Yay!!

It appears that my daughter might be around for the holiday week... and she's potentially up for a surf trip! Excellent. Hope she's got her wetsuit, come to think of it,  maybe she needs something more solid for the conditions. In the meantime, I'll be checking out the Welsh beach list on Forces of Nature. 

Autumn's here...

And it's been a long windy summer. Too bad that September sucked, rather than blew. The enforced break from a concussion suffered (whilst surfing - bah!) on the August Bank Holiday, coupled with no wind to speak of, meant that last weekend (4th Oct) was the first time out for 6 weeks. And that was in a F7, gusting F9, down at Avon Beach. Given those conditions, I sailed pretty well, and was relatively relaxed especially in the hands, which is a Good Thing.

So now I'm considering windsurfing holiday options for October - Tiree, well it's a long way and the ferry isn't cheap. Ireland - very tempting, but also a long way and not cheap. Brandon Bay sounds great but it's 300km across Ireland. However, it would be sensible to go somewhere where other people are around in case something happens, which it surely will. Tarifa/Canaries - yeah... those too. And there's always West Wales, some gorgeous beaches there. I expect I'll end up at Hayling...

Finally...

returned to the water after a 4 month break, during which I had my bunions fixed. Without sounding like this event dominates my life, it's been quite tough going at times, with creaky feet proving to be fairly psychologically disturbing. 

Anyway, went down to Pagham with Juan and Beth (who was actually there when I arrived). I tried to move the van having parked it - didn't start :-(. Rather than waste time and possibly not going out with such a wonderful excuse, I rigged a 4.7m and the 91l JP, and headed out...

And yes! Managed a gybe the first time on the outside, and one more on the inside. I should be proud of myself! No trouble waterstarting either, so clearly improved somehow over the winter. Maybe fantasy windsurfing?! Did one mandatory jump which launched me what felt like miles up, and scared me to death - landed ok, and managed to ride away. It probably would have been better if I'd tried to control it!

Had to call the AA man to get the van started - corroded terminals on the starter motor had broken and stranded the battery cable. Still, a result!