Lawrence
| Venues | Board / sail size | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95 4.25 | 95 5.0 | 95 5.75 | 95 6.5 | 100 7.8 | 109 7.8 | 120 7.8 | 120 8.5 | 120 10.3 | ||
| Weymouth | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||||||
| Southend on Sea | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Lepe & Calshot | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
| Lee on Solent, Hillhead & Stokes Bay | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| Hayling Island | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 15 | |
| Total | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 29 |
Each cell shows number of sessions, click on a cell for more details.
Hayling Island on 15/09/10
| Rating: |  |
| Board: | 95 litres |
| Sail: | 6.5 |
......went after work, dropped by behind the Esso garage as it was high tide, but there was no parking room (think I saw Mike T's van there, & a red one which may have been Andrew). Anyway, as there was no space, & the tide had turned anyway, I decided to go down the front.
......Luckily I was not alone, there were 3 others out, or in the throws of rigging.
There was a gentle swell, but no breaking waves - much different to day before. Wind was side shore, maybe fractionally offshore at times, very on-off still, but mosly planing - 6.5m was spot on for me.
'tweaked' the down haul more times than I care to remember in reaction to the wind being so on-off - I started off rigging it close to the indicators on the sail (which for me is minimal downhaul) the sail felt very 'pully' but did not feel like it was 'breathing' very well - not a desirable feature in the gusty conditions. I added more downhaul, 3/4 inch or so - better, but still did not feel like it was responding to gusts very well. Added another 3/4 inch or so - very flat now with floppy leach, closer to how I usually rig it......first run out & the wind was 'off' so I came it & took off just a little downhaul maybe half inch. This now seemed to be the best compromise setting for the conditions......Ironically it was close to what I'd 'normall' set this sail to, but sometimes it's good to 'play' with the settings on equipment rather than do it how you always do it. The T'Bird is such a lovely sail to tune, it has such a wide range of settings.
Had a good sail once I'd finished playing tunes on the sail - fast blasting over gentle rollers, with a few nice gybes too
It was getting dark about 7pm (it was cloudy with only a few patches where we could see the brightness of the low sun).......the after work opportunities will be coming to an end soon - make the most of them while you can!
Hayling Island on 14/09/10
| Rating: |  |
| Board: | 95 litres |
| Sail: | 5.0 |
Another sneaky half day off work to catch the wind, but had to get back home for 5pm to look after kids.
Met up with Beth, who had posted previous day that she would be out.
As it turned out, the conditions had me heading back to shore in plenty of time as it was.
Very confused sea state, wind very up & down - non planing in gusts, but a bit wild at times in the gusts.
We made it out to the sand bar, but the tidal race was causing standing waves - one second it was flat in front, the next a wave seemed to appear from nowhere. Other times, the water just seemed to disappear from under the board & you'd drop down. Weird. Maybe it was just me, but speaking to others they all commented on how confused the sea was.
Did one big jump, which I promptly failed to land, but it was quite a nice big floaty one while it lasted.
I was probably a tad over powered for the conditions & the board a bit floatier than ideal - had a 25cm fin in which is my smallest for this board, to try & claw back some control.
Not my greatest ever sail, I was decidedly 'average', the conditions were probably 'good' on the rating system - there was plenty of wind around, if a little holey.....but as the old adage goes, a bad day on the water is still better than a good day in the office.
Hayling Island on 05/09/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 95 litres |
| Sail: | 6.5 |
.....another year passes & another year that I have not entered the racing at the big event of the year at Hayling, sigh......(Note to self - do it next year!).
I 'woke up' the the national windsurf festival at hayling (formally FatFace event) being on the weekend of the 4th & 5th on the Tuesday when Nuala made a comment to me. I checked the forecast for the weekend on the Wednesday & it looked poor & with my big boom broken & no replacement sort out yet, I thought that there would be no point entering this year.
Sure enough, Saturday was light winds, & as I had my father visiting we stayed at home chatted & played with the kids......I don't think I played Top Trumps so much even when I was a kid myself! So Saturday passed with no sailing.
Sunday looked surprisingly good, so we headed off with kids & grandpa down to Hayling. Hayling was packed both in the car park & on the water. A quick bite to eat for lunch on the beach then a quick walk round the tents to see the latest kit/deals, then the debate on sail size - it did not look so windy but it was lowest point of tide - my initial thoughts were 8.5m, & this quickly dropped to 7.8m.....then I talked to a few sailors & decided 6.5m would be best as my father could then try my board out more comfortably. As it turned out, the beach was a little protected due to the unusual Easterly winds, & 6.5m was spot on.
I had a few short runs while Nuala was also out while my father (Richard) looked after the kids & got into his wetsuit. It felt very odd sailing off the beach on the opposite tack to normal, & the waves were coming in at a shallow angle to the length of the board which made jumping slightly harder too, I have not been aware until today how used to starboard tack jumping I had become. As it was low tide & due to the wind direction runs were straight out to the sandbar, where even if you fluffed a gybe you could you were only in knee deep water, & if you suffered equipment failure, the wind & waves woudl push you into the safe arms of the sandbar & beach. I came in & handed the reins over to him & took over child minding duties.
Richard had a couple of runs & handed reins back saying he could not see Nu - i went out looking for her - she was not out on the sandbar & not sailing. I ditched board back on beach & walked downwind towards the kitesurfers. Eventually I spotted Nu in the shallows with her board - boom clamp failure, but another friendly helpful sailor had lashed her boom up to the mast, so I sailed it upwind back to base while Nu walked back.
I had a few more runs on my kit with the tide & waves coming up, it was getting good, but I knew I had to pack up, Richard need to get back to our house inorder to pick his car up for the drive home & Xavier was back to school the next morning & Fini back to child minders, & Nu back to school too, so early starts alround.
Well done to those OM'ers who made the effort & raced!
Weymouth on 29/08/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 95 litres |
| Sail: | 6.5 |
PM - returned to the beach at 5pm with Nuala, I was cold & was not planning to go back out, but Nuala suddenly said she was going back out & Duncan had finished with my sail........so, I dug out the 95L - as it looked like it had filled in.
Initial few runs were great - very flat water & the wind had swung round slightly & it seemed slightly less holey.......but then after 45mins or so the wind had veered maybe 60 degrees compared to the morning & then it started dropping.....& getting more holey again. As I crossed Nuala's path she called out she was heading in - it was now easy to get to shore as you could practically point high & go perdendicular to the shore.
Had a few very nice planing gybes all the way round in the flat water before it started to drop.......& it was a lovely evening with the sun coming out & blue skies......
Weymouth on 29/08/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 95 litres |
| Sail: | 6.5 |
AM - first session of the day.
.......many boards blatting back & forth across the bay a max speed......it looked great.
Initially I went out with the 6.5m & 95L - getting off the shore was a challenge as the off-shore winds where very gusty close to the shore, but got slightly cleaner the further out you went.
Where most sailors where, it was still quite holey - & on a sinker its was not always fun. I the gusts it was great - spot on, in the holes I was struggling & up to my knees.
After a few frustrating runs, I headed back to the shore (still a challenge due to the wind direction).
I then took out the x-fire 120L so I could better float through the holes. I had half a dozen or so great runs across the bay, pretty maxed on the x-fire (used smaller 34cm fin). It felt like the holes were filling in, so I headed back in & swopped back to the 95L. Had a few runs with that before heading in for lunch.
Put boards away, gave Duncan my 6.5m, got out of wetsuit & went back to Nu's folkes for lunch.
Weymouth on 28/08/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 120 litres |
| Sail: | 8.5 |
.....having spotted a crack on the head of my largest boom, I am now limited to the 8.5m being my biggest rig.
I'm writing this entry on the Sunday......I recall planing, but it can't have been exactly mind blowing as I am struggling to remember anything about yesterday's sail!
I recall having to walk out a long way due to low tide, & being nervous at having a sudden stop with a relatively large fin (44cm).......so I must have gone out midday-mid afternoon as that was low tide.
Gusty conditions, sometimes going very well, sometimes not planing. Due to slightly unusual wind direction, & teh on-off wind & the risk of grounding, it was quite hard sailing back upwind to the launch beach (the old boat yard) as it was off shore wind.
Hayling Island on 24/08/10
| Rating: |  |
| Board: | 95 litres |
| Sail: | 5.0 |
Where were you Andrew & Clare?????
I Left work an hour early (I have very understanding bosses - what can I say?!), met Nu & the kids at my work & headed off to Hayling for a mid week 2nd day running session, having gone out yesterday too.
I let Nu go out first & rigger her 4.5m for her, she launched at about 4.30pm & returned at 6pm, & she got even more wind than me chimet avg 27-28 knts gusting 35.
I got out from 6pm till about 7.30pm & Wow - it was even windier than yesterday & still sunny! Chimet reading avg just above 25 knts with gusts hitting 30knots while I was out......I'd rigged my 5m & had to come on & tug on the extra inch of downhaul I had allowed myself - this was about the end of my comfort zone with this sail in the gusts, but was fine in the lulls......if I had rigged my 4.25m it would have been too small, as I suspect Nu's 4.5m would have been too......4.75/4.8m would probably have been optimal today
Mike made it too the beach today, but no sign of Clare or Andrew......too bad, you missed out on another Hayling epic!.......actually, if I am being honest, I'd only give this 3 stars today, but as Andrew & clare missed out, I felt I had to give it the full monty 
.......& another notch on the windsurfers bedpost whcih is the OM diary count
Added by Andrew on 24/08/10
Finally decided it was about time I went home, been regretting it ever since. Oh well there's always tomorrow....
Hayling Island on 23/08/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 95 litres |
| Sail: | 5.75 |
.....another good after work session.....
Past few days have been very gray, very wet & very miserable. Indeed, it was raining at about 3pm when I decided that I was still going to head down to the beach.
Arriving at Hayling just before 5pm & spotted Andrews Van.....then Mike's......both bathed in sunshine I am happy to report.
Andrew had just launched & Mike advised Andrew was on a 4.7m & his Carve 99......he was planing, but did not look maxed out. I decided to go for the 5.75m, but heavily downhaul it.
Bit of faffing about later, as I swopped harness lines over from my broken big boom to my small boom, & levered the roller down a bit on my old spreader bar (the solid hook being responsible for going through harness lines in no time at all), had me on the water by about 5.45pm.
It was low tide, so small amount of chop that we were punching straight out into, I was very nicely powered up, but still comfy. The wind did not feel that constant - large holes that I could just plane through, but then long gusts would come through too where I was very well powered up, but not to the point of getting backhanded or struggling too much for board control.
Got a few nice small-medium jumps in as the tide & waves started to pick up - nothing mega though.
It was a glorious evening of sun, sea & wind!
Taking a page out of John G's book, have I said how much I love windsurfing?????? This evening was lovely!!!!
Hayling Island on 10/08/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 95 litres |
| Sail: | 5.75 |
ANOTHER after work session......& another unofficial OMWC 'chase the wind' event.......what's the world coming too?
.......the wind was light-ish during the main part of the day, but with a forecast of enough wind around 4-7pm for some slalom racing in the UKWA Hayling regional on big slalom kit. As it got closer to leaving work time (4pm) the low cloud got lower & thicker blanketing us & then it started drizzling so it was almost misty & miserable. Not exactly inspiring to drive down to the beach let alone go out.
When I got to the beach the wind was stronger than forecast, the tide was a low neap so it was not that rough. Bill, Heather, Andrew & Mike were already there & rigging in the 4.5-5m range. I decided that I'd probably be better off doing the slalom on my FSW 95L ltd as I have always thought that it is pretty quick anyway & the control, comfort & confidence that this board gives in these conditions would be of greater benefit to me vs the last bit of straight line speed from my slalom boards - I had the 120L x-fire or 'old school' AHD 280 pro slalom from the mid 90's vintage that I last sailed about 10+ years ago! I went for my 5m but 1 run on it, I concluded that I was not powered up sufficiently for a slalom race, so came in & rigged up the 5.75m too - leaving the 5m on the beach attached to the land anchor, AKA AHD 280.
I was now very well powered up (I had been planing with the 5m) & chased after groups of sailors trying to locate the slalom group amoungst the freeriders. It then became apparent that the slalom racing had not got underway (I had been rushing my rigging to get out as the racing was due to start at 5pm & I only started rigging at 5pm!). I then had a series of kit tuning runs & lots of tweaking to get as comfy with the kit as possible ahead of any racing starting. As it turned out, the slalom event never happened - the conditions were just too good for freeriding for anyone to be thinking about slalom, although there were a few slalom-ists out on race kit going very well on 'silly' kit for such conditions......I recall those days from my past, being out on 7.5m race sails & big course racing boards with big fins while the free-riders were out on wave boards & sub 5m sails ......I did not miss the full on race kit today.
Spent the rest of the time on the water chasing around on the FSW 95L as fast as I could get it to go. The waves were not big enough to ride or jump most of the time, just enough to give you a bumpy ride at high speed which made things slightly exciting at times, I do recall hitting one of the larger waves when i was pretty much flat out, I did not go high, but it felt like a surprisingly long flight in distance which was a new experience with little loss of speed on landing.....yes, I landed it, just for a change.
Eventually I went through a harness line (I've been expecting this since my roller harness failed a few weeks back & I've gone back to solid hook), but it was getting dark so I was ready to pack up.......but I came in & decided to swop the booms over from teh 5m to the 5.75m & take out the old AHD 280 for a run - boy did it feel odd sailing such a long narrow board, but I was so much quicker, more comfortable & confident on the FSW. I quickly returned to the beach to pack up.
During the session more OMers had joined the party, inaddition to myself, Andrew, Mike, Bill & Heather, we now had Nick & Sarah, Claire & Helen (sorry if I missed anyone).
........Maybe OM events based upon a 'chase the wind' principle could work........I feel another heated debate at the next AGM coming on........
EDIT:-
Personal note added for future reference-
CHIMET archive for 10/08/2010 for the period sailed which stores readings every 5mins:-
Max avg: 26knts
Max gust: 30.7knts
Min avg: 21knts
Min gust: 24.8knts
Total session avg: 23.5knts
Total session gust avg: 27.8knts
NB 5.75m was okay, but probably would not want to handle much more.
Hayling Island on 09/08/10
| Rating: | |
| Board: | 120 litres |
| Sail: | 7.8 |
.....down to Hayling afterwork, got to beach at 5.30pm (stopped off at Port Solent on way).
It was like a formal 'hosted' OMWC event! There was Andrew, Bill, Heather, Helen, Juan & Gen (sorry if I missed anyone!).
Initially I tried out Duncan's AND MaxxRide DT70 - I wanted to try it in planing conditions after recently trying it in non-planing & actually quite liked it. Sadly the honeymoon is now over & the offending lump of plastic has been removed from the van (it's ok Duncan, it is safely in the garage). Admittably it might not have been that fair a test as it is not the sort of board that you would normally want to stick a twin-cammed 7.8m on (but it was heavily downhauled!). I had trouble keeping it upwind - the sail was not well balanced for the small fin, so felt prone to spin out......which was aided all evening by long stringy bits of seaweed that have surfaced at Hayling recently. It also felt a little heavy, 'dead' & slow compared to both my RRD's.
So after a few runs I swopped to the x-fire & spent most of the session on this which was spot on.
The wind was up & down a little, so at times I was very well powered up - not overpowered, but not far from it either in the strongest of the gusts, but equally there were periods where you were struggling to keep it planing. The relativley flat sea state (very small chop - no more than 2ft peak to trough) helped things stay controllable, had several enjoyable fast-ish blasts. Got talking to a fellow sailor (Dan) who was out on an Exocet black slalom board SL76 - which I was looking at vs the x-fire - I ended up with the x-fire just because a deal came up on the x-fire at the right time. We could not conclude much between the boards on the water as I was carrying half a square meter more sail - the x-fire being a bit quicker.
We compared the boards on the beach - the x-fire 'appears' to have more nose rocker than the Exocet SL76 (one of the criticisms I had on my iSonic 111, which is so flat it feels like it may dig into the chop at any moment), but when you put them side by side the amount of nose lift is about the same - the x-fire is 18cm shorter & with the scolloped out deck in the nose area makes it seem that the nose rocker is greater. The x-fire looks the more extreme design, purely due to it's length difference, it's only 230cm long x 75cm wide. The SL76 being 76cm wide surprisingly enough (& 248cm long for those too lazy to do the maths). The bottom & tail shapes were very similar.....but I think the x-fire may have more rocker throughout its length, as it did not sit as flat on the board bag as the SL76 - I had to hold the tail down on the x-fire to better compare the nose lift betwene the too - but it could have just been the pebbles under the board bag!
Overall, it was a good sail.
EDIT:-
Personal note added for future reference-
CHIMET archive for 09/08/2010 for the period sailed which stores readings every 5mins:-
Max avg: 18.6knts
Max gust: 20.4knts
Min avg: 15.1knts
Min gust: 18knts
Total session avg: 16.8knts
Total session gust avg: 19.2knts
NB 7.8m was very well powered up in the strongest gusts, but not overpowered, but can't handle much more.
