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hamptonw Member Member#: 7315 Location: Registered: 22-01-2008 Diary Entries: 61 |
13th December 2008 Windsurfing: Southend - Thorpe bay Wind Direction: SSE Wind Stength: F6-7 Surf / Sea State: Choppy Air Temperature: -1 (with windchill) Sea Temperature: 6 Weather: Overcast and rainy at times Max Speed: Distance Covered: Well, we stuck to Plan A today - the alarm went off at 5.30am, and I prised myself out of bed, just in time to answer the door to SteveE, who had got up at 4.40am!! I'd loaded my stuff the night before, so it was just a case of slinging all the gear from Steve's van into mine, then heading off to Grawp's to pick him up. He was there waiting outside with his gear when we got there. Quick load up, and he hopped in the back, and we were off to Southend! Despite my best attempts to kill us all with my shocking driving (I'll skim over the more embarrassing details of the journey! I'm sure Grawp and Steve will spill the beans! It was their fault anyway for making me laugh and distracting me with banter!), we got to Chalkwell at about 7.50, and tried to locate the Ray. It appeared to be somewhere near Minster from where we were standing! A few hardy souls were rigging their race sails and preparing for the long walk, but after lot of deliberation (actually, almost none at all!), we opted for a fried breakfast and a little wait for the tide to arrive. The Ray did look like quite a serious mission, and it was bitterly cold! So we fuelled up in the caf, then headed up the coast to "another beach" (can't remember what it was called, but it wasn't East Beach). The tide was now surging in, and a flatwater playground was developing, so we quickly rigged (4.7 and Rocket for me) along with a few other locals and headed out, planing straight off the beach. It was brilliant blasting fun, with some fun chop as the water deepened. The wind was building and I was pretty overpowered, but just holding it together. There was no way I was going to go back and change down! It was seriously cold - I've never had hot hurts like that before, but I was really enjoying the sailing - up until the point when I followed the other guys out just a bit too far, and suddenly remembered that I'm not that good at turning around! Whilst they all blasted back to the beach, I fell in, then had a series of "waterstart....splash!" situations, and started to get very cold and exhausted. Anyway, I ended up coming ashore a long way downwind from where I started, and walking the kit back up the promenade (with the help of Steve - cheers!). That was game over for me, as I was freezing and knackered after an hour and a half. Ed and Steve stayed out for another half hour or so while I de-rigged. Still, excellent fun had by all today. Ed was positively toasty in his new Snugg and I felt a twinge of jealousy!! I really like the setup at Southend, and we all agreed we'd be back.... |
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