Site Designed, Produced and Maintained by
Pixelwave Design.
|
|
| ||||||
| Member Details | Session Description |
Toys Used |
| Owner:
mas Member Member#: 7693 Location: Registered: 29-06-2008 Diary Entries: 399 |
12th September 2026 Windsurfing: Bradfield Wind Direction: S/SW Wind Stength: 10/25kts Surf / Sea State: Mid Swell / Flat Air Temperature: warm Sea Temperature: warm Weather: Cloudy / sunny Max Speed: 18.1 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 14 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Bradfield - Saturday 12/09/26, Forecast: 10-20kts S/SW, gusty, sunny. High Tide 13:30. Reality gusting 25kts. Another good, although not quite great, day at Bradfield today. Only eight sailors turned up, with others seemingly taking advantage of the variety of venues available across Suffolk and Essex. Interestingly, there was just one winger and seven windfoilers, which is unusual these days. With a southerly wind being offshore at Bradfield, conditions were deceptive on arrival. At around 10:30 the breeze felt quite light on the beach, but the racing dinghies out on the river were already well heeled over, showing that the wind was sitting further offshore. After the usual discussions and head-scratching, the Formula foilers rigged 8m+, while the rest opted for sails from 7m downwards. I even consulted the AI reference chart before rigging. Its advice was quite clear: If the gusts only briefly reached 20kts: 7.3m E-Pace, 1300/330, 105 fuse, shim at -1. If it looked obviously windy before launch: swap the 1300 front wing for the 1100. Mast track in the middle. Unfortunately, Bradfield managed to deceive me yet again. I rigged the 7.8m sail with the 1300/500 setup on a 105 fuse and, to make matters worse, forgot to change the shim from +0.5. Ignoring AI proved to be a tactical disaster. Just before launch the breeze noticeably increased and whitecaps were clearly visible towards Mistley. Keith, who weighs very similar to me, correctly chose a 7.0m with a 900/295 setup on a 95 fuse and proceeded to have a great session. Watching him happily blasting around while I wrestled with my poor life choices was a bummer. Once on the water the gusts were simply too much. Any attempt to sheet in properly resulted in over-foiling, so much of my first session was spent not applying any power to the sail. It worked for a while, but progress was hardly rapid. Meanwhile, everyone else seemed to be having a much easier time. Mike, on a 5.8m, had what can only be described as a five-star session. Graham and DC were still flying around on their big 8m rigs, while James, on his 6m wing, sensibly came ashore and changed to a smaller wing. In hindsight, that was probably exactly what I should have done. Despite the challenging conditions, the gusty nature of the wind also produced some enjoyable lulls. I decided to stay out and make the best of them, enjoying long runs all the way up towards Mistley, only turning occasionally to avoid the racing yachts and dinghies. The equipment wasn't entirely cooperative either. My Duotone ratchet unexpectedly released about an inch, destroying the sail shape, and I couldn't persuade it to downhaul any further. To add to the entertainment, the mast foot jammed fully forward. Fortunately, in the 20-25kt gusts that actually helped keep the nose down, so I left it where it was. It was definitely a physically demanding session. My Garmin watch confirmed that around 50% of the time was spent in the moderate-to-vigorous heart rate zones, with about 5% straying into the red zone. My arms are now completely shot, but will sort that out with a good steam sesh. Oddly enough, I'm still giving the day 5 stars. The conditions were better than my sailing might suggest and, ultimately, the biggest problem was not rigging the right kit on the beach before launch. The science and Keith were correct, I, however, was not. I also tried my waist harness again today, which was probably not the best day to revisit the experiment. It confirmed what I've thought for a while: I much prefer the seat harness. Being able to sit into the harness unloads a huge amount of pressure from the arms, making long sessions considerably less tiring. |
Toys Used:
Statsbar:
| |||||||
  |
|
|
|||||||
|
Web Design in Wales, UK by 
Pixelwave Design.
© Alan R Cole 2000...