Awesome Southend session, big smiles all round (well, just Ian and I)

Having not been on the water for over 6 months but desperate to get out I packed for southend assuming slalom kit but as tides looks good it seemed worth the effort. Packed the speed kit on the off chance! We were walking out with 6.4s when gusts came through that fortunately made us turn back and rerig. The wind was surprisingly solid but lacking some punch for the first hour and then slowly built to 30-35kts with the corner the fastest point on the course. Unfortunately my fitness level was inverse to the wind increasing so feels like a wasted chance but still a great day. Ian was smoking - watched him holding 45kts on a couple of runs around the corner onto the east course to get some impressive 500s - big congrats.