Friday 28th July – windsurf ***** Point Clear – sunny start but soon clouded over.
28.94 kt. max., 28.07 kt. ave., 14.37 kt. hour, 25,43 kt mile, 68 km., 15.78 kt. alpha.
With a good SW wind forecast I went to across the border into Essex at Point Clear, Mag came and we arrived at midday the only one there which is not surprising as the sea was still very low. I parked in the carpark away from the green and it is difficult to get an accurate reading on the gauge but it was averaging 20 mph so after a sandwich I still had time to rig my 5.8 with the 80 lt. and my 7m with the 282. The tide was in enough to set off and I headed across the shallow bay at 12.20, with the lagoon still too shallow I beat down the coast to the open sea towards Jaywick. It got windy and rough out to sea so I headed back and got a nice 25 kt mile as the water smoothed off towards Point Clear. With the tide, up enough now I sailed into the lagoon, I still had to take it easy as it was shallow in places and I got covered a few times! It was not windy enough here to go fast so I headed up the River Colne towards Wivenhoe. The wind got a little patchy as I passed East Mersea but it filled in nicely as I passed the Fingringhoe ranges and my speed increased peaking at 28 kts and had the most fun of the whole session here. It is a long stretch of water and is fairly flat near the bank. I had several runs in the river seeing old barges and yachts heading inland, it is the smallest kit I have used in the river and was great fun:)
I then planned most of the way back to the lagoon being particularly windy across Point Clear bay! I had been out on the water for two hours all by myself but a few more sailors were out including Simon Chippington and Shaun Cook :) I find it very difficult to go fast in the lagoon :( as soon as the tide is high enough it breaches over the sand bank and roughs it up and could only get 28 kts at both ends of the lagoon! Sadly no 30 kts today but it wasn’t for the lack of trying!
With the water bumpy in the lagoon I headed back up the Colne but the wind seemed to have turned a little and it went light down by the ranges so I headed back, having one last blast in the lagoon before returning to the van with the wind increasing! I had been away for over three hours but Mag had been dozing and doing her new rug:)
After after a cuppa and chocolate bar I packed up and headed home. We were listening to Radio 2 and the holiday traffic was very heavy causing long delays nationwide! With the Tops R Us roundabout where the A12 meets the A14 always has a long tailback so we took the back roads to Mistley and were not held up! So a top day, shame the lovely sunshine didn’t last long, soon clouding over but at least it didn’t rain for long! More wind for the weekend too :)
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