The Waiting...

Not much activity recently, in fact none since 31 Jan, the day of the club bash at Hayling. On that day, arrived at the IotB, having just realised I'd left my boots and palmless gloves at home. Boo. So went and bought some more at Andy Biggs, on the basis that these things wear out and they're really good, so some spares wouldn't hurt.

Back at the beach, rigged up a 5.5m, but the Easterly wind made it hard to get out, since it's slightly cross-off and the beachbreak was hefty. Anyway, had a couple of runs and stuff, but I was astounded by the effect the cold has on my brain - it's like the cold causes the electrons to slow down. Coupled with the general debilitation caused by age vs. cold (my excuse!) and a munching in the break, I decided that Caution was the better part of Valour (that well-known maker of paraffin stoves) and since I wasn't actually enjoying myself, stopped. That also involved walking back upwind several hundred yards, so at least I got SOME exercise. Bah.

At least the bash was good. 

And now I'm waiting excitedly for the Cabo trip - only a week to go!

Winter waves? Bah...

Today's simple plan: 

• Check forecast early - looks ok
• Leave early for Poole area to meet Graham
• Get some good waves off Sandbanks

WRONG!! 

Get there 10.30, kinda windy, go to Graham's, return to beach, nothing. 

Wait a long time, have lunch (cheers dude), chat to Kat, stuff.

Pile up rig, board, change into wetsuit, carry to beach (this is the coolest part of the day actually - incredible to live by the beach!!).

Rig up 6.5, 102 FSW. Blob out. Fall off. G also falls off mid-gybe. Nobody remounts apart from occasional up haul attempts. Swim. Eventually arrive through beachbreak 45 minutes later. Fortunately on-lookers have cancelled coastguard call, but I'm glad they thought to make one. 

Derig. Coastguard 4X4 arrives, give name address and age. (Age??). Walk to G's, shower, load van, drink tea. 

Bollocks. Next time!

Cabo Verde - exciting!

Having been to Margarita a couple of times, I know how good it is to be somewhere hot, windy and rather pleasant on Feb/March. Rather than go to Margs again, however tempting a full-on Cribboday might be, I've booked two weeks in Cabo Verde with a few of the Ocean Motion people.  Adam's my room mate for two weeks, he's laid back enough to be livable with, with Gen and Beth coming for a week. I rather suspect Beth is looking for more challenging waves than me, but we'll see. She sailed at Punta Preta last time she went there, and that's THE wave spot.  

So what are my aims for this trip? 

• Gybing - yup, wanna nail this much better
• Proto-freestylee - defo going to try some moves here, even if it's as simple as switch stance and heli-tacks
• Waves - the main beach (Santa Maria) has ok waves in places

Of course, we can always take the option of getting a taxi to a different beach! And somehow I'm tempted to try kitesurfing... Nah!

Yay indeed...

And it was a lovely day, went down to Westward Ho!, surfed, ate fish and chips, came home tired but happy.

Fortunately I have two winter wetsuits, so the girl was able to borrow one. The only drawback was she forgot her swimsuit, so ended up buying a rather nifty black bikini in a local shop - thanks Dad! Also purchased a polypro rashie for later winter use.

Were we good? Nah... used the Bic popout and my Naish Playmate with a leash and no footstraps to do the business. I have to say, with its width and volume, the Naish proved pretty effective as a beginner board. We both got rides, before retiring for tea and cake. 

Then we went for a walk, across the huge beach, under an enormous sky.