-suit on already as I got completely drenched on the way out. It was a nice warm day for it.
Did another sketchy boat launch.. very hard to pump up your kite on a boat with fishing stuff everywhere and then jump off with enough line to make it to the water but not too much to get tangled on the metal pole things that hold the fishing lines.. then to unwind lines while boat moves and non kiters try to hold onto kite. In the end I signaled to throw the kite in the water and i spent about 10 min trying to sort it all out. Only had one twist in lines so not too tragic!
I then kited back towards land. Experimenting with the fastest directions and riding the board toe side and goofy and natural. Being a SE my most comfortable stance and direction to ride was way off where we had to go.
The new radio worked OK - I could hear the boat but they couldn't hear me very well. They think it may be the wind interference but it may also be my lack of skill. I took the radios with me so i can practice.
I rode back in through the heads, like I did on Australia day, but as I got further from land the boat signaled to land the kite and come on board. Almost as tricky as a boat launch is a boat landing. I got the kite on the boat on the 3rd or 4th attempt and only took out one of their antennas!!
Wojtek the photographer came along for the ride so there should be some great photos of the day to come. Apparently there were some dolphins around the boat half way through the trip. Unfortunately I wasn't near enough to the boat to see them, so I will have to settle for looking at the photos like everyone else :(