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Basher Member Member#: 165 Location: Registered: 09-03-2003 Diary Entries: 18 |
29th August 2004 Windsurfing: Brighton Wind Direction: SW or WSW Wind Stength: Honking Surf / Sea State: Medium surf for here Air Temperature: Shorty wetsuit warm Sea Temperature: Warm like the Med? Weather: Cloudy, hints of sun Max Speed: Distance Covered: And on the seventh day, God created...windsurfing? I've not posted here for a while and you'll soon see why. Sunday was the seventh day I've sailed in Brighton this week so that's a full set for me. If not a record for consecutive sails, then it must surely be a unique feat for southern England in August. I've never known the summer so windy – with each forecast improving each hour, or else turning out better than expected. Just as it did today. Normally at this time of year the forecast starts out well and then some French high pressure zone sends it all north. This has in fact not happened once this year. Can the salty sea dogs point to the St Swithuns' legend to explain our windy weather – or was today merely something to do with tonight's full moon? I'll have to ask an old wife. Either way, we had 5.2m, then 4.7, and even 4m weather this afternoon. And it's still blowing now as I type this. My hands are pink and raw after another gruelling session today.. Bank Holiday weekend is always gonna be a difficult one and, here at Basher Towers, there were friends and family staying and making demands on my time. I managed a sail yesterday before we all went out to dinner last night, but then felt like cr*p this morning after a skinful of El Plonko vino. But first thing today, through bleary eyes, I was surprised how windy it was. So I re-checked the forecast. On the Met Office charts you could see two fronts coming through and it was clear that the wind here in the south East should still build to be even stronger later. So I took a chance and decided to give the pre-high-tide sail a miss. Looking at the morning sea, it was surprisingly flat anyway. At lunchtime, Weathercam's on-site camera at Worthing showed sailors blasting on 5m sails but sailing on what I would call board-flat water. Out with the house guests for another meal, but no more wine for me! This decision to delay my sail paid off as I got the Sunday lunch thing done – and the wind was still there and strengthening at 2pm. Better still, the waves were beginning to shape up. Mid tide is the 'sweet spot' for waves here in Brighton and they didn't disappoint today. Not huge (like last Monday!) but nice 6 foot faces for down-the-line stuff and then more rampy for jumps as the tide fell away. I have a new Evo 70 litres wave board which only arrived on Friday and I was not expecting enough wind for it today. But I jumped straight on this board and felt at home right away. And what a great wave board! I started on a 5.2 (just in case I wasn't powered enough on such a tiny sinker) and changed down later to a 4.7m. I could at times have been on an even smaller sail – but there were odd holes in the wind as big purple clouds menaced the horizon out in the English Channel. No rain here though. Just cloudy skies and hints of sunshine from time to time. My shorty wetsuit was fine given the warm water and wave conditions which required a lot of driving. The record number of bottoms turns off one wave today was 7. And 7 must be my lucky number. In fact if we are really lucky here in the South East, there should still be some wind left in the morning... That would be 8 though, wouldn't it? |
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