Awesome day at West Wittering. Torrential rain for the whole drive down, but as I arrived at the beach around 9am it started to clear up. There were a couple of kiters out already and a couple of guys rigging 5.2s and 4.7s. I wasn't convinced it was that windy so opted for a cuppa in the van before checking the wind again. It still hadn't really come up, so I rigged a 5.7 and headed for the water. I think today West Wittering was probably somewhere near its best - flat water on the inside and decent small waves breaking on the sandbars. As the tide came in, this just got better an better. Gybe practise in the lagoon, wave riding and jumping on the outside. I was doing mile long runs from West to East Witterings and back again - and, 'cos the wind was southerly, I was in standing depth the whole time!!
So what did I learn?
- Snagging a plastic bag around the fin at speed is likely to cause a catapult.
- Bottom turns are great, get the weight onto the front foot - but not too much weight forward, or the nose will catch and you'll be over the front
- Avoid the white water when riding - a wave breaking over you is bad news
I've had some fantastic sails this year, but I think today will go down as my best. OK, so it wasn't as warm as Martinhal, as windy as Tarifa or as big as Guincho, but when the sun came out today it was just awesome. I even won't mind if the cold weather comes now and that's my last sail of the year.