14.5

Although I missed an excellent opportunity to hit Burners after work for 30+Kn, Sunday was almost ideal for Burners with a full tide at 4pm and winds above 20Kn. First session felt good, but not as special as 2 weeks ago and I greeted a 13.1m peak height with a knowing nod. At least it's the Burners record by a fair way.

Francis came down for a late session and I'd recovered enough to hit it once again. Unfortunately the wind was down a few knots and it really felt the heights weren't there. Luckily a strong surge for about 2 mins launched me unexpectedly up above the trees. A few more boosts through the surge saw me up over 14.5m! another PB!

Of the 4 boosts during the surge, the most telling was the 2nd one of only 12.1m where I distinctly remember being pulled off my edge in the leadup. Although I was still riding fully powered, it's the first sign that I might be getting close to the peak wind performance of the kite. The next jump I'd held my edge better and that's what registered the 14.5 monster. 15m is definitely on the cards, but going past that will need better technique.    

Woo rank #1

After an excellent demo over a year ago, I have had my sights set on an Ozone Edge v9 as my next potential kite. The problem had been that the 10m Edge that I tested felt like it provided the power of my 14m Bandit, yet nimble like my 10m Bandit. Do I get one kite that replaces both? I wasn't willing to give up on the Bandits that soon. Fast forward a good 9 months and the Bandit's had their fair share of running repairs that kept them out of the sky. It finally feels like the maintenance is going to be costing more than replacement. The last piece to fall was a bit of a discount through Wardy.

The first session was great. 10.1m jump off a pretty average session (maybe 18Kn winds) at Elliott. I'd settled on a slightly larger 11m Edge to mainly knock out the 14m Bandit and keep just a bit more sail up in the sky for boosting in the standard 20kn range, and it immediately felt like it was going to bring in the height department.

Unfortunately the next few outings were in lighter winds, and it wasn't as good at the low range as expected. Admittedly I was sometimes the only one out on the 11 when others on 12's and 14's were parking, but it didn't quite have the bottom end of the 14 Bandit as I'd hoped.

18th November was the weekend I was waiting for; steady 20+Kn winds with a full tide to really push the kite into boost mode. After 2 hours on the water I came in and downloaded the woo stats hoping for at least a new personal best. C'mon, 10.5 metres! 12 possibly? The reading floored me. 13.7 metres! a new PB by over 3.5m. Maybe an outlier? Nope, analysis of the session showed several boosts over 12m and the 11 over 11m badge. YES!

As it happened the day was also the QLD boosting comp down in Brisbane. I kept refreshing to see the boosts come in and was pleasantly surprised that they maxed out at 11m. WINNING! Granted I wasn't at the event to share the exact conditions and had over 2 hours to put in a good one, but it looked from the reports to be close enough to give me hope I'm in the right ballpark. Maybe February's Wind Slasher and state freestyle titles might have a boost off?

The day rolled into night and I stayed above the rest. More due to WA missing out on their normal 25+ winds than anything else kept me and David (boosting at Lake Weyba just down the coast) out in front to claim my first (and probably only) daily win on the woo charts:

Another notable improvement was my overall rank. previously a 10.2m still had me in the bottom 33% of all Woo owners, but moving to 13.7m put me right up into the top 20%. There must be a massive bubble of people about the 11-12m mark, which likely means that there's a typical peak jump on standard equipment at that mark. The Edge is certainly the catalyst for going bigger as my technique hasn't changed much in the past 2 years. 

Also notable was that I still has the Edge fully powered all session. I'm pretty sure I can hold down another 5Kn, which means going higher is definitely possible. 

Send out the disciples

There was a group of people who wanted to establish a new Surf Life Savers Club on a new beach:

• Between them they gathered enough funds for a building.
• Turned up weekly to go inside and practice
• Marching in straight lines,
• Overhead line pass
• Brought in specialists. Famous names.
• Taught the theory of swimmingSwimming while holding another afloat
• Talking calmly to others to let them know that the shoreline isn’t too far away.

Months of training. Years of training. Yet they didn’t enter the water once, and people kept drowning. 

In the reading today we hear Jesus equipping and sending out his disciples:

Mark 6:6-8  Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts

Jesus’ instructions seem to be an odd way to equip your followers. No food (not even a lunchbox) no bag, no money. But he did equip them with spiritual power. The authority over demons was the main tool needed for this journey. The rest is not a concern right now. It will be provided when the time comes. Have faith. The point is to go. Right now. 2 by 2.

And they should have had faith. By this time they had been with Jesus for about a year. They had seen him start off his ministry and drive out impure spirits, then go on to heal the sick, then those with Leprosy, even the paralysed. They had front row seats to see Jesus exercising his authority.

So did they Go? Yes, yes they did.

Mark 6:12-13 They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

That authority was real and evident in them.

So what about us disciples gathered here in the present. Do we feel trained and ready? Do we feel confident to step outside in faith? Or are we more like the surf life saving club afraid of the water?

If these services each Sunday were training sessions, how many would you need to feel ready? Here’s an experiment. Close your eyes and think how many years you have been a Christian. A rough guess is fine. Now half that number (divide by 2), then multiply by 100. That’s roughly how many hours spent in church.

Not only that we have the bible with us. An instruction book that even tells us how it’s going end.

Yet sometimes it feels like we’re strangely inadequate (myself included), unable to head out in faith, to seek and save the lost.

There was a period where the disciples from Mark’s gospel faltered. They watched their source of power be falsely accused, be stripped and humiliated, and laid bare on the cross. They ran away, their faith all but gone.

But Jesus wasn’t done with them, and he’s not done with us. Rising again Jesus not only claimed authority over death, but authority over everything. When ascending up to heaven he repeated the sending out:

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”