Owner:
squiz
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Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3071
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29th June 2013
Windsurfing: Eoligarry,Barra Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: cloudy Max Speed: 28 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 21 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)
Saturday 29thJune – windsurf ***** cloudy :(
Another gloomy, foggy day :( We packed up and had a visit from a lovely
sheepdog, she barred her teeth but it was just a happy face :) She went to
sleep right outside the van door. We stopped and said goodbye to our
energetic Irish friends. Went to the shop in Castlebay for some milk and
had to detour through the town because of the ‘Barrathon’ half
marathon. There were a surprising amount of competitors and as we toured
the island by the road that runs around the edge we stopped in many passing
places to let them pass. There are some lovely beaches, rocky crags, high
moors and some reservoirs and the natural stuff is all lovely but anything
touched by man is just awful :( Plain new build houses with lots of junk
in the gardens, particularly old cars and vans rusting away :( After the
circuit we arrived back in Castlebay and went to the co-op for some cake!
Drove back along the left hand side of the ‘ring’ road and branched off
towards the ferry/airport road. The airport has to be seen to be believed.
The runway is on the beach and you can only land and take off at low tide.
Amazingly they have scheduled flights every day. We drove to Eoligarry
and parked up where Mag had read camper vans were welcomed. It is a great
spot with 360 degree views of several beaches. The weather is still not
playing ball so are not seeing it at its best and it is still beautiful. I
decided to windsurf and had a great time backwards and forwards over the
clear water with gannets and other sea birds really close:) Mag read for
a while then went for a long walk on the beach and had a look over the end
of the jetty. Chatted with the lady from the only other camper here. She
and her husband are doing the islands the opposite way to us, starting at
Ullapool and finishing in Oban. Two planes have taken off and landed over
us but we could hardly see the first and couldn’t see the second at all
because of the fog! It keeps coming and going. Had a nice chat with
Rob(our son). Rang him because we played the game they got me for
Father’s day – Lost Cities for the first time and needed to get
confirmation about a couple of points. It was nice to chat and we really
enjoyed the game once we got the hang of it :)
My windsurf report. (Xantos + Ezzy 7.5 – 38 fin)
After passing Barra beach airport we ended up at Eoligarry jetty at about
three, the weater was poor cloudy and cool but the wind looked good coming
cross off from the airport so after tea and biscuits I rigged the big
freeride kit thinking that I would be overpowered with 7.5 but can’t rig
the 6.6 because of yesterdays broken mast :( There is a large area of bays
and islands here to explore – a top spot :) but the first run out I only
just got planning as the wind disappeared:( I had one long plodding run out
to Fuday Island seeing a couple of seals and loads of feeding Gannets. On
the return back to Barra the wind increased and changed direction pushing
me a little further down and into a lovely flatwater bay, only trouble was
the wind was too light here for fast runs. I was able to reach flat out a
mile or so into the bay seeing the ferry to Eriskay several times getting
some nice speeds in the low swells :) Then to finish the session I had some
gybing practice off the beach I started out to some rocks about half a mile
away – a top session out in the lovely clear water – who needs La
Franqui when you have the Scottish Islands !!! the only thing lacking at
the moment is some sunshine.
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