Carl
Lepe & Calshot on 22/04/12
| Rating: |  |
| Board: | 98 litres |
| Sail: | 5.0 |
Saturday was a bit of a let down after an earlier good forecast, so decided to catch up on chores. Sunday, got a call from Steve to say it was windy at Lepe and he was going out - thanks mate. About an hour later turned up at the beach to find it sunny and solid force 6 with Steve just coming in to change down, can't remember myself rigging up so quickly. We were joined a bit later by John G and also by a few squally storms that blew through every so often. The wind changed direction a bit and picked up to a 7 every so often but it never went offshore so we just continued, only coming in for a rest when the rain got too heavy or the wind was too much. Can't beleive what a great afternoon it turned out to be, thanks for the call Steve, when I got home checked up with the locals and some had been out on 7.0m sails, well worth the trip to get a bit of the Lepe "venturi effect".
Lepe & Calshot on 13/08/11
| Rating: |  |
| Board: | 102 litres |
| Sail: | 5.4 |
Bramblement was showing force 5 gusting 6 when we left. Unfortunately it was a lot less once we got to the beach at Lepe, the only deep depression there was on the faces of the other windsurfers who had been looking at the same web site wind readings. After a lot of eating and sitting about a couple of people had appeared on the water and we realised there was still enough wind for planing on freestyle kit, so three of us went out to practise various stuff and in the end it was a pretty good day.
Lepe & Calshot on 11/07/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 102 litres |
| Sail: | 5.8 |
Last day of the summerbash and I was feeling a bit the worse for wear after the previous night's party / barbecues. We eventually made it over to the sea side of the spit where the wind looked almost enough from the beach. It was a bit marginal on the water and there was some horrendous chop, but it was good fun anyway. The water eventually flattened off, as the tide went out, but it became really busy at that point and for some reason, memories of a previous Calshot "catapult into shingle bank" incident from years gone by started to haunt me so I decided it was a good time to stop. All in all a great weekend, a good party, 3 days sailing out of 3, some of it a bit marginal for me with my freestyle oriented kit but it's July so getting out at all was a real bonus.
Lepe & Calshot on 10/07/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 102 litres |
| Sail: | 5.8 |
After a lot of lazing about in the sun, we finally decided to rig up from the far end of the spit, where we were all camped and sail across the pond to join some of the others on the sea where the wind looked a bit stronger. Unfortunately, by the time we had rigged up, the pond was just a shallow bowl of dark grey mud. We tried sailing the other side instead, up Southampton Water, which seemed a lot deeper, until I crashed into a couple of sandbanks that later appeared once the tide was fully out. The wind was a bit flukey, not helped by the enourmous power station just upwind, but there was enough wind for freestyle kit now and then. I even attempted a couple of vulcans, but didn't really enjoy the taste of the water that got forced up my nose as a result so decided best to forget that. I've heard this venue is good when the wind is Northerly, so may have a look if that happens and I'm in the area.
Lepe & Calshot on 09/07/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 102 litres |
| Sail: | 5.8 |
Went to Lepe for the first day of the summerbash to try and find some slightly stronger wind than Calshot as it seemed to be WSW. Jonathan and Andrew were already out when we arrived. The wind seemed to be coming and going every half hour, switching 90 degrees from cross shore to almost dead onshore and then back again. It was realy good when it blew and there was always light wind freestyle for when it didn't. Eventually came in at 6pm as my car park ticket had run out and decided to decamp to Calshot and fire up the barbie. Unfortunately, that was also when the wind came up another force and stayed that way late into the night.
Lepe & Calshot on 06/06/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 90 litres |
| Sail: | 5.8 |
After a good meal and banter in the Forest Home we headed back to Lepe on Sunday quite late in order to catch the evening high tide. Unfortunately the tide was still running with the wind so despite it being quite windy you needed a 5.8m or so in order to stay upwind. As the tide effect started to slow some of the locals went out on smaller sails and were pulling off some nice vulcans and spocks. Unfortunately, at this point I had to watch this from the beach as my kit had just been picked up by the wind and cartwheeled along the beach putting a hole in my board. A bit of doctor ding and half an hour later I was back falling off with the rest of them. Even managed to get round one vulcan myself, although my body was in completely the wrong position for the landing so I just ended up in the water in a twisted heap. (Uncle) Duncan reckons I'm too old for this malarkey and after that one I was begining to think he might even be right.
P.S. Message to Lawrence, none of the above happened, I think it was a dream I had whilst dozing in the van in the sunshine.
Added by Lawrence on 11/06/10
.......except for the bit about Unkie Dunkie rekoning your too old for the freestyle malarkey 
.......I also enjoyed the continuous 'upwind sailing training' off Lepe on this day......
Lepe & Calshot on 05/07/09
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 102 litres |
| Sail: | 5.8 |
What an excellent weekend. Meeting up with old friends, camping on the beach, a multitude of picnics, a great party and even some windsurfing thrown in too, what more could you want?
Thanks Beth for organising a really great weekend.
Lepe & Calshot on 14/07/07
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 101 litres |
| Sail: | 5.8 |
Decent wind and sunshine for most of the time with wind against tide later in the day. A bit bouncy in the chop at high tide (Marion got seasick) although this flattened out as the tide receded.
The Pimms & Doughnut party was a great idea. Special thanks to Bernie & Helen for finding the perfect way to round off a good days sailing!
Lepe & Calshot on 18/05/07
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 78 litres |
| Sail: | 4.5 |
Nice bit of sunshine and waveboard weather with one or two ripples at Lepe. Just me Andrew and three of the locals, looks like it should be good for the forthcoming weekend at Camber.
Lepe & Calshot on 01/04/07
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 78 litres |
| Sail: | 5.0 |
A moderate Northeasterly forecast is not what you want to hear down on the South Coast, but having not sailed Calshot in years we were pleasantly surprised. Cross shore, constant winds, warm sunshine and on top of all this, it was waveboard weather - quality!
