The best session yet. 4.5m sail and my Hifly with my smallest fin from Hango Hill in Castletown Bay. All on my own with some fairly large swells out in the bay. Nicely powered up and having fun.
We met up with the local windsurfers around midday and then drove and rigged up at the Golf Course in Castletown Bay, at Hango Hill and eventually at Derby Haven as the wind increased and swung around to SE. In the end we all (about 12 people) went sailing at Derby Haven in increasing winds. I first went out with my 6.3m sail, Axxis 278 and a big fin, but soon changed to a smaller fin, then a smaller board, then down to my 5.4m sail and then to a smaller fin again. It was a good session in choppy waters with quite a few other people out. I couldn't be bothered to change down againb, but when I eventually packed up it was easily 4.5m weather. Dave from the shop was there doing forward loops, and attempting Vulcans. Another good day.
Saturday 6th October 2001
Even windier today and being a little tired I decided to sail at Derby Haven at high tide. Perfect flat water blasting and carve gybe practise conditions with my 5.1m Tomahawk sail and my Hifly 265 board. Anna and her mum were sat in the sun watching too. After this Anna and I drove around a bit and found 3 people out sailing in Castletown Bay, but launching from the corner just off the golf course. The winds there were cross-shore and there was no shorebreak, just lots of wind. They were out on wave boards with 3.6-4.0m sails and even then seemed to be overpowered at times.
After this Anna and I drove back around to Hango Hill and watched them sailing by for a time. The tide was high still and the waves dumping nastily on the pebbels here. We then headed across to Port Erin to the watersports shop there and got chatting to the guys there. There was a nicely shaped but very small wave at Port Erin, so we all headed to Gansey to go surfing. Unfortunately there wasn't really any surf to speak of here, but we all went in for a paddle anyway.
Friday 5th October 2001
Windier today, so I got to Castletown Bay earlier and again went sailing from Hango Hill area. The tide was lower this time so I could launch from the sand and there was no real shorebreak. The wind was also more southerly so cross-onshore. I was out on my Hifly 265 with my 5.4m sail. There were some nice swells out the back for jumping off and then a few nice little waves to ride back in. A pretty good session..
Thursday 4th October 2001
Anna and I arrived on the Isle of Man at 6am after travelling all night. After some breakfast an a quick sleep we headed off to the beaches. Castletown Bay looked to be the best place so I rigged up by Hango Hill. I went out to start with on my Hifly with my 6.3m sail, but there wasn't quite enough wind so I changed to my Axxis board with a big fin. There was just enough wind to get planing and I had an OK sail, but the tide was high (springs) so the shorebreak was dumping onto the pebbles making launching and landing in the directly onshore winds a little difficult. This wasn't help by the huge quantities of seaweed along the water edge which coated my boom, got tangled around my legs and fin and generally got in the way.
Tuesday 2nd October 2001
A nice windsurf session in the Estuary at Ynyslas. I got there around 4pm, but there wasn't enough water, but just as I was about to give up and go home Ben turned up, so I went for a sail anyway. It was pretty windy so I rigged my 5.1m Arrows Tomahawk sail with my Hifly, while Ben rigged a 5.0m sail too. We were having a good time and flat water blasting was a welcome change to the waves of the sea front. Ben then crashed into a sandbank and bent his boom so packed up and went home. I stayed out a while longer blasting back and forth and practiseing my carve gybes. Probably one of the last evening sessions of the year.
Tsunami Site Design.
justal@forces-of-nature.co.uk
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