great moment when the first gusts arrived,

after 1 hour,rolling chop appeared,and it was to be fast!

but happy to do my first run above 43 kt!! 

When Robert and I arrived at the spot this morning wind was so broad, almost side shore. Wind wasn't very hard, no swell, no waves, but a big rolling chop. We were about to leave, when Stephen and Maggie showed up, so we had a long chat. By then conditions seemed better and I rigged. First runs were ok, wind has turned bit more West, so I was able to go upwind.

Did 3 runs in a comfy way, before the wind shifted to the next gear. I was able to do a 4th run which gave me a 75km/h on the screen. Still waited for an hour and conditions got worse, I had to call it a day without the 5th run. 

Hope it will better during the day for Paul and Kurt, but on the other hand, they will get their luck later on this week.

Was good to see my English friends back today.

Pr's for

2s

10s run

500m

While driving back home in France I  try to folow the soccer match AA-Gent-Standaard, via the smartphone in the car. I am not a great soccer fan, but now my city is able to become Champion in the Belgian championship it's fantastic. 

Guess what? at the same day I did my first 40kt, AA Gent becomes champion!

What a day!

Really hard conditions. Very square, but very happy with my speed!

When I arrived Jean-Marc had already great speeds on his GPS. However, the wind had turned North so it became a good rolling chop training. Still happy with the speeds that I got in these conditions. 

Thursday 21st May – windsurf * La Franqui – sunny – nw- 40/50 mph :( 
Fanatic speed – 5.2 – 20 cm fin – 34.90kts :(

This is the first French trip we have ever driven straight down to La Franqui because the forecast looked good. We made in two days having a lovely overnight on the Loire near Bonny sur Loire :) and made it to our nice spot on the Etang near Bages and it was blowing a gale !!!! After a windy night the wind seemed to have dropped a little so we headed for the wooden pier at La Franqui and I was pleased to see a few cars already on the beach including some from France, Italy and Belgium and were very pleased to see Patrick Deporter who we had met on a previous trip to la Franqui and are now really good friends on Facebook – a top bloke :) There was much reading of wind gauges with nobody keen to be the guinea pig and be first on the water but then Patrick’s Italtian friend rigged 5.6 and took to the water as the wind seemed to pick up to 30 mph+. I decided that as I haven’t been on the speed board for 19 months!!!! to err on the side of caution and go with 5.2 which is a nightmare to get the mast in as a bit of material near the head of the sail stops you sleeving the mast !!! :( After a bit of swearing, poking about with a battern and Patrick’s help I did it. I then had to tape a hole in the top panel before setting off to the water. The wind was building all the time and it showed I hadn’t been speedsailing for ages as I really struggled. I had a job to get going, found getting back upwind difficult as, with wind now reaching 50 mph+, I didn’t want to sail out of my depth. The first run was only 33kts followed by a 34kt run and then I found the conditions all but unsailable - way too rough for me to be in any sort of control :( and spinning out too – I need a lighter wind day to find my feet. Patrick was going well before he had to head for home – a 12 hour trip. I gave up and even had trouble de-rigging in the gale!!! Mag was quite happy having a look for shells while being sand blasted and then staying in the van (rocking violently!) on the computer with the doors firmly shut because the sand was filling every nook and cranny!! It was then a case of chucking everything in the back of the van and getting to the peace and quiet of our lovely spot at Port Mahon near Sigean where we could de-sand the van and relax for a couple of hours reading and forgetting about poxy speedsailing before going on a great 5mile walk around the lovely Etang. I do think I am coming to the end of speedsailing – difficult to see what the point is???? We have been to La Franqui far too many times and been battered by 50 mph+ winds!!!! Whatever happened to 30 mph wind days where you could have some fun?

PS - lucky for me it was a crap session as the lock switch on the sd card had again been pushed to lock and I lost the crap session !!!