Great day, well worth the trip over on the ferry from Dublin (despite not much sleep).  Arrived at 7am, and hid car behind supermarket trolley shelter, while sorting out gear and getting things organised.

The course was really good at first in the morning, then turned 'just' a bit too broad - not for wind, that was fine, but to start a small chop, which just got bigger as you went down, leaving nowhere to slowdown safely.

This shortened the runs, so couldnt get 500.  At times couldnt get 10secs!

It flicked back and forth from great to almost great, but we all persisted and everyone had a blast. Arms are certainly longer tonight :)

Get well soon Will Trossell, who had a nasty crash which required medical check out at hospital, from suspected whiplash and concussion.  Everyone was on the case to get him in safely, and he got the all clear.

Great to sail with a good bunch of fast guys, though there was a lot of hiding in wamr vans to recharge the mojo between runs.  Don't think Ian turned his van off all day?

Beat my 10sec PB and 5x10, so very happy with that!

Top day.

Yet another hard day at west kirby, the conditions was tricky being quite broad at times and choppy, very cold.. was finding it hard to keep focused after seeing Will's crash.. get well soon man!

Would have liked to have done better today but happy with my speeds.  

WOW what a day,  it never fails to amaze me how much fun this crazy sport is, as long as you are not stacking it big style like Will and Mike in recent sessions, no more please!!!!!

   I was on a mission today after recent frustrating sessions and so pleased to have broken that tricky old 45average barrier, especially in these conditions. It could of been a 46av with just one more good run and we all kept trying but it only got slower. 

Nice to meet and sail with Oisin, congrats with the Irish 10sec record and your PBs.

Will I'm glad you made a full recovery and hope your wife lets you out to play on the next one lol.

Tris going well on his new Evos

Till next time

It looked a very promising day but cold. The wind was unusually gusty and the angle changing frequently meaning you wouldnt quite know what water state to expect at the start of each run. For some reason I just didnt feel comfy on my set up - not enough downhaul?too much?outhaul?fin? board? or just me? who knows. After a few runs I hooked a big gust and it felt like I was having to force it to go fast. Just as I unhooked I think my board caught some chop and i stopped dead in the water, no bouncing - lucky to be unhooked but the force of stopping dead at 45-46kts felt massive. More than anything its probably a lesson of how fast things can go wrong when its cold. I quickly had hypothermia on top of concussion and bruising to arm/shoulder etc Luckily help was on hand - thanks to everybody who helped with the recuse especially Jim and Ant who collected me and my kit back to the car park, very much appreciated. The ambulance ride and the trauma unit at hospital were a first for me :-)

Good to finally meet Oisin - congrats on your PB and of course congrats to Ian as well who smashed it in very tricky conditions. 

Another .... "nearly perfect" day. Close to a PB, but not quite...

Too broad again for me. Some brilliant BROAD sailing from Oisin, Ian, Jim and Ant. How Ian pulled a 5 x 10s avgs PB out of the bag I don't know. I expect ALL the West Kirby records to be broken this year - from 2 secs max to 500m.... but today wasn't the day for anothing much more than 8 seconds.

Great first session on the Pryde Evo 5 5.0m.... took me some time to regain focus after Will's big crash - GET WELL SOON Will.  Post 3pm session was in control and comfortable. Looking forward to next session at 270 degrees please

Cheers guys, until next time...

T

Good wild conditions but packed up mid morning after Will ended up in an ambulance.