Hi,

Does anyone know of any decent in land water in the Taunton area ?

After an enforced lay off i'm trying to get my wind surf fitness back before venturing back in to the sea.

A problem with my left hand led to my grip failing without warning hence the lay off. Prob is now cured with luck but i need to build up fitness etc and see if the problem recours.

Axbridge Reservoir isn't too far up the M5 from you... I'm not sure what the regulations are there these days and how you get to go sailing on it, but I'm sure a phonecall will answer your questions.

Wimbleball lake on Exmoor isn't too far away either and they used to allow windsurfing there... again, its been a long time since I've been down that way... It has to be said that Wimbleball always looked a little too sheltered to get any decent wind though.

Other than that (and probably your best bet) is a trip to Portland Harbour... The ideal place to get back into it for you and not too far away in the grand scheme of things either.

Hope that helps.

Al.

I've sailed Wimbleball before and it does very odd things with the wind funelling arround the hills.

Been to portland a few times in the past so as you say a good bet. Am i right there used to be a shop there that gave daily wind reports ? Its just far enough from me to be very anoying to get there and have no wind.

I learnt to sail in Tiree when i had time to spend months there at a time. Local lakes never seem the same.

There is a shop called Windtek in Wuke Regis, just before you get to the causeway at Portland, there is now also a big sailing academy where the RAF base was... I've just checked their website and they don't seem to have any weather info there though which is a shame.

Al.

Try Weymouth Weather for info. The camera overlooks Weymouth Bay but it's got a pretty comprehensive set of data.

[Edited on 14-7-2005 by IainO]