Things have been a bit quiet here lately so, to get the ball rolling again...

What is your best EVER windsurfing session? Where, When and Why??

Mine probably has to be a relatively recent one from Sept 7th 2002.

Some of you will remember the day (and may even think it was your best ever session too). We sailed from the Estuary at Ynyslas, West Wales and out through the channel to the Dovey Bar and the waves at Graveyards.

There was about 10 people out at one point and everyone seemed to be having fun in the sunshine and good, constant winds. This coupled with the wide range of water conditions from dead flat water, through small chop to rolling swell and breaking waves made sure that most levels of short-board sailor were catered for.

Everyone stayed out for ages (8 hours in some cases) and everyone was exhausted by the end of the session. Perfect.

So, what was your best ever windsurf session??

Al.

That's have to be that evening session last May/June with you and Derek. Warm SW wind, 4.7, wave board, and frequent rampage. I think I logged more air time in those two hours than I did for the whole of the rest of the summer! Seem to remember having a near miss with you as well...one of us was coming off the lip (I forget who) as the other was jumping out...a matter of inches if memory serves me correctly. Maybe see you on the water this weekend.

Yeah Ben that one was pretty cool... I'd launch from the middle of the beach by the toilet block, then sailed all the way upwind to the lifeboat station in a few tacks.

The near miss was with you coming in and off the Lip and me jumping on the way out I seem to remember. It wasn't really a near miss as we both seemed to be (unusually) in complete control, so I'd like to think of it as sailing in 'friendly proximity'!!

I then had to sail al the way back downwind through the increasing swell to my van.

I've just lloked up the session in my diary and this was how the entry went:

quote:

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Thursday 30th May 2002
Probably, according to Ben and myself, the BEST EVER windsurf session. Well, hopefully the best so far at least. After driving up and down the length of the beach at Borth, I decided to launch from Mid Beach near the toilet block as the wind seemed fairly constant there and the waves not too blown out and messy. Unfortunately my wave board was still out of action, drying out after having too much of a good thing last weekend. I therefore rigged my 5.4m sail and my Hifly 265 board. I tried to persuade Andy to come out, but with only a 5.0m sail he said he didn't have anything big enough so went home for a cup of tea. Just as I launched, Ben did too from about 300 yards upwind in front of his house. I decided to sail up to where he was, and at the same time he decided to sail upwind to the Lifeboat Station. I caught up with him and we ended up sailing from in front of the lifeboat station where there was still plenty of wind and the waves were much cleaner. Ben was out on his wave board with a 4.7m sail, and seems to have improved considerably over the last few weeks. In his own words "I don't know what happened, but about 3 days ago I suddenly knew how to jump properly, and now I can't get enough of it". He wasn't joking as he seemed to spend more time in the air than on the water. I was having a good sail too, with some big jumps and nice wave-rides, although the sharp rails and lack of nose rocker on my board did make it pretty unforgiving on the wave and landing from jumps, I was also a little overpowered at times. There was a couple of surfers out even though the waves weren't perfect for it, and it felt good to be riding the waves around them, making the most of the conditions.
Derek then joined us on his wave board and a 5.0m sail, but seemed to struggle to start with, probably a result of having to readjust after all the kite-surfing he has been doing, although, Ben said it was just because he's too fat! He did get it sorted after a while and was soon charging around in his usual 'go for it' style. All in all, and excellent session with nice 20 knot SW winds and decent waves. One highlight was Ben doing a big Off The Lip carve on a wave just as I launched into a big jump off the same wave right next to him. Its unsual to be out sailing with other people at Borth, let alone being on the same wave.
I then sailed back downwind to Mid Beach and my van, while Derek and Ben stayed out sailing.

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I've just had a new BEST EVER session, so thought I'd better post it here.

Full details in the [url=http://www.forces-of-nature.co.uk/dbdriven/diary/diary.php?action=viewentrydetails&diaryid=446&diaryuser=justal]diary[/url ] as usual

Basically, perfectly powered up in the most consistent wind ever, with the sun shining and lumpy water. Back and forth from Graveyards to Borth several times and I reckon I covered 70 miles in total...flat out the whole time.

STOKED!!!

Al.

The follow session is one that springs to mind im still waiting for my best session ever when I plane out of a gybe


3rd May 2003
Windsurfing: poole
Wind Direction: sw
Wind Stength: 10-22 ish
Surf / Sea State: Flat / chop / swell
Air Temperature: 16
Sea Temperature: warm
Weather: sunny / cloud

Had a brilliant day on big kit 150lt techno 7.0 sail .Blasts across harbour nearing 2 miles! flat at either end with overpowerd and swelly bit in the middle. I got the hang of unhooking while staying on the plane and hitting the ramps full speed and getting "almost" controled air not very high but have to start somewhere. Managed loads of dry gybes in both directions. Was one of them days where everything really clicked into place, Ive even managed to start really shortening my harness lines down to 24 in lines now and still got boom at above shoulder height. Even got the hang of pumping the board while still in the straps and harness. Would of liked to be on smaller board but there was few lulls and my technque on smaller board is still "bad"

4 Stars cos I still can't plane out of gybes was great get even a little air and be sort of controled