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October so far in the Forces-of-Nature Diaries
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Member#: 40
Location: Black Country
Registered: 14-08-2002
Diary Entries: 10

17th April 2004
Windsurfing: Pagham
Wind Direction: SW
Wind Stength: F 5-6
Surf / Sea State: Flat with chop
Air Temperature: ?
Sea Temperature: 9 degrees C
Weather: Sunny
Max Speed:
Distance Covered:

After watching the forecast from about Wednesday and not having got out in jolly old Blighty this year I thought it was time to give it a go and put all my new holiday skillls to good use in the more demanding conditions here. I wasn't sure the wind would arrive in daylight hours and when I woke up it was grey outside. Would the wind arrive with rain?

I thought there was no point in arriving before about one o'clock as there is often a shore dump for an hour or two after high water and the wind wasn't forecast until later in the day. When I arrived I thought I'd have to wait for some wind. There certainly wasn't any sign of wind on the way down. Of course there aren't that many leaves on the trees yet so it's difficult to judge.

Anyway when I got out of the car it was obvious there was wind so I unloaded and got rigged up as it was obvious that it was blowing and the shoredump was non-existent. Most people (the Welsh Harp brigade were down for a session with Simon Bornhoft) were changing down to 5.4s or thereabouts so out with the 5.5 Storm (still looking like new - a testament to too much summer sailing).

The first few runs were a bit wooden but I soon got into the swing of things and despite being pretty overpowered at times I went for plenty of gybes and on one run made an outer gybe followed by an inner. All that foreign practice had paid off. Otherwise it was just a case of handling the chop and the power. Waterstarting was a piece of pee with quite a few Margarita waterstarts (that's where you just put both feet on the board and get yanked onto the plane in one go). Staying upwind was the easy option, too.

As the tide dropped it was getting difficult to stay away from the shallow areas upwind so eventually knocked it on the head after 3 hours or so. There were still people out at six.

The new mark on the Mulberry harbour makes it look like a mini Fastnet at low water. At least we know where it is again.

So, first day out this year and a totally classic day of 20+ knots of wind mixed with sunshine and still light when I got home at 7.30. Worth 5 *s for that alone irrespective of my performance. And it was a weekend! If I get three more like that this year I'll be happy.
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