Thursday, December 04, 2008

Thursday 4th December

Fairly meaty wind-driven swell up to half-mast + on the sets and a cold gusty but reasonable F5 WSW at Bracklesham. Swell was from a more Sly direction than usual which meant the riding was a bit less onshore. Some cross-chop but if you picked the right wave in the set the previous wave would clear everything up for you. Good fun with some dark pits and solid looking lips - for the S Coast ;-)

Monday, December 01, 2008

Recent Sessions

Now I am self-employed I no longer have to give a shit about bosses snooping round my blog to see if I have been working rather than sailing...

And with Winter coming up, I am looking forward to some waves on the S Coast.

Here are my recent sessions:

Aug-19 Niton 5
Not as good as the previous week but not bad - don’t go at high tide on a big spring…
01-Sep Shoreham 5
chop, few loops
04-Sep Lancing 5.4
Very gusty, small wave, 2 loops when it got up to F7 but too powered, did get some rotation on one go
05-Sep Pagham 4.2
Very onshore, nice waist-boom waves - great for backside aeriels
01-Oct Bracks 5
Strong Sideshore wind, but waves a bit disappointing for a WNW
05-Oct Pagham 5.4
Wind dropped as I got there, but some Ok float and ride in small clean waves
08-Oct Pagham 4.7
Wind dropped again! Only had 4.7 and the 71 and floated out, then sank. No wind at all...
20-Oct Pagham 4.7
Small waves
08-Nov Pagham 4.7
Chop in front of the bungalow
09-Nov Pagham 4.2
Small waves in mental wind at the spit, excellent fun
11-Nov LA 5
First decent winter wave session - head-high WSW, some really long rides
23-Nov Bracks 5.4
Great fun cross-off waveriding session, waist-boom, lots of mini-aeriels

There has been a new addition to the family - I now have a Guerrila 71 to got with the 78, £325 in perfect nick, only to have someone ride straight into me first decent session on it. Nice long dent, but hopefully it is just cosmetic. Had one really heavy duty F8/9 sail on it since and everything seems OK. A fantastic board - perfect combination of old and new waveboard design and much more get up and go than I thought something that small and heavily rockered would have.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

August 12th

Oh dear been completely slack on the blogging front. It's all been a bit too much like work. However this year has seen a fair bit of sailing and I owe 25 or so session reports. Anyway, couldn't let this one go - fantastic session at Niton on IOW. Easier to post a few pix than describe it, but it was heavy with lots of swimming.






















































£25 for a half day return on Wightlink if you get the boat after 11:25 (ie first boat you can catch is 1130) and return on the 1830 or later. That isnt much more than a foot ticket plus parking on the hover, and you can take all your kit with much less aggravation. Best £25 of the year!!

EDIT: And here's some video

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Saturday 29th December


Great fun sunny session at Littlehampton with sideshore wind and some decent overhead waves on the Guerrilla and 5.4. Managed to pick a few out the back with J and Rich and bottom turn around each other in true festive spirit. A great way to end the year.

27 sessions all but one on the waveboard, and all on 5.4 or smaller - not bad :)






Friday 28th December

Arrived at Pagham at high tide to find everyone packing up. The wind wasn't forecast to drop so figured it was just a high tide lull and rigged my 5.0 anyway (as that was the biggest sail I had taken).

Once I worked out the wind was a bit more onshore than I thought planed away quite happily and then had a really good hour on my own in shoulder to head-high waves, mostly backside riding, but with the occasional trip down the line if a wave cleaned up or there was a more sideshore gust. Great fun.