Wetsuit - the first run out!!

And no, not the kind of "run out" that gets you into trouble with the other party guests!

Forecast today was for early F5-6 SW, veering to F4-5 W. So got up early (for a day off) and drove down to Lepe. Selected that venue because it works well in a W, and also because there'd been some chat on the OMWC club chat room about others who were planning a trip. Arrived about 10 or so, nobody there, rain, reasonable but not spectacular wind. Called JL, who turned out to be on his way down, along with Mark and Carl. Andy also turned up. Unfortunately, in some respects, the wind didn't, although the rain stopped and the sun came out at one point.

But the main point of this trip was to test the new wetsuit! Rigged up, then climbed into new clobber. It is a bit fiddly, with an inner suit as well, and of course need help with the zip. That's a challenge I must meet one day... Felt good though, fantastically stretchy neoprene, quality kit.

Then into the water. And now for the surprise - what water?! Couldn't believe it - no water entered AT ALL!! In fact, although when fully immersed I could feel the cold a bit, at a distance, I was actually sweating in the damn suit!! Had my new helmet on too for additional warmth, which also made a huge difference. Thought I'd have to take it off at one point, but then got a ducking which reminded me why I had it... The only weak spot was the boots, which I hadn't done the Velcro up tight enough on, and they filled up a bit. Still very warm though. I really can't believe it... quite amazing.

And thank heavens for that pleasant surprise, because my sailing was crap. This was a bit of a watershed experience for me of course, because

1. New suit - if this didn't work, no hope of winter windsurfing, so a big investment risk
2. First time out in (cold!) UK waters since rescue required, way back in Oct

So I was a bit apprehensive beforehand, and cautious during. Waterstarting was not very good, harness/straps improved as I went along, gybe not very good either... Although to be fair, after an hour I had improved, and was starting to get the feel of things again. It's amazing what even a short break will do for muscle memory (or not!). It's just SO HARD to be firm but gentle - coming out of the harness prior to a gybe requires utmost gentleness, to prevent wild undulations from the change in balance. Then there's the foot manouevres - be gentle, don't disturb things. Of course the swell/mini-waves get you anyway, which Dahab makes one forget soon enough. Jon has been to Moon Beach this year, and highly recommends it - uncrowded, good wind, with few shadows, nice bay which isn't offshore like Dahab. Get there via Cairo, which would make a change.

As far as my apprehensions go, I guess I can say they were all confounded, which is good. Came home as it got dark, via pub. A good day. Pictures to follow...

Dahab - good or not?

So, the Dahab trip happened. Was it an anti-climax? Not really, since it was conducted in a fairly low expectancy way. Weather was nice, sunny all day (no surprise there...) and cool in the evenings, to the extent that I needed a fleece. Wind was a bit pants - Mon ok, Tuesday very light, other days a bit slow in the mornings and better in the afternoon. The Thursday was very strange, with very light winds from one direction, and then about 15.00 it was like someone threw the switch on the fans! Literally within two minutes the wind went from F3-4 to F5-6, but very gusty and full of gaps - I switched to a 4m sail, but was standing up doing nothing in some areas. That could be the effect of the various buildings going up around the bay - they are determined to turn Dahab into Sharm, and then I won't be going there again.

Did my sailing improve? Well, had 4 sessions with Rob North on gybes and stuff, and managed to get around a few at slow speed. Tried lots much faster, and made one or two, but only after I'd slowed down lots in the turn. Some spectacular wipe-outs, including one which removed my cap and sunglasses and left me 10m from the board - rapid swim!! Sunglasses of course gone forever... So I guess it was useful. Don't sound too convinced, do I?

Cribby was there for some of the week - he had to go back to the UK for three days to sort out something with Shawna, court case or summat. Left Charlotte, a BWA hot shot to run his class, apparently with high success level. Met a guy on the bus on the way in, Ritchie, whose mate had not come because his wife's granny had died the week before. So Ritchie signed up with Cribby for the week, which was a good idea I didn't have soon enough really. Maybe in March...

Masbat is the same old place. Ate at Jay's a couple of times, also at El Fanar, once at Al Capone's - won't do that again. Went to the Nirvana curry place a long way down past Jay's - surprisingly good and a big change from the usual food. Strangely never got around to the fish place, don't know why. They've put some typical Arab statues up, of a couple of dolphins in town and something else on the way in - ghastly.

Go some pictures to put up, which I will shortly when I can be arsed. Unfortunately, none of the "new" Masbat :-)

The wind drought continues...

No wind last weekend, no wind this weekend... Will this lift? Only during the week it seems. Went down to Lee-on-the-Solent today, but no action. Lovely day, though, great trip down.

Yet more of the ubiquitous beach huts... but they are so evocative. Maybe I should start a photo collection instead of this saddo web site, something with some art on it...

Just some people caught against the light, as it did that wondrous autumnal "turn everything into magic" thing.

Rigged the "new" Tush 4.0, but when I got it out of the sail bag it certainly wasn't new! No Tush goodie bag and instructions, alien sticker on sail, lots of mud and abrasions, no tie-up ribbon, and, final shame, no batten adjusting allen key. Called Bray - very apologetic, it was on the new sails rack (as I'd seen myself), ordering a new one for you now sir, any colour preference. Yes, Stealth please, but I don't really care if it's going to delay anything.

Thought I'd throw in some pictures of the revised van interior, just to make this more interesting. Passes the time, eh?

Here's the fat futon, with additional duvet - was going to stay over, but not enough people around and it is gonna be damned cold... hence duvet, but chickened out!

It looks much more untidy than it feels, because everything is actually very organised now. The big green bag is the new wetsuit, in an M&S suit bag to stop it getting nicks and cuts from being handled in the smoothskin suit hostile vanvironment.

Here you can see the nifty pine bench box, which is really handy for getting on the bed and stopping stuff from flying around the inside.

Detail of below bed area, with bike visible, and additional shelves and boxes. Cool.

Also stopped in at Andy Biggs in Gosport, which was interesting. Succumbed and bought a wallet (finally, been using a plastic bag up until now), a Yak helmet (locally made, fits well, will keep head really warm), and some Oakley trainers at a big reduction. Cool. Most interesting of all, met a guy called Neil who is going out to Maui shortly, and will be staying with some friends out there. Pumped him for info - he spent 6 months out there last year, and is going out for 6-8 weeks now. Recommends the summer (June-August) for blasting weather. Rented a studio apartment for his 6 month trip, reckons a month would cost about £2000, if you took your own boards. Break even point for board rental is two weeks, after that take your own. Suggest my JP 91l is the job, and I'd need at most the 5.5, 4.7 and 5, maybe not even the largest. That would be cool. So not too much baggage then. Excess baggage going is easy, but coming back they are of course familiar with all the tricks! He's going to email me some info - hope so, sounds exciting!

Which brings me to the reason for being here...

Let's Go Wavesailing!!

I love the smell of neoprene in the morning

Picked up the new wetsuit yesterday. Blimey. Very nice. Incredibly soft stretchy smoothskin neoprene, fits really well. The suit was only made last week and still smells very strongly of glue - the shop person had trouble breathing near a newly delivered box of suits in a closed room! The dry zip is a bit stiffer than a normal zip, but it seems like a good tradeoff.

The undersuit is cool too, and the two component idea leaves it all feeling less bulky somehow.

All I have to do now is try it out, but we're stuck with sod all wind here at the moment. So I've been compensating by going down the gym...

Where I met Steve last week and will be meeting him again today. Very cool guy. Told him what I wanted to do, and he's given me a bunch of free weight things to do. This is good, because I have some weights at home so I can always do them away from the gym if necessary. They include

• lunges to the front and side carrying weights, using 5kg at the moment
• "John Travolta" moves from side of opposite foot to up in the air, with weights
• What Steve calls "chopping" - pulling weights on string from down by foot across and up with both hands, rotating in followthrough like a golf swing
• Vertical rowing with a bar of weights, back slightly bent
• Dead lift from ground to hang weighs off arms

There's a bunch of stretches and the like as well. I can hardly remember it all!! But at least it addes a bit of focus to a session.

Oh yes, whilst at the windsurf shop bought some new boots, O'Neill with the split toe, seem very sensitive,

and couldn't resist that Tush 4.0 Storm I'd been looking at... Dammit, there must come a point when I can stop buying things, mustn't there?

And one more thing. Following a conversation over food one weekend, Bernie the club Chairdude has asked me to be the magazine editor, probably because I was the person sitting beside at the time. I've accepted but won't have much to do until January when the next one comes out. There's some technical stuff to sort out, the current publisher uses Quark, which Neil the present ed runs on a Mac laptop, but there's talk of a new publisher and Windows-based software. This could be useful 'cos I could put it on my laptop, handy for those long evenings working away from home. Which never seem to happen, because there's always so much to do!

With all this non-sailing activity, I'm concerned about losing focus. Must remember at all times, especially when struggling in the gym, there's only one reason for all this...

Waves waves waves!!!

This is killing me...

I haven't been surfing since the rescue debacle. STILL waiting for the b***dy wetsuit, allegedly here next week (or maybe the week after :-(). At least it's not windy this weekend, even though the SW got pounded earlier in the week.

Maybe the thing that's killing me is the gym! Joined the local gym, Fitness First, which includes three personal trainer sessions. It's hard work, but I've been to gyms before and this is pretty good. A corporate deal through work helps! So tomorrow I'm going to meet Steve, who is also the trainer for my mate Mick, with whom I've been cycling for years. I've been down a couple of times already, lots of gear, not too crowded. Good. Ouch.

And today I drove to London and picked up the futon. Finally something works out. Looks great. Installed it in the van, and it is COMFORTABLE!! Makes it look lived in and cosy too.

Oh, yes, and just in case there's no wind and no chance of it, I've booked a week in Dahab... 21-28 Nov - how bad of me is that? After all that blather about it (boring, blah blah)! But now it's different, I have perspective and need some practice on smaller boards in flat water with good wind. Cribby is doing two weeks worth of courses there at the same time, like he did when I was there last year. Pity I didn't think of it earlier, he's an excellent teacher. Might have some sessions with Rob Horne though,the local guy.

But this insurftivity is KILLING ME!!!

Maybe weekends are useful after all

Spent this weekend doing some van fixing, in lieu of surfing. Good stuff. Added some shelves under the bed, with three large stanchions that provide more support. Also fitted the coolbox that was a birthday gift from my son and family in a nifty spot - the provided cigarette lighter cable actually stretches all the way to the front! Things look very tidy now, and there's loads more space.

Also ordered the futon (1mx2m) from the Futon Centre in London. They appear to be the only sensible people who sell them separate from the silly wooden frame things. Seems like lots of money - £125, but I priced up a 1mx2mx10cm chunk of foam - £133!! And it doesn't come with any cover, I'd have to make one. Boring. And I'd have to cut it to fit the fold-up bed part. So the 6-layer one it is, in Forest Green 'cos it won't look too crap after a few years in a van! Interestingly, the bird who answers the 'phone and calls you up when you order online has a Japanese accent, so maybe that's why they're such sensible futon people.

Even fitted some wood over the bulkhead window to hold coat hooks and a curtain or blind of some sort when I get it organised. This is good, I'm always really pissed off when there's nowhere to hang stuff!

AND... I think I want a sort of wooden box, like a blanket box, behind the bulkhead, to sit on, put stuff in, and stand on to get into bed. Looked around, B&Q do one for £15, Ikea (where are they?!) do something for £8... Tempting to make one myself out of chunky 2x2 and some plywood. It would also be the size I wanted it - the ones I've seen have all been too skinny, low and, well, too small basically.

Talking of beds, I also added another bit of hold-up rope on the other side of the fold-up bit, so it's not so creaky - works great. Can't believe how effective that simple thing is. Simple things eh?

But this is all noise, ancillary stuff, distractions, from the MAIN EVENT!!

Let's go WAVESAILING!!!

Lots to say - JP, waves, rescued!!

Blimey, a long time since I wrote anything.

The Tush 4.7 finally arrived, just before last weekend (not the one just gone, the one before). Went down to Worthing with the club, and arrived to find high tide, crunchy shorebreak about 12. So, like you do, sat around the beach hut of a member's parents drinking tea and discussing boards and things. Bad plan. I've been considering getting a smaller board for a bit, ever since trying my 125l job in F5 and chop, when it all gets a bit squirrely*. The "boys" seemed to think 90l would be about right, and I had time on my hands...

Off to Surfladle in Shoreham, after a preliminary phone call. Yay! The 2003 model JP Freeride Carve 91l, with £250 off the asking looks gorgeous... so I bought it. Loony. Desperate to try it, back to the beach. Rig the nice new 4.7 on the nice new 400... oh no! Stupid mast extension doesn't fit up the damn mast!! End up rigging on the 430 with adjustable head. But I did get out, and the board is great. I can actually sail it, which was a bit of a surprise. Needs lots of TLC on the feet positioning and movement, which is good for me. Fell off lots, and came in as it got dark.

The next day I went out again, but the wind died and I retired home relatively early, but still happy I'd been out.

So, looking forward to this weekend at Pagham... Arrived on Sunday about 11, since busy on Saturday. Wind blowing F5 at least, shorebreak ok, certainly lots of chop and waves. Rigged JP + 4.7 - cool! Donned summer suit. Made it through the break with a bit of bashing around - keep the board pointing into the wave, not sideways, and MOVE FAST!! Got started, but tough to head down wind, too concentrated on staying on in tough conditions. Hard to get into footstraps... Inevitably - SPLASH! Then after a few more attempts to get going, started to have trouble waterstarting - sail wouldn't come out, or if it did, then I got knocked off or the sail taken down by wind or a breaking wave. I wasn't in top condition, late night previous etc., so could be contributory, but I WAS cold. Damn suit!!

Eventually, after a long time (an hour?), and some assistance from Juan, Lee Rolfe from the local LAR Watersports store came to my rescue. He took my sail, and I paddled/surfed the board back into the beach. Genevieve swam out to help, and I made it back to land. Completely frozen, never been so cold before. Feet completely solid. SCAREY!! Body started doing things it never has before - deep shivering.

But... after 2 cups of tea, lots of food, warm clothes, a long sit and chat in J&G's van, I felt much better and made it home eventually. A lesson learned...

• Wear the stupid neoprene hood I've got
• Get a helmet - warmest possible thing
• Get the bloody winter wet suit!!!
• Don't over-estimate skill (but don't under-estimate either!!)

And then of course Bray call yesterday (Mon) to say the suit's on order, it'll be 2 weeks, and can they have a deposit? Ah well. Might postpone further activity until that arrives, which would be handy but a bit sad since the wind is really good at the moment. Life eh?

But I'm not discouraged, not at all. I WANNA SAIL WAVES, just like it was on Sunday!!!

*Thanks to Kevin Schwantz for that (500cc GP champ 1993)

More waves, more swimming... no sail!!

Been to lots of places on the South Coast now... but damn 4.7m hasn't arrived yet... Fortunately not needed it since, but when the day comes...

And since I've been doing a lot of swimming, I've also been looking for a winter wet suit. Hmm, lots of choice but I want this to be good, since being cold is BAD. The October Boards rates the Spartan, and I've had very good reports about it from other surfers and club members. Bray Lake sell 'em, but after a check I discover they don't have my size in the monster 3D Dry (two parts, inner and outer suit, total warmth, dry zip... storming!). So it'll be 3 weeks delivery from factory, and nobody around appears to have one either, since they're very expensive to stock. Bollox.

Hey ho. Hope it doesn't get too cold :-(

I can resist anything...

Except temptation!!

Sailing at Weymouth last week, in a Force 5 or so, it occurred to me that my 5.5m sail was pretty marginal at times. And this is summer winds - what's it going to be like in the autumn? Time for a smaller sail...

Working in Leeds this week - how convenient!! Went round to see the jolly chaps at Robin Hood again on late night opening. Once again Matt was willing to relieve me of cash in exchange for equipment. The choices were many, but came down to

• 2003 Neil Pryde 4.7 Core
• 2004 Tushingham 4.7 The Rock

The only problem is that they both take 400cm masts, IMCS 19 - and I have only 460/430 and much stiffer (for the bigger sails). Regretfully, I was forced to buy a Tushingham 400cm 75% Carbon mast, to match the ones I already have. What a blow. I settled for the Tush, if only because it should behave similarly to the other Tush sails I have. The NP is softer than other NPs, but still harder than Tush, and I think I appreciate the lightness and softness of the Tush sails in my inexpert state. Maybe when I'm really good, and the other sails are knackered...

Since I'd gone up in the car, these are hopefully being delivered next week. I guess the "investment" rate will slow eventually, or perhaps I'll find that buying used will be possible!! I must try one of these boot sales at Hayling.

I also tried some winter wet suits, but although there were some good fits, they didn't have one in Small which I'd like to have tried. Good job really, 'cos I'd certainly have bought one. Hey who am I kidding? I'm gonna get one anyway, so better to do it there and get a discount!

Went to the pub with Matt, Keeley, Gumby and others after the shop shut. M and G are off to El Tur this weekend - apparently it's Force 7! Matt's a bit apprehensive, and I can't say I blame him. Wish I was going though.

Getting into the groove...

So here it is, nearly a month since the last post. Where to start? Been a bit busy, with one thing and another, and most especially, windsurfing.

To sum up, things are working out really well. The van's good, the club's good, the gear's good - all we need is me to be good! I'm astounded at the camaraderie of windsurfers in general, everyone has time to help, offer suggestions, swap notes on sail sizes, technique etc. Brilliant. And probably the most important thing I'm learning that would never have happened in Dahab is FLEXIBILITY. Sailing at a range of places, in lots of different conditions, means that one has to adapt and be flexible - no time for "ooh, it's cold", or "yuck, looks messy", just go for it, and work it out as you go. Not that one doesn't think carefully about the possible side-effects etc., but I'm learning to seize the opportunity. About time too.

The van's fixed, great job, thanks guys, almost a new van - the new back door fixed the dent on the other side!

Not only is it fixed, but I spent some of the week off (last week) putting in some shelves and stuff. This is a great success, separating the gear from the other space and getting it stacked up, using the height instead of the width of the van. The pictures show it pretty well (apart from serious over-exposure-hey!). Since it's pretty simple and cheap, I can adapt and change without feeling like there's too much invested to make it worth while. The old IT adage "Do the simplest thing that could possibly work" fits most things...





The club has worked out well. I've spent one night in the van only so far, at Lee-on-the-Solent. Pictures from that too, but of course it was before the fittings, so lacked space and organised comfort. Cool though - slept in the pub car park, woke up about 6.30, went for an excellent walk on the seafront before anyone much around. No wind on the Sunday, so went for a bike ride with Rog, Adam and Chris, on the old Meon Valley Railway track.





Lee was my first REAL club trip, with socialising and all that. Met Chris, proud owner of Austin equivalent of Morris J2 van converted for camper. Now I had one of these 30 years ago, so we had lots to talk about. He's had his for only 18 years, and intends to look up 403 BXY on the J2 register - good luck, since I sold it to some "travellers" for £5. The picture shows (most of!) the van, Chris, and some other OMWC members.



I've also been to Lepe and Weymouth with the guys, and Lepe and Hayling without them (last week, during holiday).

Lepe - nice place, but no wind on the club visit, especially boring because I was only there for the Sunday. Went back twice subsequently on my own, first time had great difficulty getting out in the waves, second time the tide was out and the wind less strong, so spent time on 5.5m and 6.5m - could probably have used 7.5m later when wind died. Good day though.

Weymouth, that was last weekend - wow!! Fantastic blasting weather in the harbour. Flat water, with mild chop at best, because of the harbour, and Force 5 I reckon - used my 5.5 meter sail, which did brilliantly. Also got the harness lines and boom height right, after experiment, and everything felt good. Still can't turn corners... but I will!! Started to get the feel of carving, banking the board to effect a turn. Great stuff.

Hayling - now there's a story. It was high tide when I arrived, and blowing F5 SW or so - good wind. HOWEVER, there was a lot of waves and I now know that Hayling at high tide with waves has a horrible "shorebreak" - the waves crashing into the shore basically. So I tried to get out, but couldn't!! Got mucho mangled in the huge washing machine, including the boom scratched up big time and suchlike. Definitely a lesson learned. I might have tried harder if I'd been confident of survival when I got out there, but I'm still worried about my waterstart in waves - much harder methinks, and it's too late to find out as you drift towards Dover... So a chastening experience.




But now I'm really

Into the groove

Is it always gonna be this way?!

Probably, is the likely answer.

Went to Hayling again last Sunday (1 Aug), for a while in the afternoon. Wind was absolutely pants, and so was I! My general lack of board control and balance in swell, when there's no wind to use to power myself up and keep upright was painful, both to experience and no doubt for any or all of the rest of the club members sitting happily on the beach. One waterstart worked, the rest didn't and I uphauled lots, which I thoroughly detest. But this is British summer wind...

On the positive side, this was the first time I'd EVER used a sail as big as 7.5m, and it was quite a handful. Next time the wind is so light I will definitely put on my smallest sail and try some manoeuvres out, without the encumbrance of another 2m of plastic and what feels like 400kg of extra mast and stuff. And when I struggled up the sea wall with my mast so firmly stuck together that I thought I was going to have to knock a hole in the van to get it home, the guys (Nick, Juan, Richard etc.) leapt to my aid and with 6 (yes six!) of us on the job we soon had it twisting around and then freed up - a two piece mast again - hurrah! That left me with the problem of the mast foot in the extension, but that fits in the van easily. It subsequently (today) came apart easily. The club had apparently had a great time the previous evening, with a barbecue on the beach - maybe I'll be joining them soon, I thought.

So this week, yippee, good wind forecast for Sunday, club at Bracklesham Bay, a good place. More good news, the van is in for fixing at the body shop, went in first thing Monday. Man assures me that it will be ready for Friday. Call Thursday - you guessed it, "sorry sir, won't be ready until Monday, just going to the glass installer tomorrow". So here I am sat at home or out on the lawn practising moves, in order to fix them in my stupid brain before I actually get a chance to try them out!!

But it has been a relaxing weekend, and I've enjoyed the company of friends and family. I just hope there's more action next weekend, I have to look up where it is... And because no post would be any good without a photo, here's one of me on the lawn in hero mode.

Bring it on!

Bollocks...

Why am I so daft sometimes? My super whizzo van has now acquired a large dent, in the tailgate, and the supporting gas strut is also broken. Pants.

How did it happen? Went to pick my son up to take him to get his car from the garage. In a hurry, because it was 20 minutes to 6 and they shut at 6, I hurried reversing. Unfortunately, there was a large (and I mean large - the usual 40+ feet long) semi-trailer parked nearby. So I turned the wheel to roll around behind it, and slapped the back corner into the damn trailer. Now my van is made out of steel, but it ain't the 1/4" plate in a trailer like that...

The insurance company have already got the repair shop to contact me, so I'm off to see them Saturday morning. Hope it doesn't take long to get fixed. Here's the pictures...


Like I said - PANTS!!!

Finally!!

So I am no longer a UK sea virgin... After a weekend of wondering about the wind, I plucked up the courage and determination to go for it potentially on my own, thanks to Wendy Windblows which provided some excellent real-time weather info. Why on my own? Left home about 14.00, not sure if the club would still be there by 16.00, when I arrived.

Headed down to Hayling, found excellent wind, rigged the 6.5 m on advice from a local guy, and took to the water. Sailed for about 45 minutes, since I started to cramp up etc. (too much effort - will refine, and I had already done a 20 mile bike ride at what for me was a record speed today), and better to quit when feeling good. Not even ONE uphaul, just beach starts and waterstarts - aren't they a truly wonderful thing, and my greatest thanks to the Zen Mistress!!

The icing on the cake was that Mike and Helen from the OMWC were on the beach when I came out, and they very patiently listened to the pilled-up* mega-loony raving about EVERYTHING. Even the drive home was spent in a euphoric state, after enjoying the comforts of the van for changing, sorting myself out and the space for just dropping stuff and not losing it. Eek!

Yay. Maybe now I can believe that I'll actually get to do the thing I want to!!!


* "pilled-up" in this context is a personal reference to the statement made by Pete Townshend on the original "Odds and Sods" album sleeve, where he referred to the session guitarist on the first Who record "I'm The Face" as a "pilled-up lunatic". He might have been, I wasn't, but might as well have been for the ludicrous speeded-up speech, gestures and general enthusiasm.

Ah, the kit...

Despite claims to the contrary, needless to say "the kit" is extremely important. And now I've got some.

Went to Robin Hood Windsurfing near Halifax, since I happened to be passing - long story. Spent a long time talking to Matt, super salesman and windsurfer...

and selected a big pile of stuff.
Here's the list, for completists:

• F2 Stoke 125 litre (conservative choice, for max confidence)


• 3 Tushingham sails (7.5/6.5 T2, 5.5 Storm)


• 2 Amex 75% carbon masts (460/430)


• Amex T8 boom


• Liquid 36cm fin (Probably get another when I've checked requirements)


• O'Neill Hammer wetsuit (get you ducky...)


• Pat Love JetSet Waist harness (about time I tried one!)


• Various ropes, extensions, harness lines


• Jez' Knob, a cunning board damage prevention device

Cool huh? Drove it all home, set it up on the lawn, like you do...

All very exciting. Now...

When do I get to use it?!?!

Good times, bad times

Up until now it's been all go, and I've been wound up and raring to go. Today was spent doing van-related things, basically insulating the inside so that it won't be full of condensation. Detailed stuff and necessary, but it felt like a sidetrack or a detour. I realised the task I've taken on, and how much more there is to go, and I've only made progress on something barely relevant like the damn van. Why didn't I just go with a £500 Volvo estate and strap things on the top, saving cash for the crucial things? Couldn't find anywhere to go look at windsurf gear that was open today and close enough to make a trip possible in the limited time available, so didn't even get a blast from that. This adrenaline-charged life is quite risky, because downers can really knock you back.

I must keep reminding myself about how this is going to work.

Whereas previously I've lived off occasional trips to foreign places i.e. Dahab and enjoyed seven days or so solid surfing, that doesn't seem sufficiently regular, frequent or even enough. So, get going windsurfing in UK as much as I can, on the sea, with people who can help me improve. Then take trips to constantly windy, wavy places and get even better. The van helps with this, giving me flexibility and convenience - I can drive to Tarifa for example, or anywhere else for that matter. Cool. Probably won't be doing much of that in reality, because of the limited time available, but the idea's nice to carry around in one's head. Meanwhile driving to the South coast, or anywhere else in the UK when it's windy, is a fine target, and will teach me lots.

It's not just the kit!

It's also the kit user - in fact, that's about all the problem is, I reckon. So I've not been neglecting the inner/outer man. Since my last trip to Dahab, I've recommenced yoga, which I'd let slip over the last 15 years, and have been been doing it virtually every morning since I came back. Feels good, and I have vast amounts of energy which is really brilliant.

In addition, I've started running, not huge amounts, about 20 minutes every day up the hill, round the park twice and back home again. It's a good discipline, and I feel really great when I've done it. Increasingly, I actually feel good doing it too!!

These crap pictures go nowhere near giving the impression of opening out, space and freedom that bursting out into the open land from the woods does every time I go. This is especially true when it's sunny after rain, which it has been a lot recently. Perhaps I'll make a special trip one of these days, and try to capture it better.

Looks good, feels good ...

So it must be good right?

After suffering agonies of doubt (possibly a bit melodramatic, but hey, this is a blog, not real life) during the week, I picked up THE VAN yesterday morning. And here's the picking up in progress...



Thanks guys, let's hope it works out huh?

And here's some more happy pictures, taken on the lovely sunny day that was Saturday. This is a CLEAN vehicle, amazingly so for a commercial. Took it round to my son's house last night, and we spent an hour driving around the local area, appreciating the smoothness of ride, the lack of rattles and squeaks, the brakes, the general good quality and relative newness. Help. But there, he's a van aficionado too, who has had to wean himself off during the course of his last two white collar jobs, where before he WAS "White Van Man", driving his tools, replacement windows and conservatories around the UK.







And it really does feel good. Perhaps I'll have to be careful that I don't lose sight of the purpose of this whole exercise...

WANNA SAIL WAVES BEFORE I DIE!!!

Boards, Sails... It's all too exciting!

Hey, I know there's lots of exclamation marks in this sad effort, but hey, I'm an exclamatory guy. So live with it, I have to.

Now, boards. I should ideally hang in for a good used board, but I'd buy new if I had to expedite things. Sails? Well, new is probably better, unless one knows the degree of use etc. Monofilm is tricky stuff after a couple of years of UV exposure, and if I intend to use them in salt water, other people will have too.

Boards... I like the new "scaled up short board" or the "wider style freeride" jobbies. Lots of examples around - Starboard Carve, JP XCite Ride, F2 Stoke. What size? Well, I'm 65kg, so in principle a 100 litre board would be enough IF I was a good sailor. I've used 130-125 litre boards in Dahab, and they were ok - the width is probably the most critical factor in respect of a board being relatively relaxed to sail for those of amateur footwork capability. I guess a conservative choice would be 125 litre, which will get me going in lighter winds and provide lots of confidence. Might want to trade it up (i.e. down in size) in future, or just keep it and buy something smaller! Hmm, but I COULD just go with 100 litres and make it work...

As far as sails go, everybody needs a quiver i.e. more than one, just to cater for the kind of wind range in the UK. In Dahab one might get away with a couple of small sails, but in the UK... to get planing in lighter winds requires more area of canvas (ok, plastic).

The sensible money is on a one-make, proportional quiver e.g. 15% increase/decrease in sail area between adjacent sails. For example, 15% based on a max sail size of 7.5 sq m gives 3.9, 4.6, 5.4, 6.4, 7.5. Cool huh? Just pick the max from the board manufacturer's instructions, and do your sums. Of course, a sail range that has a wider range of wind strength applicability per sail allows for a smaller number of sails for the same wind range... so the notional 7.5 max list above becomes 3.8, 4.8, 6.0, 7.5 for a 20% difference. Which is only 4 sails!!

Ah, the choices! Can't wait.

Just throw cash...

And it keeps getting bigger... Insurance!! We need insurance!! Before I can even drive this beast (likely to be Saturday now), I have to be insured.

Quotes from the usual suspects... and astoundingly enough, some are twice others. Went for a well known direct brand, who were competitive and had good extras I couldn't get rid of. Ah well. It's only cash. And... I WANNA SAIL WAVES BEFORE I DIE!!!

And now I've addressed the transport issue, well almost, only a question of execution now, I can start thinking about boards, sails, all that good stuff. And that IS interesting...!

Buckingham Does the Business

Right. So there was a van in Buckingham, BIG money, and I wasn't particularly busy at work this morning...

Ninety minutes later than when I started, up the usual M4/A34/A43 trip familiar to anyone who ends up commuting northwards on a regular basis, I'm at the Buckingham Van Centre. Met by Andy?, who it turns out is a speedway fan, so we have something in common. The van - is great. Clean inside (ok, valeting is cheap), looks genuine, good paint, a bit superficially rusty underneath, bonus towbar and electrics, TAILGATE, stereo... and a metal bulkhead. Not sure about that, but it looks removable with a cold chisel to break the spot welds if required to be removed. Engine starts fine, seems to run ok. Good tyres. What else do you look at? Two owners, a leasing company and a guy local to Buckingham who is a landscape gardener or something, who just traded it for a newer MB Vito. Seems genuine. MOT until November, which isn't as long as I'd like... but I did get £250 off the asking, which was a pretty mickey mouse price in reality, asking for an offer.

So now I'm the proud owner of 1/40th of a VW Transporter 1.9 turbo, since I gave all I had in cash as a deposit. Now for the insurance, tax, blah blah blah. This is getting ridiculous... but I was in a crazy state of mind driving home. The rest of the day was equally insane - but more of that in a totally different blog, maybe one day.

Not so cheap vans aka MAD (Mutually Assured Debt)

Looking back over the last few days, because that's all it's been, I've been through so many stages and emotions. Gawd, this is JUST a van I'm looking for here, not spiritual enlightment, a lifetime partner or even just a good time. However, the ups and downs are huge. Let's see...

Went to see a VW Transporter early last week - £1695, with a high roof. Hated the back doors, extended with frameless glass, so very fragile looking. Also a very suspect odometer, reading, I interpreted, 013nnn, which to my mind is 13,000 miles -right? Dodgy junk yard dog man reckons that's 130,000... No thanks.

Next breakthrough was finding a couple of VW Transporter enthusiasts working from a farm business unit in wildest Berkshire. I spent an hour talking to them - great guys, and doubtless the right people to buy from if they have the item you want. I'll certainly stay in touch with them, for servicing or whatever. But they had only two for about £4500 each, low miles (70-80K) which still needed to be sorted before sale, and both with rear "barn doors". Now I wasn't especially particular about the type of rear door previously, but having seen others they had, and also the one owned by the club member, it seems to me that the thing to have is the tailgate. It requires more space to open, but provides a handy place to stand out of the rain, like an extra area to conduct one's affairs. Nice. And I KNOW I'm going to be disappointed if I don't have one of those... But at least I now know that I want, if I'm getting a Transporter
1) A Long WheelBase (LWB), because you could JUST fit a 300cm board in one, so my proposed 260+ (see some point in the future when boards are being considered) will fit ok
2) A tailgate, because it's much cooler than barn doors

Thursday is the day - Autotrader appears, both in paper and online. A fresh batch of vans. But of course I don't call people up on Thursday evening, no... My son comes round and talks for a bit, I lose focus... you know how it goes. So by the time I start calling on the Friday,when I'm supposed to be working for a client, but fortunately there's lots of time sitting around watching things happen at this stage, lots of potential goodies (price reasonable, tailgate, LWB) have been spoken for. Crap. Saturday is spent at a local music festival (Lemon Jelly - dullsville, why not just play tapes?!), with calls going out to various places with little to show for it. I discover that someone near High Wycombe was going to a wedding reception that night and would be woken up by his dog about 6.30 Sunday...

On Sunday the wedding receptionist announced that the van has been taken by the guy he showed it to on Saturday. Meanwhile my trawl through the Autotrader web site continues, with my mesh getting finer and finer (newspeak for "escalating budget", thus capturing greater numbers...). And now, on the following day, I'm looking to go to somewhere near Milton Keynes to see one for £5250 (!), but in alleged good condition with a tailgate blah blah blah. And of course I'm having severe nth thoughts - this is a STUPID sum of money, I could spend a month in Dahab for that and probably improve no end if I have a lesson every day, etc. etc. But let's go see it anyway.

Cheap Vans

Given that a van can be seen as a necessary (but not sufficient!) step on the path to waves, it makes sense to limit one's exposure financially. After all, why spend on ancilliaries when there's lots of new actual windsurfing kit to acquire?!

Off to the Cheap Van Co. They have some reasonable looking vehicles, but not at the starting budget of £500... Advice from friendly salesman, which kind of jives with the vehicles on display, is £2K-£2.5K might do the trick and enable a reliable vehicle that's not so bashed up or dirty inside that I'd be happy to sleep in it and not get diseases (communicable or otherwise...). Oh yes, I did mention sleeping in it is an important criterion didn't I - how else does one go on Saturday, go to the pub in the evening and still go surfing on Sunday? Not forgetting the "BSF" - Bacon Sandwich Facility.

But the Mercedes 308D is huge - mine will be parked on the street and people are going to hate it. The Mitsubishi L300 is ok, but the interior is crap. Don't like LDV and Leyland Daf (why? just don't... not hip, not notably reliable, horrible driving position, crap finish... need I go on?). Transits - hmm, millions, parts cheap, but still fairly big. VW Transporter? Looks cool, good engineering, good size... But none at the Cheap Van Co at the moment. Pants.

Check Autotrader web site. Lots of VW Transporters...

Finding a Van

Now this is proving to be the hard part. The club members seem to favour vans over cars, 4X4s, station wagons etc. but there is little obvious consensus on make or size. Helen has a large Mercedes 208D, which is very competently fitted out including that female luxury, the self-managed toilet facility. There's a very impressing VW Transporter, and an even more impressive and very newly kitted out Mercedes Huge (my term - sorry) with inbuilt shower etc. belonging to Niall(?) the Scots guy, who is anxious to make long weekends at the beach pleasant for his non-windsurfing wife.

I like vans too. My first vehicle was a van, a Morris J2, ex-GPO, 403 BXY, in tasteful flaking green with a huge fibreglass roof that let in sufficient filtered light to make it very pleasant inside. My second vehicle was a Morris 1000 van, which came from one friend and was passed onto another. So bring on the van.

WHICH van? Is there a magazine by that name? There probably is - there has to be. Haven't seen it, and I'm not sure it would help. What should the budget be? £500? £5000?? I'm sure Niall has spent £20K... But it must be remembered that all of this is merely a means to an end...

SAILING/SURFING IN WAVES!!!!

More on the van quest to come...

The Club

The first and easiest part was the club. The Ocean Motion Windsurfing Club appears to meet my aims. An association of people in the SouthEast of England with the aim of sailing at a range of southern seaside locations thoughout the three temperate seasons. I went down to meet them today at Hayling Island. Excellent people, and they supported my views on suitable transport for a windsurfer - a VAN!!

So onto the acquisition of a van...

Things I need to do to get windsurfing...

1. Get some transport. My current car won't support the carrying of large board-like objects,being a convertible saloon. Good for some times in one's life, but not all.

2. Acquire some windsurfing buddies. This is because some of them are bound to be better than me, so I can learn from them. In addition, I am sailing as much as possible on the sea, and it's not wise to do that alone. Finally, everything is better shared rather than kept to oneself, except perhaps communicable diseases.

3. Get some new windsurfing equipment. My old board sits forlornly in the garden, acquiring a fine algaeic patina, and providng a wonderful home for spiders in the footstraps. My old mast has now been sawn into three delaminating sections, although it was replaced with a new carbon mast a couple of years ago. In Dahab I've been sailing modern lightweight "wider-style" boards, that are more stable for smaller volume and plane more easily. Time for some of that methinks...

At least the old board and the new mast make an ideal practice set-up. Once I have negotiated space on the lawn, I can practise my tack and gybe footwork. Many thanks to Cribby's online articles by the way, they've added a lot of purpose and structure to things.

The start - 1990

Back in 1990, I went with my then 15 year old son on day's windsurfing course during a family holiday. I ended up buying a board, sails, wetsuit and even a sturdy roof rack to carry the lot home on the family people carrier.

The next four years or so was spent struggling on an inland lake, created by the excavation of gravel (a "gravel pit"). Bad wind (and not just because of my liking for baked beans), boredom with the constraints of the lake, no friends to sail with, even though I'd joined a club. Clearly age has made me more desperate - now it wouldn't matter... but then I started various other things, felt bad leaving the family at weekends etc. and it just drifted away from me.

And then last year (Jan 2003) I met a friend who declared he was going windsurfing in the Red Sea in February - bastard!! I immediately decided to join him, and by the end of 2003, had spent a total of a month in Dahab. My windsurfing had improved a lot, but I didn't have enough instruction, foolishly, I now believe. But I greatly enjoyed the clean wind, the space of the sea and the entire windsurfing experience freshly.

So now I've been to Dahab once this year (June 2004) and have decided that I really want to sail waves. And to do that I have to get more regular time on the water... and that means sea sailing here in the UK. And that means a number of things...