Boys will be Boys!

Have you run out of things to do with the children during the school holidays yet? The weather might not be great, but that shouldn’t stop you getting out into the great outdoors and doing things with them.

Blueberry Picking

How about heading to the hills for some blueberry picking – You can then spend some time in the kitchen cooking blueberry muffins with them. It’s getting a little late for blueberries now, but there were plenty there last weekend.

Blackberry Picking

Blackberry season is just about upon us as well. There are pockets of ripe blackberries all over the place and there should be more on their way over the next few weeks, so whatever the weather put on some suitable clothing (long sleeves and legs to protect you from the thorns and nettles and things you don’t mind getting stained), grab some pots and get foraging.

Wildlife Exploring

Fancy something a little more organised? RSPB Ynyshir have a ‘Wildlife Explorers Go Wild‘ day next Wednesday (Aug 25th) with activities for children of all ages – pond dipping and bug hunting with the wardens to see what you can find and learn about the smaller wildlife on the reserve. We’ve been to a few such events and they are always well organised and the kids love them.

You can of course do this one your own in the garden or a nearby park.

You can even do you own big garden birdwatch or butterfly count. Just because you can’t submit the results to the RSPB or Butterfly Conservation any more doesn’t stop you downloading an identification and recording sheet and doing your own version.

Den Building

The Forestry Commission at Nant yr Arian have a Den Building course for children 5 yrs+ on Wednesday 25th. Their woodland is the perfect place to try out your den building skills. Join one of the rangers who will show you how to make one.

Photo Walks

Kids love taking photos and with modern digital cameras it is cheap and easy. Give them your compact camera set it onto auto and head off on a photo assignment. You may be surprised at the results and more often than not their perspective on the world around them will give you some photo inspiration too.

There’s no need to spend loads of money on expensive attractions, kids love the great outdoors and with a bit of imagination and a reason for being out there you can too. There’s loads to do out there and not only is it fun but it’s healthy and educational too.

I had decided to take it easy on Saturday as my ribs were still killing me following the windsurfing crash on Thursday.

So much for plans, after the moth meeting and teddy bears picnic, the wind was blowing, the sun came out and the sea looked perfect so I headed across to the beach for a windsurf. Unfortunately as I did so, the wind dropped and I only managed a quick 10 minute session on the water before it went completely. I packed up and as I had my wetsuit on when back to the house and got Morgan so that he could come for a surf with me.

Morgan had a good surf, using his leash for the first time and did quite well in what were tricky, lumpy, rough waves. He did stand up briefly once or twice, but the fact that he was getting tumbled all over the place and wasn’t worried by it was really the lesson for the day.

After that I had a quick go on the Turbo Trainer, but really wasn’t in the mood so it didn’t last long. I don’t know if it was the main in my chest / ribs, the fact that I’ve done a fair bit recently and need a rest or if I was just tired as I hadn’t slept thanks to the ribs. Whatever it was I wasn’t in the mood for proper exercise so didn’t bother sticking with it – I was supposed to be having an easy day to let my ribs recover after all.

Morgan’s school was closed on Thursday as it was being used as a polling station, so we decided to make the most of the opportunity and Anna and I took the day off too.

We decided that it would be the perfect day to head the the Blue Lagoon, a water-park on the edge of Pembrokeshire. We thought that as it was a school day in the middle of term and the middle of the week that it would be nice and quiet there. We arranged to meet Jackie, Cameron and Eva there and set off at 8.30am in order to arrive before 11am.

We had booked tickets in advance and had been given a time slot of between 11am and 2pm. Basically you get three hours in the pool timed from entering the turn-styles before you get changed and exiting them after you get changed.

The pool itself was nice. The water was a nice temperature and the air temperature was lovely and warm thanks to their biomass heating. As well as a wave-machine that was switched on for a couple for minutes every now and then (probably once an hour), there was a ‘lazy river’ which flowed out of the pool and around in a loop outside, there was also a few slides, two warm spas for over 12′s and a smaller kids pool. The slides were good and the children loved them. There was also another slide that went out into plunge pools outside, but this wasn’t switched on and operational until about 1.45pm. As we had to be changed and out by 2pm we didn’t get chance to have a go on this.

We did pick the perfect day as it was completely uncrowded. There were no queues at all and we had heard stories of people having to queue for 30 minutes just to use a slide. If that had been the case then it would have been disappointing. Picking a quiet day is definitely the way to go. It was a shame we didn’t get to use the other slide, and really on a day like that when it isn’t busy maybe they should be a little more generous with the time you can spend there. Afterall, we may have had lunch in the poolside cafe and stayed a little longer had we been able to and would therefore probably have spent more money there in the process.

The cafe wasn’t great mind you, but overall thanks to picking the right day it was a good day out.

As you should know by now, it the big 4-0 for me this year and I’m trying to hit 40 knots on a windsurfer.

The first stage is to get the right tools for the job so I’ve been doing my research and have come up with a list of kit.

The Boards

Mistral SL Red Dot

I couldn’t decided between a dedicated speed board and a small slalom board. The dedicated speed board is very small, narrow and the fastest thing in a straight line under the right conditions. They are also pretty challenging to sail and don’t cope well with choppy water, gusty wind or poor technique. The slalom board is still quite a small board but being a little larger and slightly more user-friendly it is the fastest thing on the water in a wider range of conditions. It copes better with some chop and gusty winds and is a little more forgiving. Both are really fast in comparison to the wave boards that I usually sail. The slalom board is likely to be the fastest in most conditions, but when the conditions are perfect the speed board would be considerably faster.

Unable to make up my mind I decided that the only option was to get one of each! The speed board I’ve picked is a Fanatic Falcon Speed (242cm long, 48cm wide and 68 litres), which Boardwise in Cannock are getting for me. The slalom board is a Mistral SL Red Dot Team Edition (240cm long, 55cm wide and 80 litres) which was delivered on Sunday night by Jim from Puravida Boardriders.

The Sails

The boards are crucial for top speeds, but the sails are just as important. The wave sails that I usually use are designed for ease of use, to feel light in the hands and be manouverable. Perfect for the jumps and gybes and general hectic sailing in waves, but lacking the power, stability and aerodynamics needed for top speeds. New sails were therefore needed too. I’d need a couple to cover a range of winds and my engines of choice ended up being a 6.3m North Warp and a 5.2m North Warp. These are stable, powerful sails that should be capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots.

North Warp 5.2

North Warp 6.3

Both arrived last night and I’ve just rigged them in the garden.

The 5.2m rigged beautifully but I wasn’t able to get the 6.3m rigged very well. Either I need a better mast for it or more strength to add more downhaul. The former is probably the case!

The Fins

Fins are probably the most crucial part of a speed-sailors equipment. Top sailors will have loads of them and will fine tune them for the board and conditions in order to get maximum speeds. The shape, stiffness, size, foil-profile and rake are all important. I don’t have the time (or money)  to bother with all of that, so a couple of speed fins will have to do. So far I have fins, Fanatic Falcon fins in 28cm and 30cm.

Other bits

This windsurfing malarky isn’t cheap! New sails require new masts. All of my wave masts are RDM’s (Reduced Diameter Masts) which are stronger and therefore better able to cope with the demands of jumps and crashes in the waves. Speed sails however all have camber inducers in them which provide an aerodynamic, wing-like shape to the leading edge of the sail. These are designed to fit on Standard Diameter Masts (SDM’s) as the larger diameter mast improves the foil shape, so at least one new mast was needed (North Viper 380cm) for the smaller sail. Since rigging the new sails though it looks as though I may need one for the bigger sail as well.

Similarly the booms I have are designed for wave sails and would be a little too small and too flexible for use with such large powerful sails. A new Simmer Silver Series boom was in order!

The Cost

This really is getting expensive now, and all to eek out a few extra knots of speed, I hope its worth it!

Windsurfing in the estuary at Ynyslas

I’ve just got back from a nice little windsurf session in the estuary here at Ynyslas. Ivor, our local katabatic wind was up to his usual tricks with a decent NE wind funbelling down through the valley at up to 25 knots. And this was  despite the fact that the forecast was for winds of 5-6 knots. Lovely.

The wind wasn’t quite up to its usual strength, but it is still pretty early in the year so I think Ovir was just warming up. Hopefully we’ll get some really good winds in the spring.

With the sun shining it was pretty warm out there as well. I had my 5/3mm wetsuit on and boots and a hood but if anything I was a little too hot whilst on the water.

There was something going on at the visitor centre car park though. Four police cras were in attendance and the car park was closed off with ‘Crime Scene’ tape all around it and a police officer at either end preventing anyone from entering it. Anyone know what’s happened?

Morgans school was closed again due to the snowy weather so I decided it wasn’t fair to make him stay at home whilst I worked. If school is closed due to snow then it should be a law that the children have to go sledging.

Unfortunately my car is broken and Anna had her car at work. However as the weather was bad and Anna didn’t want to get stranded at work she decided to work from home in the afternoon which meant Morgan and I could head off to find a suitable hill. We didn’t go far, just into Bow Street where we played for most of the afternoon.

I was on my snowboard and Morgan on a sledge, although he did use the snowboard as a sledge in the end as well. If only every winter was like this. Great fun all round.

After riding in the Forest of Dean on Saturday, I had an easy ride around the Summit Trail at Nant yr Arian on Sunday morning and then met Anna, Morgan, Jo, Danny and Kai at the visitor centre to make some Christmas decorations aout of things found in the forest.

I obviously needed a shower after my wet, muddy ride, but the first shower didn’t work and the second one was cold as the eco-friendly wood-chip boiler was playing up. After a quick cold shower I was soon fit to make some decorations.

Thankfully we didn’t have to wander around the forest in the rain looking for suitable pine cones, moss, ivy etc as they had already sourced all of that for us so we soon sat down and made wreaths, Christmas cards and decorations. Morgan seemed to like it, and I think Anna was secretly quite proud of her ‘owl’!

We then had lunch in the visitor centre before heading home after another good day in the forests of West Wales.

The clocks have gone back, the evenings are darker and it feels as though Winter is properly on its way. A depressing time for many, but I really like it.

It isn’t very cold at the moment but there’s nothing nicer than snuggling up indoors in front of the fire whilst it’s cold and miserable outside. There are also lots of parties and celebrations to look forward to. There always seems to be lots of things happening at this time of year and Christmas isn’t far off too.

This weekend we have the annual Ynyslas Bonfire party to attend at Dave and Sarah’s house. Its a nice community get together with a bonfire, fireworks and of course lots of delicious food to devour. Then Saturday evening is the annual lantern procession and light display in Machynlleth. We went last year and had a good time, so shall be there again this year. Morgan wants to make a lantern too, so we might have to actually join in with the parade this time. Apparently if you have a lantern you get free admission to the light show after the parade which will be a bonus.

If that doesn’t take your fancy then you could brave a night in the woods with eerie sights and sounds and ghostly goings on at Nant yr Arian. Then head back to the visitor centre and indulge in some supernatural snacks.

There is also a firework display in Aberystwyth on Bonfire Night itself.

Don’t let the short days and dark nights get you down, get out there and enjpy them.

Finally after a couple of months off I got out for a windsurf session at Ynyslas today. Conditions were good as well with a 25-35 knot wind and some nice little waves. There were plenty of kite-surfers out as well and four windusrfers in total.

I took my waterproof camera with me as well and tried to get some shots, but it is surprisingly difficult when getting battered by the waves.