Thursday 6th December

Wicked down the line session at Pagham, got there a little too late after high tide for the biggest waves but head wave after wave after wave of shoulder to head-high clean long lines. The wind was very WSW so side-off and this meant the bigger waves could be ridden from the spit to the third big rock groyne. A real bottom turn bullshit bonanza with more than a few 10+ turn waves. Fan-bloody-tastic!!

Used the 4.7 on the Gheyrilla 78, the waves were holding up really nicely and well powered with a cross-off wind was able to get a few aeriels but was unable to land any back on the face. Will have to get the hang of that in 2008!

Later in the week the boys all went over to the Isle of Wight for a party at J's house and got a big, meaty session in at Chilten.:

You can just about make Rich out on the far left heading towards a big set...

December 3rd 2007

Took a half day and went to Bracklesham Bay with Pete. 5.4 on the Guerrilla 78. Some Ok waves about and Weathercam (creator of the beach guides I link to) even got a bit of video of us attempting to ride the onshore waves. I am not sure of his taste in music, but he is a top bloke and his online weather station is a useful resource

Of course after he had gone, the wind went from WSW to W (more cross-shore) and we started to pull together a few decent rides ;-)

First outing for the new wetsuit a Gul Delta - brilliant - warmest I've been winter sailing for years. Got it for bargain £124 from jwvwatersports.

Friday 30th November

Took the afternoon off on a good forecast, which never really came off. Went out from Rich's house, and sailed up to the spit where the wind was gusty and eventually died off, there was a hint of some waves, but nothing like I thought there might be.

Ended up missing Saturday and Sunday as a result. Pics below :(

(Sunday was actually too windy most of the day, but it seems there was a sailable hour when it was only F7 mid-afternoon).

Saturday...

Sunday - Pagham at its best

Wednesday 28th Nov

Sneaky lunchtime session with 5.0 and 95 FSW at Pagham, OK at best, but just good to be out on the water.

Thursday 8th November

Windy but flat (hence the moody gv pic rather than an action shot) session at Littlehampton on the 4.7 Session and Guerrilla 78. Getting cold now and came in for booties after 15 minutes. That' s it for bare feet til Easter! Will have to get a new winter suit soon, some seams came apart the legs of my summer suit and it was letting water in.

Persuaded my brother to come along and had a go on his Delta Euphoria, unconventional and fun, and stonks upwind on the thrusters - will be great to try it when (if ever) the winter swells start showing up.

Had a coffee in the East Beach Cafe afterwards, very chichi, far more Brighton than LA :)

Sunday 28th October

Fun 5.0 session at Pagham. Lots of people there as SSW wind forecast but it was more sideshore than that. Some waves to bash but small and not in nice lines. Please forgive the video experiment, next time it will be better :) The waves, er, chop, got a bit better as the tide came in, honest!

Tuesday 16th October

Quick lunchtime trip to Goring. In a word 'rubbish'. Planed for about 3 seconds, came in, went home - at least that doesn't take long these days. Roll on Autumn...

Monday 24th September

Littlehampton on the Guerrilla with 4.7. Much better session than Thursday. Wind was Wly which is the perfect direction at LA, once the tide dropped a bit there were lots of small waves and plenty of riding and jumping fun, with only 3 of us out. The wave holds up well in the slightly offshore wind and has a good shape for smacking. Only takes 35 minutes to get there too. More please...

Thursday 20th September

First time on the water since moving - and it took a month (although nowhere near as long as it took to get broadband). Takes about 35 minutes to get to Shoreham, where I sailed with 5.4 on the Guerrilla 78. It was OK, cross-on small waves, couple of decent jumps and turns, just good to go for a sail and spend more time sailing than driving :)

Thursday 26th July

Lame pre-work session at Pagham, pretty windy, well powered 4.7, but flat to boring. Quite desperate for a decent wave session now.

Tuesday 17th July

A few work things went in my favour and ended up sneaking a lunchtime sail at Pagham in 25ish knots with conference calls in the car either side. 21st century technology is great...

Surprisingly windy, rigged the new old 4.7 Session courtesy of the infamous Graeme Fuller of SurfSales. Very nice as you'd expect. Nothing much in the way of waves though and in one embarassing instance got caught in the river that now flows into the harbour mouth and had to clamber over the great pile of shingle sitting just off the beach. The shame of it :)

Some idiot coming a cropper gybing flat out for the camera:

Friday 6th July

Maxed out on 5.0 and Guerrilla 78 at Littlehampton. It was probably 4.2 weather and there were plenty of bigger guys on smaller sails. Some lumpy waves to bash and there was a good half hour when the wind went cross-off and the riding was a lot more fun.

Finally met Weathercam (real name Gavin) who does the location reports I link to on this site and has a useful streaming cam set up looking out of his front window in Worthing.

The guy in the picture is Cliff, a graphic designer from Chichester.

Monday 2nd July

Another fun-sized wave session. This time with rod at Avon Beach. 5.4 on the Guerrilla 78. There was a good halfhour when there was plenty of wind in just the right direction for some fun down the line rides in the small waves.

Great for July.



I then locked the camera in the car before anyone got any pics of me chop-bothering :)

Sunday 1st July

Surprisingly windy and wavey (for July) day at Pagham. 4.2 wasnt quite enough and I could have held the 5.0 down but I was planing most of the time. Got a few OK waves but the tide was on the way out, and the current was messing things up. Still, as we were at a kid's party and it was a sneaky session, nothing to complain about.

EDIT: meanwhile, on the Isle of Wight at Niton:

Wednesday 27th June

Fun 4.2 session on the Guerrilla Wave at Shoreham. Decided to take a half day, finished at work at 12.45, got home 1.09 and was on the water at 2.45 so although it doesn't look it on the map it would seem it's the quickest beach to get to from TW7.

Also had some small waves at low tide when everywhere else would have been flat or too onshore to be fun. Although the wind looks reasonably sideshore on the beach, and is a great angle for jumping, the way the waves come in means it is quite onshore when you are trying to ride them and it is easy to get backwinded - it requires the full onshore technique. Still got a couple of smacks I was reasonably happy with.

Monday 18th June

Had my afternoon meetings cancelled so took the afternoon off and drove down hoping to catch some wind that was blowing through but forecast to drop off. I was hoping for a bit of a thermal to keep things interesting after the front had gone past. Sure enough, after driving down in rain got to Pagham to find clear skies and 25 knots + . So had a sunny fun chop bothering session with the Guerilla 78 and 4.2.

Saturday 16th June

Sailed at Pagham with a 5.0 on the Guerilla 78. Decently windy but no waves. The spit continues to grow and on the ebb tide this means the water coming out of the harbour really rips out parallel to the beach and creates a lot of chop and a standing wave.

It has really changed the shape of the beach, and on the outgoing tide makes sailing a fair bit more technical, and if you are not careful you will end up a fair way downwind.

Saturday 19th May

Niton again. This time with 5.0 on the Guerilla. We sailed in the morning for 2 and a half hours leading up to high tide. The decent swell that had been forecast never really showed up, but the waves were still good fun, even though it was just windswell. I would love to sail this place in a proper groundswell.

The pic shows that the launch is a touch trickier on high tide, especially if a set comes in and there is a surge. Basically you walk your kit down the slipway in the pic, swim it round the corner and towards the post mid-right pic. That is when you find out if you have the right sail up. It's not that kit-threatening in the waves we were in - bit bigger today, some overhead, maybe even a few half-mast lumps out the back. Good for a few big backside hits on the way in, then a quite fast bottom turn on the inside hoping to find a peak to hit.

There were some surfers out where the wave was smaller, but a little cleaner, but it was difficult to get onto the point to drop-in without taking out the line out and the wave was not so peaky once you had done your bottom turn which meant a fairly lame top turn. It was actually more fun to leave that section to the surfers and ride in front of the channel where there was a little sandbar which meant the waves were breaking and you could get a couple of nice smacks in.



Strange local in the car park.



Heading back up the track, looking West to the lighthouse on St. Catherine's Point.



It is a very scenic place to sail, when you are heading in the lighthouse and cliffs make a wonderful vista. You are also quite aware that there is a lot of water moving around and you are that much further out in the channel. The rolling swell out the back gets big quite quickly. Coming back if you miss the channel, then you have another chance about 100 yds downwind, then there is a point, then who knows where you would end up - almost certainly with a hike of shame as the next road access is quite a way away.

Two good sessions in two days and with plenty to time to do family stuff on Saturday. The Isle of Wight is a great pace to take kids, there is an absolute stack of things to do.

Friday 18th May

From Boardhedz

Niton near St.Catherine's point on the Isle of Wight. Sailed with 5.4 on the Guerilla, well powered (although it didn't look it) and with some small waves around, although it actually looks quite good in the picture above.

Here is a view from the car park down towards the sailing area. You walk your kit (unrigged) down the path to where there is a small grass area where you can rig next to the harbour. There is no beach as such you have to swim your kit round a breakwater in no wind. Interesting, but then all the best spots are a pain in the arse to launch from.



J launching out through the channel - heading towards low tide - easy.



J on fun sized wave.



The view from Castlehaven caravan site looking towards the sailing area - you can just make out J and Clive in the background. This is an excellently located site, it is beautiful, and there is nice little cafe there. But - on a pretty good forecast there was noone staying there. The guy needs to work out a late deal offer including ferry then advertise it on the windsurfing forums.



A good day, but better was to come...

Tuesday 8th May

Took the afternoon off and sailed at Littlehampton on the Guerrilla 78 and 4.2 Session. Having persuaded Bill and rod to come over, of course there wasn't much swell around. As the tide came in there were some decent sized lumps to do some onshore frontside 'riding' but it was all a bit short period and undynamic. Nice bit of wind though which meant you could go a long way downwind in search of a peak.

The picture above is of East Beach Cafe designed by Thomas Heatherwick, which is currently taking shape, it makes a great landmark when you are sailing against the backdrop of white Regency townhouses (when you are out at sea you can't see how rundown they are).

Monday 7th May

Surprisingly good session at Pagham on the Session 4.2 and Guerrilla wave. Waves were coming in in waist-high sets with the occasional bigger shoulder-head high ones. They weren't in long lines but you could bash out a good top turn, as the shingle bar has moved around a fair bit and the waves seem a bit more 'hollow' and punchier - relatively speaking of course :). Sometimes you got lucky and could connect a couple of sections for a 4/5 bottom turn ride.

Wind was a touch offshore and a bit gusty, like F5-F7, but never too manic.

Monday 5th March

DSCF1538
Originally uploaded by andytedd.

Avon Beach. Started off on 95l FSW and 5.8, then changed down to 78l ORB and 5.0. 5.4 and 78l probably would have been alright the whole time! Wind was more onshore than previous times I have sailed there, verging on Sly I would have thought.

Got there after the second high tide and the waves quickly dropped to waist-high at best, although I got the impression they had been bigger earlier, and this was backed up by the guy in the nearby shop Spot on Water who gave it the typical 'should have been here earlier'. However, it did sound like it had been very good...

Must pay more attention to the tides here in future, obviously needs to be on the push to be best, and certainly not after the second high tide.

Sunday 11th February

LA
Originally uploaded by andytedd.

Quality down the line session at Littlehampton on Guerrilla 78 and 5.0. A proper long period groundswell (15s headhigh to overhead) hit the South Coast with a F5 Wly wind.

This meant long fast bottom turns where you could spot a peak 10-15m down the line and go for it knowing you were going to hit at speed. Sessions like this are so rare on the South Coast.

Earlier Pagham was firing with a cleaner wave (see pic below), but the wind switched from SW to W as I arrived there, so I headed to LA.

Still surprisingly warm, no ice-cream headaches or hot hand :)

Saturday 13th January

13012007111 (2)
Originally uploaded by andytedd.

Kicked off 2007 with a decent Pagham session with 5.4 on the Guerrila Wave. Small rideable waves, but must admit I was a bit disappointed after all the wicked down the line sessions people had been having midweek...

Still, decent wind and very warm, compared to what January is usually like.

New sail looks nice --

Sunday 31st December

DSCF1488
Originally uploaded by andytedd.

Rounded off the year with a great sail with more of the crowd sailing together than has been seen for a decade. Chris, Rich, J, Pete were all out. Decent bit of wind, 5.0 on the Guerilla Wave, and some clean but small waves, getting the hang of the new board, and even did a small aeriel on one waveride.

Then fell off badly going off the back of a wave with one foot out of the straps and doing the splits when I hit the water. Very painful and had to pack up and limp home...