windsurf

Nearly two months without a sail so I decided to chance a marginal forecast and head to Hayling for the afternoon. It wasnt the best day, being marginal 7m+ weather for most of the afternoon, but the wind did pick up towards the middle of the afternoon and we had a fantasic hour or so of full on planing conditions. I managed my first full speed duck gybe surprising myself at getting round. Didn't quite plane out, but I was happy with staying dry and getting round in one piece.

A good forecast with a little swell so Avon Beach was the spot of choice for me today. What a stupid idea. First day of the school half term and the M3 was an absolute nightmare. A journey that normally takes abotu 1hr 45mins took just under three hours... Worst of all, when I finally arrived at the beach, everyone was coming off the water giving me the impression I'd missed the best of the conditions. I rigged up anyway, after all I wasnt going to turn around and head straight back to London. Then the wind filled back in and I was happy. A good couple of hours with the sandbank to myself messing around in waist high waves. I stayed out until I could no longer hold the sail up.

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I didn't realise there was an American Classic Car Show at Hayling Beach to stay so was a little surprised when I turned up to see hot rods and class cars all around the beach. As the wind wasnt up to much I went for a wander around with the camera before hitting the water.
The windsurfing itself wasnt much to write home about, the gusts were fun and the lulls tedious but that was about it. I did help a fellow sailor suffering from a snapped UJ by sailing a new one out to him but other than that quite a forgetable session.

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A lovely new 2010 RRD WaveCult 75 arrived today for me. Can't wait to get it out on the water soon... Hopefully!

The weather threw just about everything at us today - sun, rain, hail and most importantly wind. Lots of wind. With the wind coming from the North I headed to Hayling Lifeboat station to sail on the incoming tide. I arrived around 11am to a gusty 15 knots so rigged up a 5.8m. I decided to chance the smaller WaveCult 85L rather than a 110L FSW and I was on the plan most of the afternoon. It helped that the wind picked up. And then up again. By 1pm, it was gusting 35knots and getting a little stupid on the 5.8m. I pulled on the outhaul and downhaul and managed another twenty minutes or so but by then the cold was getting to me. My hands were in screaming agony and a final hailstorm just about finished me off.

First proper session of the year. No sign of trouble from the ankle, looking forward to some south westerlies and maybe some swell in the coming weeks. It's about time isnt it?

Not much to report but we were in Bournemouth enjoying the sun when the sea breeze tried to pick up. Annoyingly it hovered around the f3/f4 mark and never really got going. Ankle feeling better

There comes a time when recovering from injury that you have accept it's good enough and you can get back on the horse, so to speak. The sea may still be eight degrees and the air similiar, but today was the day. I briefly debated whether boots were required, before acknowledging my feet would probably go numb without them. The conditions weren't great but 140 days after I sprained my ankle, I made back on to a windsurfing board. In the sea, not on dry land. Obviously.

All in all it was better than I'd expected. Sure, there's some stiffness but I now have pretty much full movement. The wind was a little up and down all afternoon, and the small Hayling waves were best before the wind kicked in, but two hours of blasting in the sun during April was very satisfying to say the least. Roll on next time.

Following on from my Reflections on learning to wave sail and Baja Gallery, I'm pleased to say both have featured in Boards mag this week thanks to Jem Hall's article. Check it out - the action starts on page 90.

To windsurf, you need to be fit. But what if keeping fit increases the chance of injury and you miss the best part of the season?

Sprained my ankle playing football on Monday evening. Turns out it isn't broken, it didn't even need an x-ray. But it does mean sitting on the sidelines for four to six weeks.

Going to be mighty cold come January.