Friday 21st - Windsurf **** - The Ray at Southend – mainly cloudy and very windy.

Fin – 38.82 knot max, 36.41 knot ave., 7.64 knot hour, 18.03 knot mile, 32.26 km.,0.00 knot alpha.

Fanatic Falcon Speed with 20 fin and Tushingham X-15 5.2m.

Gave windsurfing a miss yesterday as hoped to make the most of the big winds today with a trip to The Ray at Southend even though Mag is not keen on me driving all that way! Had a good day yesterday despite another day of poor weather, fingers crossed the summer will arrive one day! My son and his partner Jay who runs the well-known local animal/bird rescue sanctuary, Paws and Claws being round some youngsters they are currently looking after including a tiny Blue Tit, a Magpie and half a dozen baby pheasants all of which were thoroughly entertaining:) Mag and I managed a breezy walk along the prom before binge watching four episodes of ‘Innocent’ which was very good:)

After a good night’s sleep woke to a breezy day and luckily no rain yet, with a few speedsailers meeting at Chalkwell at 10.30 I left Felixstowe having loaded the van yesterday at 8.30 and as usual arrived way too early and yes it was pretty windy! Checked the pay meter and prices have gone up with the minimum payment £8.50 :( and you cold pay much more for a full day! First time Ray sailor Ross, Danny Johnston and me were not so keen to rig as it was very windy but when superfast sailers Ian Richards, Will Trossel and Jim Crossby arrived things started to move and we all rigged speedboards with sails ranging from 4.6 to 5.5 with me going for my smallest sail the old Tushinham X-15 5.2. The walk out was OK despite the strong headwind and the fact that the wooden bridge is disappearing! I sailed along the creek to the Ray and stood on the corner watching the good sailors head across a very rough channel! I thought about it long and hard as I have not done much fin sailing recently and am feeling a little rusty as have been on the foil. I could not delay any longer so braved a water start, the idea is to sail across the very lumpy channel slowly, try and get both feet into the straps and bear off before you hit the far bank! That’s easier said than done sometimes as if you are too heavy footed when bearing off you spin out and the run is over before it starts! I managed the first run OK and got 36 knots, the first time I have been over 30 knots this year! The water conditions didn’t help you at this stage of the tide as there was a bit of a rolling swell which made it interesting until you got it under control! It is knackering sailing here for an old pensioner and getting back upwind is always a challenge, so soon as you leave the flat water you hit big chop in the middle of the channel which keeps you on your toes but I manage to return after every run with going in even though I quickly get out of the straps in the rough stuff with winds gusting to perhaps 45+ knots at times, the most wind I have ever sailed in the UK! As usual I am miles off the pace of the top speedsailers but in the end went over 38 knots three times and got my 6th fastest average and I am used to disappointment when it come to speedsailing! We mainly all sailed on the corner and as the tide dropped the conditions improved and I had some nice long runs down towards the pier going for a mile, sadly I did not sail far enough to get a good one not helped by not knowing how deep the water was down there plus there were a few kiters and freeriders out now and I did get close to them a few times! Local Maciez had arrived now and I had some fun chasing him about, it is nice to have someone else on the water with speeds very similar to me! Now absolutely knackered it was time to call it a day even though the course down to the pier was super flat and windy and you could sail upwind easily too but I ached too much to carry on so headed back! Packing up and then headed for home leaving at 4.30 and not arriving home until nearly 7 as the roads were very busy and it was slow going:(

That’s another day of speedsailing over with disappointing times but well down to Will, Jim and Ian for some amazing times, just don’t know how they do it, perhaps its time to retire from speedsailing and concentrate on the foiling?????

PS – I later learned that the two sailors Will and Jim who got some mega fast times did so late in the afternoon when I had actually packed up so I don’t feel so disappointed and I still would not have done 48 knots! The sad new is, Wills GW-60 gps seemed to have failed to record the session, a speedsailers worst nightmare:( I have had three of those watches, none of which worked properly and have long since gone back to my much loved GT-31, such a shame they don’t make them any more!

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