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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3688 |
8th October 2014 Windsurfing: Beauduc, Camargue Wind Direction: se Wind Stength: 20/25 Surf / Sea State: flatish Air Temperature: 24 Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods Max Speed: 29.06 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 38 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Tuesday 7th October - Travelling and McDonalds wifi! We woke to thick cloud but the rain we saw forecast in the tourist information didn’t come to anything. Did our exercises then left our lovely spot in the Alpilles and drove to Arles. Luckily saw the sign for Lidl as soon as we got there so did our big shop including a fluorescent green snowboarding coat for Mag for 15 euros which will be perfect for the bike in the winter:) Nobody will be able to say they didn’t see her!! Went to McDonalds for wifi and replied to birthday messages and put blog on forces. Drove down to the Camargue because it has got a bit windier than expected and it is the nearest coast to where we are. We have been here before a couple of years ago and knew you could park on the beach at Boudec so headed there. The camargue is actually a bit dull with the exception of the huge etangs, flamingos, white horses and black cattle. Got onto a track which looked very similar to the one to Boudec but it turned out to be the one to the lighthouse so retraced our steps over the bumps and lumps and drove along the next one which was even more lumpy and bumpy. Then when we got quite a way along there was a new addition since we were here before – the dreaded 2metre reinforced concrete complete with graffiti chicane! We were sitting to the side thinking about it when a VW very similar to ours arrived driven by two Swiss girls. They spoke excellent English and said that their van definitely went through if they took their wing mirrors off!!! They had the allen key ready, took them off covered them in scarves in case they did get scuffed and held them into the body work as they drove through!! They then persuaded us that by borrowing their scarves we would be able to get through too. They guided us and although it was a worry we did get through! The only thing is we now have to get out!!! We will have to worry about that later. Parked up on the beach after having a ride around to find the best place and seeing a german man with his Bengal cat just a little along from where we eventually stopped behind a small sand dune. Nothing much has changed here – just acres of sand, the flat sea and some kind of jetty/mussel post concoction in the sea and the lighthouse looking like it is floating on the horizon. As we had treated ourselves to an ice cream Parfait in McD’s we hadn’t had any lunch so just had lunch for tea instead:) Wednesday 8th October – windsurf **** Beauduc, Camargue – sunny periods We had a lovely relaxing lie in after a windy night parked here on the beach at Beauduc in the Camargue. We did our exercises in the warm sunshine and then I unloaded my windsurfing kit to have my first session since 28th August!!! Several kiters were already out but with the wind cross off and gusty it was a job to pick a sail? I took my biggest board to the water’s edge with my wind guage and with the wind gusting 20 mph + I decided on the 7m. I also chose my full wetsuit – a big mistake as it was very warm even if by now the sun had disappeared:( In this direction you could sail for approx 2 miles down the left hand side of the bay past the wooden fishing jetty. The water is shallow close in and you had to walk a way out and I set out flying in the fairly flat water until half way across the bay when I hit a huge length of rope holding a drift net!!! This ruined the mornings hour attempt as there were marker bouys everywhere and it made you very nervous about going too fast!:( The full suit is tight on my arms and I was cooking so was pleased to finish the first hour. I came ashore for lunch with Mag, who was enjoying a lazy day reading and snoozing, and to watch the kiters. Two fishing boats were laying drift nets everywhere which would make the afternoon session interesting! After mending yet another hole in the 7m – that’s 3 panels with holes in now – its amazing I still had a sail at all after all the big crashes of the morning! With the sun now out and the shorty on the afternoon hour was a lot better, making 29 knots and sailing the whole length of the bay without any major wipe outs! :) With the hour up I decided to beat back to the van and had a big crash in front of the wooden jetty and managed to get my feet tangled in the nylon fishing line drift net. I had to take off both my shoes to untangle them! By which time my sail had popped off the uj just like it did in Felixstowe and my board set off in the direction of Stes Maires de la Mer with no way of me catching it:( There was a fishing boat in the direction my board was heading but they were laying more nets so I returned to my sail and started to swim ashore. Then my saviour appeared! The fishing boat had laid its nets and was heading to pick me up and they had my old Xantos on board:) Sadly by this point I was well tangled in another net but I managed to free myself and climb aboard just as they recovered my sail:) They then took me ashore and dropped me in the shallow water by the jetty, after handshakes and thanks all round I set off back to the van where I got 20 euros for the fishermen for recovering my board:) We then had a relaxing hour before a walk along the beach as the sun disappeared. There is a horrible caravan/shanty town right by the jetty with a rabid dog and more derelict caravans in the dunes. There is also a skip in the car park over flowing with rubbish which has started blowing around. We then walked over the flooded beach to what must be the village of Beauduc and what a derelict, mosquito ridden shit hole that is! We were glad to get back to the van. We are not great lovers of parking on sandy windy beaches and will be moving off tomorrow. As for the sailing its certainly no Gruissan/La Franqui, better suited to kiting than windsurfing and not worth risking the van in a 2m chicane and a 11km bumpy track! As for the Camargue, apart from the flamingos horses and cattle it has little to offer and is best avoided! |
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