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justal Administrator  Member#: 1 Location: Registered: 21-07-2002 Diary Entries: 2989 Mood: Just Chillin Dude |
2nd November 2003 Windsurfing: Golf Course Car Park, Borth Wind Direction: SW Wind Stength: 20 knots Surf / Sea State: 6 foot messy surf Air Temperature: 11ºC Sea Temperature: 13ºC Weather: Sunny spells and showers Max Speed: Distance Covered: After pfaffing around on the beach for a while and rigging both my 5m and my wave-board and my 5.7m and Hifly, I decided to be the guinea pig and get out there on the water before anyone else. I went out with my 5m and was a little underpowered at first, so everyone else came out with their 5.7s, I then had another attempt at getting out through the waves with my 5m and this time got onto the plane nicely and blasted out through the surf. I made a few little jumps on the way out, and then a few bigger ones off the huge swells (some of which were breaking) out the back. I kept going out so that I could gain some ground upwind as I had been bearing away quite a bit to keep going now and then, and then made a nice gybe on the face of the a swell, came out planing and once again headed upwind a bit to get back to where I started from. I passd over the top of a swell, and as I did so, C-R-A-C-K.... my mast snapped just above my boom. I obvisouly fell in and when I'd worked out what had happened and assessed the damage, there was little I could do but start swimming and draggin all my kit with me. There was no chance of derigging out there amonst the logo-mast head waves, so I was left with no option bu to swim. After about ten minutes of swimming, I wasn't really going anywhere fast, and was still quite a way out to sea. the wind and especially the current were just washing me down the beach and towards Tywyn, and I was already pretty much level with the mouth of the estuary. On top of this, the broken ends of the mast which were composed of razor sharp shards of carbon fibre kept trying to impale me, and the rig was sinking as the mast had filled with water, so the only thing I could do was to ditch the rig and swim back to shore with my board. It ended up being quite a swim even with just the board, and then quite a walk along the beach back to my van. I obviously made it though and then went out with my 5.7m and my Hifly. I was well powered up with this combination and made some huge jumps off the big swells. Quite a few others were out, inlcuding Steve, Joe, Darren, Chris, Doug, Richard, Simon and a couple of others and most people were having a good time. I didn't stay out long this second time as I didn't want to push my luck too far and didn't want to lose the rest of my kit. I had a cycle along the high tide mark just now, but there was no sign of it, so it looks as though thats the end of my favourite sail, my 400cm mast, my boom and of course things like harness lines, boom bumper, mast pad and mast extension... Quite an expensive session really!... But at least I'm still here! :) |
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