With a early morning start required for Southend :( the British Saga Speed Team ( me van Peter Cutts :) ) we decided to give Point Clear a try even though the ssw was not ideal :( We arrived at ten with the tide still really low and the wind didn't seem as strong as the forecast so we rigged 6.4 and 6.3 and took our falcon 80's out. Getting to the top of the lagoon wasn't easy as the wind was a bit up and down and there was not much water but plenty of mud !!! The best runs were starting by the river mouth at the far end and heading back toward the shingle bar over the chop and you found a short length of flatish water !!! I thought I had made a 30 kt. ave but as the tide came in the chop increased and we slowed down :( I then returned to the van and rigged 7.5 and took the zantos out, it was a nightmare getting back to the lagoon because of the strong wind, swell and weed !!! but once in had fun getting some much needed gybing practice !!! The last run back was good sailing over to Mersea Island - as a speed venue it's not ideal but great for freeride blasting in the open sea :)
So 2012 comes to an end and despite of all my grumpy old moaning it's been a good year with 64 sessions :) improving all my PB's except the mile !!! The highlight of the year was sailing my Fanatic Cat Raceboard at La Franqui with Jacques van der Hout and recording 32.73 kt max with a 31 ave :) the other highlight was getting 37.08 on my 133lt 1997 Zantos 133 at La Franqui - I know should have been on my speedboard - thats another gust I missed !!! :) and to finish things off got 40.48 on my Falcon 80 and 38.97 on the speedboard - am living in hope of getting a 40 kt ave before my 60th birthday !!!!
Happy New Year with many PB's to everybody :)
|