Owner:
squiz
Member
Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3070
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9th May 2018
Windsurfing: Portland Harbour,Weymouth Wind Direction: SW Wind Stength: 10/15 Surf / Sea State: flatish Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods but cooler. Max Speed: 22.84 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 10.52 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)
Wednesday 9th May – windsurf *** Portland – sunny periods but
cooler.
22.84 knot max., 21.35 knot ave., 7.81 knot hr., 16.17 knot mile, 19.50
km., 14.08 knot alpha.
F2 Stoke 117 + 38 cm fin + Tushingham Lightning 7.8.
After yesterdays windsurf session - where I rigged up at Hamworthy (Poole
Harbour) then the wind went offshore, dropped and I sat on the beach for an
hour waiting for it to comeback before giving up and packing up! - I was
keen to actually get on the water as I haven’t been out since April 26th
:( With wind forecast over the next few days but varying strengths and
direction I messaged Facebook friend Ken Bartlett (who kindly lent me the
117 in Spain earlier this year and is the reason we are in the area as we
are returning it). He only lives up the road so I asked him what were the
best venues for the coming days?
With wild camping spots at a premium here in the UK we ended up at an old
favourite - the Quarry above Kimmeridge Bay - a very beautiful spot and we
were treated to a nice sunset too:) We had a good night as the army using
live ammunition on the adjoining firing range stopped at 11. It was a bit
surreal going to bed with the sound of machine gun fire and shells going
off! This dead-end road to Kimmeridge is surprisingly busy with farm
traffic and locals – even a couple of tanker lorries. We also had a
large flock of sheep being shepherded up the lane! I checked the phone
first thing and it was supposed to be cloudy with showers and a SW wind
15/20 mph. but it was a glorious morning with blue skies and wispy clouds.
It looked good for a walk along the cliffs but you can’t go the Lulworth
way because of the army live arms range is still being used. Then I read
Ken’s reply to my message - he said he was going to give Portland a try
in the afternoon. I wasn’t intending to travel that far this trip but as
it’s only 25 miles from here we postponed the walk until tomorrow and
hopefully I might even get another sail at Hamworthy on Friday! So, after
breakfast we headed to Weymouth which is a roundabout route from here with
the army closing the road! There was even a report on Radio 2 saying that
a broken-down tank was causing a hold up nearby! We did see a tank on route
which was a bit weird. We filled up with diesel on the outskirts of
Weymouth and arrived at the café carpark (the opposite end to the Sailing
Academy) and paid £3 to park. It was fairly full mainly with campers and a
group of sea cadets learning to windsurf but there was nobody on the water!
I got talking to one of the campervan owners and he said despite the no
overnight camping signs several of them stopped last night! A couple had
gone out with gear nearly as old as mine and it looked OK to rig. I set up
the biggest kit I had 7.8 on the 117 and set off at 1.15 with the sun still
out. It was OK for an hour nothing fast but planing then the wind went very
patchy so I returned to the van for lunch to discover I had been out an
hour and a half! Mag had just made a yummy tuna salad and by now the only
ones going were the kiters and foilers and I nearly called it a day. With
Mag off for a walk (she had a great time walking to and exploring a ruin of
a castle Henry VIII built – Sandsfoot Castle – we will come back and
bike the Rodwell trail so I can see it too!). I had one last go and
spotted Ken on the water. We stopped on the slipway for a nice chat
watching several different foil boards and foils being tested, I would
definitely get one if I lived down here! The wind had gone and I wobbled
back and packed up as I had got really cold and most people had already
gone! After a warming cuppa and gear on the roof we headed back to
Kimmeridge, stopping again to take pics of the Dorset sheep with their
amazing brown lambs. There was a car parked in our spot at the Quarry so we
drove down to the bay carpark just to have a look. The tariff board showed
that as we have gear on the roof it would cost us an Amazing £10 to park
here during the day!! The girl on the gate had long gone luckily so we had
a look at the view and spotted the nodding donkey pump Mag had read about
this morning which apparently pumps 40,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil
daily!!!! Who knew???? That does explain the tanker lorries this morning
though – we thought it was milk!! Back at the Quarry we park up at the
back, might be better any way as it might be windy and wet during the
night. With light rain falling and feeling cooler, Mag made a curry which
hit the spot and fingers crossed for a sunny day tomorrow for a walk along
the Jurassic Coast!
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