Saturday 28th September– Windsurf **** - Point Clear – sunny periods.

F2 282 Ride with Tushingham X-15 7m and 30 fin.

Fanatic Falcon 80 with Tushingham X-15 6.4m and 28 fin.

Fin – 30.65 knot max., 29.53 knot ave., 13.57 knot hour, 19.78 knot mile, 64.09 km., 18.27 knot alpha.

My second day here at Point Clear and my third day in a row so getting a bit tired! Arrived probably earlier than yesterday and if anything, it was a fraction windier. With the tide still fairly low it gave me time to rig two set-ups, the 7m for the 115 and the 6.4 for the 80 but by the time I had my suit on it had dropped a fraction so took the bigger kit out and headed straight into the lagoon although it was a little short of water. I had a pleasant hour with Andy Mexome nothing fast but the water was fairly flat if a little shallow in places, the smaller fin I was using today helped but you had to be careful not to spin out! With the wind increasing I headed back to the now very full car park to change to the smaller kit and although I managed several runs over 30 knots the wind was a bit patchy and it was a struggle to get going at times.  With the tide now high and the water lumpy I headed back for lunch with Mag and a nice chat with Andy. We were tempted by a trip up the Colne but it was perhaps a little risky with the wind gusting over 25 knots. With slalom sailors still out with their 7m I decided to take my bigger kit out again. I continued to get the odd 30 knot peak, in fact I broke it on 7 runs but just could not hold on for a ten second run:( This is a tough venue to get 30 knots as it is never fast in the flat water and you have to bear off into some pretty bad chop. I am coming to the conclusion that I can’t get near modern wide slalom boards, the 115 ones are 71 cm wide, look huge but certainly put a few knots on my old kit but I can’t complain for an old guy! There were several runs now when I wished I was on my smaller kit but not at the end when the wind dropped and Andy and I were lucky to get back! Saturday is not a great day to sail in the small lagoon as there were 15 kiters out hell bent on doing someone a serios injury and its only a matter of time before there is a bad collision and there were several near misses today. I was taken out by kite lines today; I was lucky it caught the top of my mast and not my ear. Sadly, the kiters don’t seem to have any water awareness and rarely look before jumping or turning and you had to shoot at them on several runs as did several other windsurfers! So, I think everyone has to be more aware of other water users as the last thing we want is a bad crash especially when it is windy like today when sailors are flying along at 30 knots! Rant over, please take care and have fun. The highlight of the day was a close encounter with a seal, some kiters actually saw it eating a large fish! Tomorrow is looking windy again but with heavy rain I might have a day off!

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 http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms/