The day off

Being a weekend warrior is crap really, so getting an opportunity to go in the week when it's blowing is great. Took off down to Hayling, determined to sail off the front rather than stupid
Poo Bay, with low tide around 10, so should be ok.
Arrived at the Inn-on-the-Beach, windy but not spectacularly so, from the SW, and sun - really bright and lovely. Shorebreak pretty threatening, but then it always is when it's not exactly low tide and there's any wind! A couple of people were rigging and heading out, so I rigged up the 5.5 and 91l JP, and headed out, falling off after a good start, but recovering ok.
Had a few good runs, about twenty minutes worth, and blimey - my gybes are definitely improving, with a real feel for what's happening. It's all starting to slow down, which is a good sign, and I can feel the balance and stuff happening under my feet, and understanding the forces in the sail. The key thing is SPEED - this makes it easier to cut big arcs, and significantly lessens the weight of the sail when flipping it. Also tracked a few smaller waves, starting to understand this too.
Then it got really dark, with obvious rain coming in, so I went upwind and beached upwind of the Inn. This perhaps wasn't too smart, but didn't want to mess about in the shorebreak if I could help it. Of course, I got stuck in it, insufficiently aggressive, and fairly munched, but nothing seemed to break. The squall went through with me standing on the beach, then time to go back out. I got about 100 yards off the beach, right in front of the van, and then had a mysterious catapult, involving not getting the feet in the footstraps and a wave and stuff. When I tried to recover the rig, it was completely floppy, an empty crisp packet. The damn head cap had slipped off the top of the mast! Boring indeed. Fortunately I was only 100 yards offshore, with the wind and tide in my favour, but still a long paddle.
Great. Went ashore, rigged the 4.7 since the wind was coming up, with lots of stupid mistakes owing to tired and cold - some athlete here!! - and went out again. However, the wind had really picked up, and after getting out and falling 50 yards from shore, decided discretion was the better part of valour and headed back. Packed up, headed homewards, somewhat depressed - after all, it had only been 20 minutes, crap, right?
On reflection no. Gybing had been good, and starting to see waves as friends not enemies, especially in the gybing process. And just time on the water, TOTW.
Went along to Andy Biggs and handed in my 5.5m to have the webbing for the top cap replaced. Another conversation with a graduate on the subject of the difficult of getting jobs, and confirmation of the meaninglessness of tests. Can't remember much after that - drove back, it was dark, ate something, how mundane is life that isn't windsurfing (and love!).

You meet all kinds...

Of people in the process of going windsurfing.
Took last Tuesday off, since I had my annual medical in the morning, needed to use some holiday days up, and it was WINDY! So once I'd had the wonderful experience of the prostate check (it's fine, you'll be glad to hear - I was!), off to the coast.
Heading onto the M3, picked up a plater in a yella jacket. Had a long convo about truck driving, his most recent job, after acquiring a Class 1 licence - better paid than answering the 'phone for the BBC complaints department! Dropped him at Eastleigh, came off the M3, round a few roundabouts and we found the industrial estate where he was to pick up a truck for delivery. Yes chums, it's hard to get jobs, even with a Class 1, so my man was earning his spurs delivering trucks before scoring a proper job. I also found out that skiing was a compulsory subject at his home - that IS cool!
So check out theurbanmonk.
Oh yes, he got out, effusively thankful, and left the special red plates in the van, on the dash. I didn't notice until I was about to turn onto the M3 again, so did a U-ie, headed back and met him looking somewhat disturbed, running up the road as I appeared at the end of the road. Good luck mate, I'll keep reading the blog, and I hope mine isn't too boring (but it is... try the earlier entries!).

It's been a long time...

since I posted anything. But that doesn't mean nothing's happened, in fact in the year since the last post I've

• Been to Margerita with Cribby
• Been back to Tiree, although not as a competitor
• Bought ANOTHER Spartan winter wetsuit, since the other got leaky owing to many tears
• Tried to get out lots but not been as successful as I'd have liked
• Bought a surf board - Bic pop-out miniMal

The Margerita trip was potentially really good, but I got ill in the middle which somewhat put me off my stroke, as they say. I must also admit to being a bit wimpish, rather than going for it as hard as I could have, but then it was a holiday, not an assault course! My gybe entries are lots better as a result, and Guy also got my waterstarts a lot better, especially the rig recovery, for which he showed me a very effective technique that has saved my ass many times since. In fact, on reflection, it was a great trip really, because although I went out with the aim of carve gybing - two weeks in the Carribbean you'd think you could handle that eh? - Guy was quick to spot my shortcomings and work on those. For example, I couldn't go up upwind very effectively. Our HQ was the most upwind of the on-beach centres, so this was clearly a problem, especially as the combination of rubbish waterstarts and no upwind capability meant I ended up down the other side of ALL the centres, walking around self-rescuing off a totally different beach! No wonder I was tired... And we did some cool light wind stuff at the beginning before the wind kicked in. So Guy focussed on upwind performance - "either you're going as hard as you can upwind, or you're blasting your t*ts off"... Which reminds me of the immortal Cribby words - "Uncomfortable?! Windsurfing's not about comfortable!". So, get the rig well forward, use the front foot to push the entire windward rail into the water for grip, look upwind constantly for gusts, then turn downwind and pump like mad if there's a gust. In fact my upwind skills have enhanced so much that Juan has commented on them, as being better than his, which is praise indeed. In respect of the troublesome rig recovery, lie on your side parallel to the mast and swim backwards, rotating the rig out of the water - works every time! Would I go again? Yes I think so, if only because I'd like to go for it harder this time and not waste so much energy on rescuing myself!

Tiree this year was totally different from last, mostly because there was no wind! This is the windiest place in Britain right? This is Triple Crown week, right? Well, only the wave prize was awarded, on the basis of the first and only windy day! Us non-competitors wandered around, doing things like speedsailing, kite flying, walking, shopping (yes, possible even on Tiree, Chocolates and Charms having a peculiar fascination for our female colleagues), and a certain amount of drinking. Lovely place. Would I go again? Most certainly. As a competitor? Sure, except I've realised in the intervening year how much further I have to go before I could say I was an anywhere near competent wave sailor!

I've not spent many nights away this year, not sure why, perhaps an attempt to maintain some kind of home life. And there've been family problems that involve my going to Manchester frequently, which takes a whole day, so I can't stay on the South Coast and easily get there, better to come back and take the car.

Too bad about Spartan going bust - I needed a new suit, since my previous one so celebrated in this blog was leaking like a sieve, and emailed them to ask if it could be refurbed. No reply, and then there was a thread discussing their demise on the Boards forum. Went to Solent Sailboards, down at Calshot, tried on a Medium, and it's a good enough fit. Not quite as good as my previous one, but still ok. So that's taken on duties, and I'm looking after it very carefully! Noticed there's some protruding bolts on the bed which I must cover up before they tear a hole in the backside when I bend over...