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Basher Member Member#: 165 Location: Registered: 09-03-2003 Diary Entries: 18 |
10th September 2003 Windsurfing: Brighton Wind Direction: WSW (mostly) Wind Stength: all bl**dy over the place Surf / Sea State: rough to frothy/lumpy Air Temperature: 20C Sea Temperature: 18C Weather: Mostly cloudy but some sun Max Speed: Distance Covered: Well, at the risk of pi**ing off you 9 - 5ers, it was windy again in Brighton today – although no autumn gale just yet. I didn't hit the beach until 9am and by then the 30mph we'd registered at Basher Towers an hour earlier was waning. I still got half an hour on a 5m – as did my mate Simon who did an involuntary nose job on his new wave board when a gust hit him unexpectedly on the second run out, and he catapulted over the front. It was that kind of day. The sea was rough from early wind and rain but the remaining wind was in decline as the massive lump of cloud we could see on the horizon, heading up the Channel, then disappeared towards Dover. By 10am it was down to 6m weather and I changed to a floatier board as it was side shore which is a very gusty direction here in Brighton. In spring or early summer any sun would have got to work and set up a force 6 SW sea breeze, but today it was just one set of clouds after another, each cloud throwing down vertical gusts and setting up prick-tease white horses, rather than the real thing. In fact the wind was so patchy you'd be planing flat out one minute and stuck in a flat calm the next. I packed up as the high tide started flattening the steep shingle beach like there was a test match booked, and it actually took 3 gos to get ashore to avoid being trashed by the left-over swell. I then did some work, but kept an eye on the conditions. The wind stayed cross-shore but light as the sun came out at high tide itself, and I assumed it was all over. But this was in fact just the vacuum you get after a big lump of rain has cleared. Soon it started to build again, despite the new incoming cloud cover. By 3pm it was windy again, although still swinging wildly and mostly wsw in direction. I rigged a 6m and took out the JP 103 with a swept back skeg, on the basis that I didn't want to get stuck out the back on a tiny wave board when it dropped again or went offshore, as forecast. I like that JP Fresstyle board a lot more since I've been experimenting with the fins. It's got precious little rocker in it's mid section and the tail is wide for a lightweight like me, but you can actually waveride with it if you really commit your weight with a hand-down-the-boom jobby in the gybes, and by running up and down the deck like it's a skate board as the need arises. This second session was the best part of the day really. From 3pm until 4.30pm. Maxed at first but then had to surf home in time for tea – as the wind finally faded and switched side/offshore. Brighton is a difficult place to sail but rewarding when you get it right. And I'll bet the plebs beach at Shoreham went offshore sooner. But Witterings was probably good, albeit with the falling tide. Anybody sail there? 15mph forecast for us south coasters tomorrow, which should be enough for bigger sails. And 4 days out of the last 5 for me ain't bad... Basher |
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