Real progress?

Newly fired up from Tiree, I was pleased when Juan called and suggested that I join him, Gen and Rick in Saunton this weekend last. Hadn't thought of doing that, the club was at Shoreham, scarcely different from many other South Coast venues and with not very spectactular wind forecast. Devon on the other hand - F5-7 depending on where exactly. And BIG swell...

Went down Saturday midday, since I had to pick up my stolen and recovered bike from the police station prior to leaving. Arrived about 3 pm, and got onto the water about 4, just as Juan and Rick were considering packing up. My presence inspired them to keep going, and Gen to get back out after a long sleep in their van. She had had a hard time in the cross-off conditions and big waves, but it had turned more cross and the waves had thus dropped a bit. Good for me.

But it's not so easy - on the 5.5m with 91l, it was hard to get out the back. In fact, I only made it once, and then scared myself to death with the size of the swell! Exhilarating but not exactly easy. Retired after about an hour, but thoughtful.

After a good night, involving curry, beer and a surprisingly good rockabilly band in the White Lion, went out on the 5.5 and 91l again. Was better prepared this time, and had significantly improved my waterstarting in rough conditions. Also got much more aggressive with the board and sail, pumping my t*ts off at one point. Works well! Loosened the footstraps too, so it was easy to get feet in and out - with waves you need flexibility and rapid stance changes, nothing is fixed for a moment. A wonderful discipline. Finally got out the back and came in on a HUGE swell, that just kept going up and up and up - can't remember where it eventually went, but guess it must have gone somewhere because I'm sitting at home recalling this, not on top of the wave. Totally totally addictive. Want more, lots more. And it's easy to get - I can see now why people drive to Devon instead of the South Coast - it was only 3.5 hours back in heavy traffic! And now I know I can do it... Although I have to practise manoeuvres a lot more.

Go for it, you know you want to!!

Tiree !

So it was with the new board on top of the plastic-wrapped bed that I set off about 16.00 on Friday 14th October for Oban, to get the 7 am ferry to Tiree the next morning. Pretty exciting, except the first 4 hours were messed up with crazy traffic. Meeting "Storm" from the forum, to take them and their gear to the island in exchange for half the ferry cost. Good deal...

Why Tiree? Well, I first took a windsurfing course in Cornwall with Outdoor Adventure, and their chief instructor and co-owner was one Rachel Medd, a petite blonde lady who was an amzing wave sailor, albeit pretty much retired by then, maybe '92. She had won the 1990 Tiree Wave Classic Ladies, and come third in the pro fleet, against the men!! Thus the notion of Tiree as a special place was already planted in my mind. Once I announced I was going there, people started to say how special they found it too, like Roger, a multi-visit veteran, and Phil the guy I bought my new board off (see previous post). So lots to look forward too, and even be apprehensive about - would I be blown off the water? Phil said he'd ended up one end of the loch, when they'd gone there because it was too much on the sea!

After a 9.5 hour drive, with a short stop for a sandwich and tea, I arrived at Oban about 1.30, getting four hours of sleep beside my board for a 5.30 wake and meet with Storm at 6. Before meeting Storm, I'd already met Twofish, who accosted me in the ferry queue to ask if I knew what was happening. 'Fraid not mate... But got the 5.1 metre van on the boat as a 5 metre, thanks to enthusiastic measuring by the ferry guys that didn't include the "stealth bumpers" (they're black ya see), and things unfolded smoothly. Great house, met with Hylts, Chaos and Scaitie there (Chaos also with OMWC) and out for the first events.

And now I could launch into a long long blow-by-blow tale, but I'm not going to. In respect of the house and company - brilliant! All good people, all welcome in the broad church that is windsurfing. Weather - great, lots of sun, light, wind, some rain, but all infused with the magic Tiree ingredient. Food - excellent, we cooked for ourselves every night, with a truly cosmopolitan mix of cuisine. Thanks guys, hope you liked the veg!

But the main point of this trip and this post was/is the windsurfing. Got out on the 77 litre on the first? day, on a 5.5 m sail. That was the real revelation of the trip. I just cannot believe how good a small board feels, lively, responsive, like wearing a pair of comfortable shoes. And not much harder to sail than my 91 litre, in all honesty. Goes through shorebreak waves so easily, and hardly disturbed by wind at all. Truly a life-changing experience, all at Gott Bay.

And then on the Thursday was the other life-changing experience - real waves!! We went down to Crossapol where it was cross-on, maybe 4 foot waves. Set a 5.5 on the 91, ludicrously overpowered. Went for 4.7, still overpowered, because the wind was rising all the time. Staggered that I could get out through the break, and had to self-rescue at one point because I was getting dangerously close to some rocks. I just body-dragged back holding onto a foot strap, worked really well. So changed down to 4m with the 77. Wow. It actually makes it more possible to control things with a small board. But I was tired and cold, and the pros came down to use our bit of beach, which messed things up trying to keep upwind. So ended the day on a bit of a down, but knowing now it is possible, and pleased with myself that I'd done that at least. Usual John regret at not having taken better advantage of the conditions, but it's easy to be brave after the event, when not cramped, tired and very apprehensive about getting back in.

So now I'm determined to enter the competition next year - I'm certainly going to be there. Gonna get myself one of those rash vests!! I don't care if I come last, I can still enter the Masters (for over 35s!) and have a good time. Harry and Martin, also with us at the house, entered this time, and Harry in particular was stunned at the difference competition made to his attitude. So count me in for some of that!!

Pictures to follow.

Juan does it again...

It's been a highly mixed summer, and I haven't written much about it. Perhaps that's because it seemed to consist of many weekends on the Solent, with little or no wind. Not very exciting. I know I'm doing people a disfavour here, because there were trips elsewhere, but all too often not very windy.

I can't recall, as a result of the apparent samey-ness, from the distance of early November, exactly where Juan once again suggested that a smaller board would be a good idea. This is Juan of the "you need a 90 litre board" at Worthing, that resulted in the JP purchase. Anyway, J suggested that 80 litres was cool, not least because Emma had just found a used Wood Starboard Evo 80l. Oh yes, must have been Whitstable, one of the few non-South Coast venues. And I had already signed up for the Boards Forum holiday to Tiree, a notoriously windy venue.

But which board? Time for research, which led me to the notion of a freestyle wave kinda board, because I don't sail waves all the time and a board good for planing would perhaps be a bit more forgiving. So I searched the Internet ads, and lo and behold, someone selling a JP Freestyle Wave 77 litre! Only 77 litres, but then, I'm only 65kg at my heaviest, so it's still a floater, and sufficiently smaller than the JP 91 that I'd notice the difference. An email was sent...

And the chap lived in Witney, and was very nice, and worked for WIlliams F1 in Wantage, and he still had the board!! A late night trip over there in the van, and I couldn't believe my luck. A 2003 JP FSW 77l, in better condition than my own JP, hardly used. A good board bag too... and he let me have £50 off the asking to boot! Tooled up or what... Now I wonder what it's like to sail?

When's it gonna be summer?

Hmm, long time no post. Things have happened and yet they haven't...

Did a couple of serious winter trips, wetsuit did well, even if I was a bit crap. Only a few hours on single days, no weekend trips to speak of. Even now the water feels cold, despite the increasing amounts of sun.

I was looking forward to the first club event, down at Marazion in Cornwall. Went down on the Thursday night, found the campsite, then slept. Managed to get out on the Friday, right at Marazion beach. Fairly wavey, and spnt a lot of time swimming - still having big trouble getting the stupid sail out of the water so I can water start... What have I forgotten? At one point, a RIB rescue vessel for the UKWA racing event on at the same time went past and the guys asked if I wanted help! I refused it, but when they said they were going in for lunch, said that if I was still there after lunch to pick me up regardless!. I did get going though, but I was pretty tired by then, so took it easy after that.



The rest of the weekend was spent not sailing - the wind pretty much died although the surf stayed big. I went surfing on Saturday at Marazion on the JP, which was amusing but not very successful. Wore a lot of the smoothskin off the wetsuit on the non-slip, which wasn't so amusing. Sunday Juan lent me his surfboard, which I perservered with for a couple of hours down at Gwithian on the other side of the coast.

Cornwall is amazing, there's a spot for every wind direction within 15 minutes! It's so skinny... And the scenery is great, the wind always seems to be blowing (except for this weekend), looking at the charts compared to the South Coast, and, well, it felt like a holiday.

Finally, I did some kiteflying on the Monday, again courtesy of Juan. First time I've flown a powerkite, and very instructive it was too. It's certainly put me off kitesurfing, at least until I had achieved total mastery of kiteflying. It's easy to see how people get splattered.



Since then I've had a couple of South Coast trips, but not until the last two weekends (7-8 and 14-15 May) has there been much wind. Last weekend was brilliant - Poole Harbour at Sandbanks on Saturday, and Bramblebush on the Sunday. Bramblebush is totally idyllic. Looks like a Caribbean island, with proper dunes, sand and flat water. Spent lots of time blasting about, getting the hang of sailing again. I'm definitely improving in respect of control and sensitivity.



This weekend was Hill Head allegedly, but ended up sailing at Calshot Saturday and Hill Head Sunday. Wind was forecast, but dropped lower than expected. Got out using my 7.5m, which feels huge... and then spent the afternoon working on tacks (ok) and gybes (not ok!) with a 4.7m in a lagoony bit. Useful, but as ever, probably learning bad habits rather than good stuff.

Oh and the waterstart? Worked out why the sail doesn't come out of the water! You have to pull it forwards, whilst pumping it slightly, that gets the clew out, and keep it fairly low, so that the wind doesn't drive it into the water backwards. Then it's easy. I guess the dratted 7.5m has some uses! Other than it has to be on the bottom of the rack, or the door doesn't shut :)

Progress on sailing waves: mmm, maybe 1 out of a possible 100. But it's still gonna happen, and I'm even more determined to get maximum time on the water.