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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2877 |
11th February 2020 Windsurfing: Point Clear Wind Direction: W Wind Stength: 25/50 Surf / Sea State: lumpy Air Temperature: 6 Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: 32.13 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 1.30 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Tuesday 11th February – Windsurf * - Point Clear – sunny. Fanatic Falcon 80 with 28 fin and Tushingham X-15 5.8m. Fin – 32.13 knot max (year PB)., 15.29 knot ave., 0.00 knot hour, 0.00 knot mile, 2.40 km., 0.00 knot Alpha. Having missed out on the main passing of Storm Ciara with a combination of too strong a wind and the Orwell Bridge closed I was stupidly keen to get out and chase 30 knots again! I did think long and hard about today with a west wind forecast gusting to 45 mph and only 6 degrees but with wall to wall sunshine and a favourable tide I made the effort to drive the 40 miles to Point Clear across the border in Essex. As usual I got there way too early and the tide was very low so I grabbed my camera and did a circular walk around Point Clear. With yesterdays very high tide and another coming today it had made a lovely job of creating a big sandy beach but the strong westerly wind was doing its best to blow it away! I walked along the beach towards Brightlingsea where several of the seaside homes had been damaged in the strong winds, I was measuring 40 mph + on the gauge here. I walked out onto a sand sip getting fairly close to Brightlingsea where several beach huts were washed away yesterday! Getting onto the sea wall footpath I was now fairly sheltered from the wind. Then it was through the caravan site and back to the beach and the van. Another van had parked next to mine so it looked like I would have some company. The tide was now well in so it was time to decide what to rig, the kitesurfer inflated his 7m and I made my biggest mistake of the day!!! I wrongly thought the wind had eased so rigged my 5.8 for my 80 lt. It made a change to have someone close at hand to zip me into my wetsuit and I headed to the water in the lovely bright sunshine. I set off gingerly across the rough bit and entered the lagoon but soon realised I had made a big mistake as I hit the wind way over 40 knots, I only had one run hitting 32 knots but the water was very choppy making it next to impossible to sail. I returned slowly to the end of the beach and had one more try but it was impossible with this sail and I soon lost my grip, not helped by the cold so I decided to head back. Safely back on the beach but along way from my van I derigged my sail and walked back leaving on board there! Two kiters were now there but had moved back from the seawall sitting in the van watching with wind now gusting to 50 knots it was time to call it a day, shame really:( if only I had been sensible enough to rig my 5.2 I would have got enough runs for a 30 knot average, that’s another lesion learned but I couldn’t face rigging another sail and struggling it back to my board so I backed up, picked up my board on the way out and headed for home! I am getting fed up of these super strong winds and cold temperatures with Storm Denis coming at the weekend:( Luckily our Grandson Arlo is coming for the weekend and then we are off to the mountains for a few weeks – cant wait to see the snowy mountains, fingers crossed we can leave the strong winds behind us! PS – I am looking for a reasonably priced second-hand GT-31, can anyone help? Photo Gallery Here MK booms Here |
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