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| Member Details | Session Description |
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| Owner:
mas Member Member#: 7693 Location: Registered: 29-06-2008 Diary Entries: 400 |
19th September 2026 Windsurfing: Bradfield Wind Direction: S/SW Wind Stength: 10/23kts Surf / Sea State: Mid Swell / Flat Air Temperature: warm Sea Temperature: warm Weather: Cloudy / sunny Max Speed: 15.8 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 12nm (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Bradfield - Saturday 19th September HT 18:00, Wind S / SW, gusty offshore, 10-23 knots forecast Weather: Sunny intervals, cloud at times, rain at the end 23°C. I arrived early at the Bradfield launch to sort out the chaos in my trailer, which had become rather disorderly after the last few sessions. The wind was offshore and the forecast suggested 10-25 knots. My own readings showed 15 knots average with gusts to 19 knots, so it looked very much game on. AI recommended the high-wind setup: 5.8m, 900 front wing, 330 tail, 95 fuse, -1.5 shim and mast foot 5mm aft, so I went with that. Six sailors turned up, split evenly between wingers and windfoilers. Unfortunately, I became the guinea pig. As I headed across towards the far bank to find the better wind, it quickly became obvious that conditions were much lighter than both my readings and the forecast had suggested. In hindsight, I should have rigged the 7.8m. There were some decent gusts, and I managed a few good blasts around Mistley Bay where the wind was cleanest, but they were few and far between. The others took note of my struggle and sensibly rigged larger kit. The windfoilers went for 8-9 metre sails, while the wingers were on 6-6.5m wings. They enjoyed a very good two-hour session because the wind settled at a fairly steady 15 knots. After a long slog back, I switched to my light-wind foil setup, changing to the 105 fuse with the 1300/500 foil combination that was already assembled. That improved things slightly and I managed several runs between Wrabness and Mistley, albeit at a fairly leisurely pace. Meanwhile, everyone else seemed to be having a five-star day, blasting around fully powered on their bigger equipment. The session reinforced a few lessons. Firstly, at my weight, a 5.8m sail simply isn't enough in 15 knots. It demands constant pumping to exploit every gust. With my larger sails I rarely pump at all and can simply sail the wind that's available. I've also decided to stick with the seat harness and retire the waist harness. The difference in available power is significant. Sitting into the harness during gusts gives noticeably more drive and control. One positive was how well the AI-recommended high-wind tuning worked. When the stronger 20+ knot gusts did arrive, the setup felt spot on. I've never really paid much attention to shims or mast foot adjustments in the past, but the -1.5 shim did an excellent job of keeping the nose down when fully powered on the 900 setup. Equally, moving the mast foot aft was something I would never normally have considered, as I expected it to induce tail walking. Instead, the board felt remarkably balanced and I could step into the rear straps comfortably whenever the stronger gusts arrived. Sadly, I finished the day as the last sailor on the water, hanging on in hope of the stronger breeze that often accompanies high tide. It never materialised. The wind sat stubbornly at around 15 knots all evening, leaving me frustrated at having missed what could have been an excellent session through another incorrect wind assessment. We eventually packed up in the dark, with G still having two sails left to rig down. To add insult to injury, the day ended badly at the spa. I arrived too late, couldn't find a parking space, and when I finally did get parked, the place was closing. One of those days where everyone else seemed to make exactly the right choices, while I spent most of the session learning lessons the hard way. |
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