Tuesday 24th November

'Disappointing' waves after the last few sessions, but in comparison to usual, still not bad. Well-powered 4.2, with a decent angle on it, meant that you could sail much less conservatively than eg Monday. Even got a few aerials. However one attempt coincided with a gust and the subsequent crash meant a dead arm, gratitude to Gath, and the end of the session.

Plenty more wind and waves on the way though.

Monday 23rd November

Bonkers windy session at Pagham. Decent waves in the head to half-mast region but ridiculously windy, gusting F9. With 4.2 as a smallest sail was well overpowered, but still managed to get some decent long rides in. Up the near spit there were some nice clean, almost bowly (for the S Coast) sections, if you got a lull when one of these came through pure joy to smack it into the middle of next week. If it coincided with a gust it smacked you, or you got blown out the back. Really good fun, perhaps a bit surprisingly, as I thought I had grown out of silly conditions :)

Friday 20th November

Some decent headhigh+ waves at Pagham in a flukey cross-off wind that faded away as we sailed. Scored some sweet clean waves, even if at the end I was having to take off really late and so not really in a position to do much with it. Only took the small board when clearly a bit more float was needed...

Thursday 19th November

A bit onshore but great fun at Pagham with some reasonable mid-sized waves to bash. Sailed on the push with 4.2 and was stacked at first, but underpowered by lunchtime. Really sunny, mild, nice people about - excellent session.

Lee from LAR was ripping on his new Quatro Tempo - I want one.

Same again tomorrow please!

Saturday 24th October

What a rubbish Autumn it's been - six weeks without a sail. It has been possible to sail on a few days which have coincided with me doing other things, and if you were prepared to drive 3 hours to Kent to sail in a NEly. But those days are long behind me.

Hit the water feeling very rusty, but was reasonably powered on 5.0 and 78 and was psyched enough to go for a forward first ramp I hit. It was probably the worst attempt I have done :) I was really scratching around for ramps and gusts to coincide but managed another 4 attempts. The first three were equally as bad as the first, but for the final one I scissored the board quite well and then just failed to sheet, or sheeter so feebly it didnt add anything to the rotation.

I really have to work out a way of sailing where I can hit a ramp with my hand far enough back down the boom that I can sheet hard enough to get some rotation.

The next time I go sailing, whenever that is :( high pressure now back in charge.

Weds 26th August

Bit of mid-tide chop bothering at Pagham. Broke my mast in innocuous circumstances. After doing not much noticed it had just cracked. Replaced it with an Amex Taper from LAR (leeboy went back to shop to get it for me, top man).

Sails set nice on it, and sail perfectly well. Looks like it is a bit better made, more heavy duth than the Naish.

Saturday 25th April

Turned up at Pagham to find nice 5.4 weather, rigged up, wind dropped. GRRRRRR. Really bad current coming out the harbour mouth in the hour or two immediately following high tide now. Needs the tide to drop sufficiently for the bar to be exposed for the waves to be any good on the drop. Fine on the push.

19th January 2009

Pagham this time, same story as the 18th. I got there in time for one decent wave in a dying Wly which is too offshore to be sailing on your tod in this cold. They guys there had a really good hour in a F5-6 SWly with boom-high waves. Curses!!

January 12th 2009

First sail of the year after a terrible December and it was a really cold one at Pagham. Sea at 3-4C :( Having clocked how cold the sea had become during a cold December was hoping to have gloves and thermal vest sorted from LAR in time but for various reasons didn't. Paid the prices and now have them. Waves were pretty good, overhead on the sets and clean, sailing on the 4.7 on the 71, but once the tide turned was getting bogged by the current in the lee of the spit where they were cleanest and steepest. Wind was a bit onshore making it difficult to string to together long fast rides, but by going frontside/backside you could get some good smacks in.

Realised it had been a lot of fun once I thawed out.

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.

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...

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.

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!

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:

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:

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.

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.