Current Diary

Well, I finally got back out on the water today after almost a whole month off. There hasn't been any particular reason why I haven't managed a session lately, just a whole host of things such as poor weather forecasts, work, Xmas, broken computers, etc. Anyway, I was at work today and could see the surf was looking pretty good, so I cancelled my next job and went to Borth. When I got there the surf was nice and clean, about 3 foot and peeling nicely along the beach in the light offshore winds. I quickly got in and starting catching waves. No one else was out. The wind soon started picking up though and soon became quite strong, so after only a few waves (including one really sweet, fast, long wave with lots of flowing turns) I decided to head up to the Estuary at Ynyslas and go windsurfing there.

I now rigged a 5.0m sail and my wave board while Derek set up his 4.0m kite. I helped him launch again and then got back out on the water myself. I was still overpowered most of the time and as the wind continued to pick up I couldn't be bothered to change down so just pulled on some more outhaul and held on. The water was pretty choppy and sailing wasn't easy (Maybe I was just a little rusty!?). Still, I had a good session with some nice chop hops and gybes, but nothing spectacular. As the tide came in loads of debris (mainly bits of trees washed down the river with the recent rains) backed up in the estuary and just started getting in the way, so I packed up and came home. Not a bad day really.

Sunday 1st Decemeber 2002

We had a good days windsurfing today. First Steve and I went out from the Golf Course Car park. I had a 5.0m sail and my 75ltr wave board, Steve had a 5.3m sail and his 88 ltr wave board. The conditions were pretty mad, with walls of whitewater for miles out to sea and a strong Westerly (onshore) wind. Really we should have sailed from the Lifeboat Station. I got on the water first and had a good run straight out through the whitewater with some big floaty jumps. It was difficult to get out the back properly, and on the two occasions that I did it was pretty scary on the way back in anyway as I had to bear away to avoid the huge walls of whitewater that were chasing me, meaning I was flat out over the choppy water and blinded by the sun at the same time! We had a good sail anyway and sort of decided just to blast up and down in the shallows. It was still possible to jump on both tacks like that and it meant we could avoid getting munched by the bigger waves out the back.

After a couple of hours we had a rest and some lunch and Rob (Army Rob) turned up at the beach. He rigged a 5m sail and his smallest (88ltr) board and we all went back out again. The conditions were OK for half an hour, but then the wind started to pick up even more and we all got blown off the water in the end.

So, we packed up and headed around to the estuary where Steve and I rigged back up, (the same kit) and went out for a sail on what looked like flat water. Once out there, there was a small closely spaced chop and the wind was getting stronger and stronger. We stayed out for about an hour, but in the end the ever increasing wind got the better of us again so we had to take cover. It was quite a nice session in the estuary too, with some good gybes amd some mad speed runs if you had the guts to bear away. Come the end, the whole of the estuary was a sheet of white as spray was blowing off the tops of the small bits of chop and the gusts were just far too much for us. All in all a pretty good start to the month!

Diaries

Year 2002 : December

Monday 30th Decemeber 2002

Sunday 1st Decemeber 2002