Life Begins at 40 (knots) – The Tools

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

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.

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!

Its the big 4-0 for me this year. How did that happen so soon?

Oh well, not a lot I can do about it so I may as well use it as an excuse to have some fun and buy some new toys! The plan / aim /dream is to hit 40 knots on a windsurfer. If I can do it before or whilst I’m 40 then all the better.

In case you don’t know, then 40 knots on a windsurf board really is VERY fast. The top guys are getting close to 50 knots, but that is just silly. I’ve managed 35 knots before now and although that doesn’t sound far off 40, I can assure you it is. 30 knots is very fast, and every little increment over that feels a whole lot faster. 35 knots on the kit I currently have is an impressive feat in itself and not one that I’m likely to repeat too often as it is the absolute maximum possible on such kit.

All of which means if I am to achieve my aim of 40 knots I’m going to need to through some money at it and get some proper speed kit. I’ll hopefully buy the kit soon. I’m looking at a couple of boards at the moment, a tiny little Fanatic Falcon Speed and a small Mistral SL Red Dot Team Edition slalom board. I’m not sure which to go for, so might just have to get both! I’ll also need a couple of speed sails and a mast and boom to rig them on. It isn’t going to be cheap, and even with the right equipment it isn’t going to be easy, but it should be fun.

I’ll be looking out for the perfect conditions and then I’ll be off. You’ll be able to track my progress here. Will I make it to 40 knots?

I’ve just got back from an adrenalin packed windsurf session here in Wales. I posted a session log on Forces-of-Nature as usual, but as it was such a mad session thought I’d share it here as well.

Woohoo, what a session. Went out with my big wave board and 4.5m sail and soon realised that it was a lot bigger out there than it looked from the beach!

The first run wasn’t too bad, some nice big jumps and then managed to sail out the back and have a good blast over the swell before gybing and sailing back in amongst some pretty big lumps of water. But then it just seemed to get bigger and bigger. I’m not sure why, but it was dead on high tide so that may have had something to do with it.

On about my 5th run out it was easily the biggest I’ve ever sailed in, way over mast high and not only were they huge but they had become snarling monsters that seemed intent on punishing me. At one point I had been sailing out, well powered for ages but still wasn’t out beyond the breaking waves. I was at least half a mile out to sea and still surrounded by big waves and walls of whitewater with nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide.

Then I thought it was all over as a huge waved reared up in front of me, pitched and exploded into a wall of white-water. I had no option but to hit it flat out and try to sail up and over it despite the fact that it was mast high. I hit the whitewater head on, sailed vertically up it and managed to pop out onto the top. By this staged I’d lost some momentum and it had me. I was travelling backwards on top of the white-water in its grip, pumping frantically to try to get going and not get sucked backwards over the falls. Somehow I made it, but there was another wave in front of me.

Still in the straps I pumped as hard as I could, pushed with my front foot and tried to get going again, back on the plane and the next wave was jacking up. Thankfully it hadn’t broken yet and I managed to sail up its face (I’ve never sailed so far uphill before) and just about managed to punch out over the top of it as the lip pitched forwards behind me. There were still more waves beyond it so once again it was back onto the plane and keep sailing out until eventually there was a break in the waves and I could gybe and head back to the beach.

By now I was miles out to sea and down towards the estuary. It was about now that I decided that maybe enough was (more than) enough. If I came off here and got parted from my kit or broke something then it was going to take me hours to get home. I was out on my own with no-one else around so maybe the sensible option was to sail back to the beach and call it a day.

I did of course ride some of the waves on the way back in just to show them that they may have beaten me into submission today but they hadn’t completely beaten me.

Only a short session, but a full on, scary, adenalin rush of a session!

One of the reasons we built a house here is that its such a good location for windsurfing. With 4 miles of sandy beach on our doorstep and plenty of Westerly winds and waves, the seafront from Borth to Ynyslas is perfect. But that isn’t all, we also have the more sheltered waters of the Dyfi Estuary which can be good when the wind is from the east. This is especially true in the Spring when Ivor, out local katabatic wind, comes howling down the valley.

On Friday, another combination of local effects allowed us to have a good windsurf session too. The wind was South-Westerly at about 18-25 knots. Plenty windy enough for most people, but us windsurfers like it windier so that we can use our smaller sails and boards. However, there had been loads of rain and lots of flooding inland. The Dyfi bridge was closed due to the flooding and the Dyfi River was in full flow. Coupled with an outgoing tide, this results in a very strong tidal flow through the channel in the Dyfi Estuary. The water flowing through here was moving at 10 knots or more  and flowing out to sea – in the opposite direction to the wind. This results in an effective windspeed (for someone on the water) of 28-35 knots… Perfect.

Andy and I launched from the Ynyslas side of the estuary, sailed out through the channel, walked across the point and into the channel where we spent a couple of hours blasting around perfectly powered up with 5m sails and smallish boards in really good conditions. For a change, sailing downwind was a problem though due to the speed of the current.

Once again, West Wales provides perfect windsurfing conditions.

Here’s my diary entry and here’s Andy’s diary entry.

This seems to be a constant dilemma for me. We can’t always afford a holiday so we want to make sure we get the destination right but I think we just have too many requirements to find the ideal resort. It’s my 40th next year so we’re looking at the possibility of going on a holiday that will suit me perfectly as a bit of a treat.

Anna isn’t too fussy. She wants comfortable accommodation, decent food and a few places to visit and see. She would also like to do some activities herself, so some easy windsurfing, kayaking and snorkelling etc. should keep her happy. Most of which you can find anywhere.

Morgan is a little more difficult, so the resort has to be family-friendly with a proper kids-club. Preferably one run by a UK company with qualified staff and good activities.

I guess I’m the one who makes it difficult. For a summer holiday I want to be able to go windsurfing so the destination has to have a proper windsurf centre with a good choice of modern kit, and it has to be windy, preferably very windy. I’d also like to be able to do some Mountain-Biking just in case the wind doesn’t blow. Again, I’m not after a tranquil little ride but some proper mountain-biking trails on good quality bikes.

Places such as Vassiliki seem to offer all of this, but the next problem is timing. We have to fit it in within the school holidays, which as it happens is a windy period in Vassiliki, but of course this makes it quite expensive and we really wanted a winter sun destination not a summer one.

In fact the only other place we can think of that ticks all of the boxes is Borth, where we live!. It is almost always windy, I have a beach on my front door and good MTB trails on my back-door. I always seem to come to this conclusion!

And so the wind keeps blowing!

It’s always windy here, but until the last week or so, the autumn had been fairly quiet. All that has changed now and autumn has shown its true colours. After a good windsurf session at the weekend, it has stayed windy all week so far. I was at work on Monday so couldn’t  get out, but did go for a sail on Tuesday. It was then my last day at work on Wednesday and although I couldn’t get out for a windsurf I did go for a Mountain Bike ride in the evening.

I met Dave at Angler’s Retreat where it was dark, cold, blowing a gale and pouring with rain. It didn’t take us long to decide to head to the relative shelter of Nant yr Arian for our ride. It wasn’t much better there, still pouring with rain, one degree warmer but it was a little sheltered from the winds. Once we were out and riding it wasn’t too bad though, and as usual it was enjoyable and I felt better for it. As I said a couple of days ago “Just get out there and do it!”

When I got home it was as usual extra windy. I’m sure this is one of the windiest places around, which is afterall one of the reson we picked this location to build our house. I could tell it was wild outside as Anna was snuggled up indoors watching the TV with the subtitles on. No matter how loud she had the volume she couldn’t hear the TV over the howling wind and hammering rain, so subtitles were the only option!

It’s still blowing a hoolie today as well and I’ve just got back from a brilliant windsurf session. Challenging conditions and therefore a very satisfying session for me as I coped well and had a sense of achievement after every run. I felt a little sorry for Simon though as he didn’t fare quite so well.

Not a bad way to spend my first day back as a full-time freelancer.

What a day!!

After a dry, still evening for the Machynlleth lantern parade yesterday, the wind and rain arrived in earnest this morning. Perfect for me as I had intended to go windsurfing. With gusts to 52.6 knots recorded on the Borth and Ynyslas Weather Station it looked as though it was going to be wild out there. Thankfully the rain eased off and the sun even came out, but the wind kept blowing and Simon and I had an excellent windsurf session at Ynyslas.

It isn’t all good though. I was only commenting the other day how good the pampas grass was looking, but one day of ‘proper weather’ and it’s now looking a little sorry for itself. Most of the seed heads have snapped off and are strewn around the garden.

There is more to come as well. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all look pretty windy at the moment.

It was the second of the two annual windsurf demo days at Aberdovey this weekend. Basically, Boardwise and a load of windsurf manufacturers turn up with lots of new boards and sails for us to try. There are usuaully a few celebrities from the windsurf world there too.

Despite the fact that it is only about a mile from our house the dovey estuary is between us and Aberdovey so it is a 45 minute drive. The demo itself is held within the estuary so the sailing isn’t the most exciting as it is on flat water.

Because of this, and the fact that my Dad was here, I didn’t bother making the effort on the Saturday and instead had a really good windsurf session from home on the seafront at Ynyslas. Lots of wind, some mad squalls and some huge waves made for a 5 star session.

On the Sunday I decided that I should show my face at the demo, so did drive around and had a good day playing with all of the new kit. There was nothing revolutionary and pretty much every board and sail combo that I tired felt good. All are fast, easy to sail and feel like fun. Some are a little more confortable that others, some jump a bit better or gybe a little better but there isn’t a huge difference these days. It would of course have been nice to try them in some real waves, but that wasn’t really possible.

It was good though and it was nice to see some friends that I hadn’t seen for a while, along with all of the other familiar faces from previous demo events. Quite why very few of the people who turn up for these events are never seen between events is still a mystery to me. They all seem to be enjoying themselves and enjoying the conditions, so why don’t they sail here more often?

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.

A relaxing end to a hectic day. Work Work Work, Windsurf, Windsurf Windsurf. Aaaah! Mind you, the sea looked a lot meaner than this whilst I was sailing on it.