Wednesday 11th September– Windsurf **** - Portland Harbour – mainly cloudy.
Fin – 29.48 knot max., 27.89 knot ave., 17.84 knot hour, 24.92 knot mile, 100.60 km., 19.22 knot alpha.
F2 282 Ride with Tushingham X-15 7m and 6.4m with 32 F-hot fin.
Our second night at the National Trust car park at Stonebarrow but the lovely weather from yesterday had disappeared being replaced by cloud low over the hills too:( but at least the forecast wind had arrived as we could see white caps on the sea far below! Up early and after breakfast we drove the 26 miles to Portland along the lovely coastal road, a but slow going as we were stuck behind a double decker! Arrived ay Ferry Bridge at 9.30 and the car park was already pretty full! Mag tried to get a ticket for the day but the machine was playing up so that saved us £5/6 while I tried to work out what sail to rig? Several sailors were coming back to change down from 6.5 to 5 and 5.7’s so I went for my little used Tushingham 6.4 with a smaller fin to see if I could break the magic 30 knot barrier! Heading out I was full of optimism to improve on last Fridays speeds but sadly I was once again disappointed, although I got my best hour and top speed on smaller kit I was woefully underpowered most of the time especially with the wind being very gusty, no fun at all:( I went ashore had a word with the lovely Norman Petty who had brought us two nice apples from his orchard who was also out with the same size sail as me, time to rig the 7m! I decided to keep the smaller fin in all session which was OK but I think the 36 would have been better for keeping upwind! Although with the wind increasing, I had no problems. I tried to watch what the local fast sailors were doing but it just doesn’t work for me here, you just have to sail loads of runs and hope you get a big gust with nobody in the way, a little difficult at times with loads out with lots of learners by the OTC centre, then when you got a gust you had to bear off into horrendous chop, again not much fun and my old board/sail is definitely slower than the modern kit sailed by the top sailors, so I have to invest in a few modern race sails and a fast 115 lt board or forget about going fast which goes against every bone in my body! I asked Norman about getting a fast mile as it is a bit tight, if you start by the OTC and sail broad across the harbour you can just get a mile in but the wind in inconsistent. So, Norman suggested I start at the Ferry Bridge end and sail across to the Mulberry harbour here to where the cruise liner was moored and I had two fun runs over there as I have never sailed that part of the harbour before! The fastest mile was still from the OTC, a fraction faster than last Friday, in fact it is more fun to forget about the speedsailing and have fun in the windier, rougher water further out! In the end I had three sessions of well over an hour each but as hard as I tried the magical 30 knot barrier eluded me and getting tired and to be honest a little bored decided to call it a day. Meet up with several facebook friends here today but as for the sailing it is not one of my favourite venues being very gusty but we have had the most wonderful few days down here enjoying the walking/biking in stunning surroundings, as for the windsurfing I am afraid I can take it or leave it! Still I have sailed 293 km in two sessions so it couldn’t have been all bad! Then had to pack away two sails and had an interesting time strapping the boards the boards to the van roof in the wind before moving away from the coast now. The traffic was so busy as we headed for our overnight spot, Maiden Castle car park as the rain started to full. Parked up in a quiet corner with views of the hill fort as at least three white elephants (big campervans) arrived for the night, this site must be on an App!
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