Life Begins at 40 (knots) – More new toys

My quest to hit 40 knots on a windsurf board continues with the delivery of another new board last night.

Boardwise in Cannock did me a great deal on a brand spanking new Fanatic Falcon Speed and delivered it in person for me last night… Although it may have looked a bit dodgy on any CCTV in Machynlleth as we both pulled up on the main street in the middle of the night, shook hands, had a quick chat and then exchanged the board in its bubble wrap packaging, before heading our separate ways… Dodgy dealings on the streets of Machynlleth!

The board looks awesome and has just one thing in mind – Top end speed.

The first stage of the quest, equipment acquisition is almost complete – I just need a suitable 430 mast for the 6.3m sail and I’m ready to go. Then all we need is some wind, some time to get out there on the water and the nerve to hit 40 knots.

Speed Season is here!!!

I’ve just got back from a windsurf session the estuary here at Ynyslas. Ivor, our local katabatic wind was up to his tricks so the wind was ballistic at over 40 knots. The water was a seething mass of white and simply getting out of your car on the beach led to an instant sand blasting.

My new speed kit isn’t here yet so I was forced to go out on wholly inappropriate kit. My board was far too big as was my fin and my sail was far too old. In fact, I didn’t notice this until I was at the water edge but the entire top panel was missing – not ideal. However, with temperatures at just above freezing it wasn’t really a day for messing around on the beach rigging different kit so I went out with the broken sail anyway.

It was hard work hanging on and keeping the board on the water was tough too. Not really perfect conditions for getting a top speed, but I stayed on the water for about an hour and had a few fast, but not very comfortable runs. My top speed was 32.85 knots. Way off my 40 knot target so I’m hoping my new kit will be easier to use as well as faster.

The tracks from my GPS drew some pretty lines though and you can see the speed channel I was ailing in pretty well from this.

My GPS Tracks from todays Speed Session

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?

What a weekend. Lots of DIY on Saturday for me so our new ensuite shower-room is just about finished. This meant I could reward myself with a windsurf session on Sunday. Simon and I had a pretty mad sail in the estuary. The weather station was recording gusts of 50 knots.

It was just about perfect with my 4m sail, but not quite windy enough in the lulls. The worst /  best part was the rain. When the squalls came through it was complete white-out conditions and sailing along at 30 knots without being able to see anything becomes quite a challenge. It was good fun though!

I did have a bit of a problem when packing up though. The back door on my car decided to jam itself stuck. I did manage to get thing shome, but I can’t open the door and much of my windsurfing kit is now stuck in the car.

It was nice to be able to come back, straight into the beach room and into the new shower though.

The wind continued to blow all evening meaning that we couldn’t hear the TV over the wind outside. It is kind of funny sitting in the living room barely able to talk to each other because of the noise of the wind and rain.

I love living here when the weather is wild.

Expectations for Saturday 14th November have been high in the UK Windsurfing scene. The first major storm of the year and one that look set to produce some epic conditions. For me personally it was exciting too; for a change I would have some people to sail with as Steve, Simon and Jon had all said they would be at Ynyslas for 10am.

So, when the weather came on the news last night I wanted to listen to it. I ’shhhhsed’ Morgan and the first thing I hear them say is ‘don’t even think about going out on the sea tomorrow‘. Hmmmm, are they mad? This is what we wait for.

Well, it isn’t looking too bad out there at the moment. We had lots of rain overnight and gusts up to 44 knots, but at the moment its around 25 knots and southerly. The forecast is for it to pick up and go pretty mad around midday and then swing westerly later in the afternoon and ease of slightly.

There’s a huge swell as well and lots of rain. It’s going to be scary out there!

Todays Playground

You know what it’s like sometimes with sports. You should really get out there and do it but for one reason or another you just can’t be bothered. More often than not if you just get out there and do it, you not only enjoy yourself but you feel much better for it too.

Today was just such a day. I was up early to do some work and then had a busy morning at a class followed by the tying up a few loose ends and more work. The wind was blowing, the sun was shining and I should really go for a windsurf. I didn’t have much time though as I was due to make the school run at 3pm. So, in some ways a cup of tea and yet more work was fairly inviting.

I didn’t let that get to me though, With only 2 hours to spare it was going to be a short session by the time I had got into my wetsuit, got my kit ready, walked to the beach, rigged up and got on the water. I then had to leave time to do all of that in reverse and still get to school in time to collect Morgan. It was worth it though as I had a nice hour of power windsurfing in decent conditions here at Ynyslas. Yes, there could have been a little more wind, and yes, it did pick up nicely once I got off the water but the hour I had was good enough. It  certainly beat working and I feel so much better for it now.

My busy day continues though, off to get Morgan now and then time to motivate myself to go back out for a swim session this evening. At least I know I’ll feel better after having done it.

I can’t find a suitable ‘motivational’ photo, so here’s on of the beach at Borth. That should be motivation enough to just ‘get out there and do it’.

The Beach at Borth

We’ve just got back from a nice weekend away visiting family in the South West. We went this weekend as there was a windsurf demo day at Axbridge Reservoir. Although this isn’t the sort of place I would normally windsurf my brother moors his boat there so we though it would be nice to meet him there and play on his boat too.

As it happens there was very little wind. There was just enough for jays boat though so after he had a quick sail in it I jumped in with Morgan and went for a little sail too. I hadn’t been in a sailing boat for years and even then had only sailed one once or twice, but I soon worked it all out and did manage to sail out, backwards and forwards a few times and then sail back to where I started from all without getting me or Morgan wet!

We then sat in the sun watching people on Stand Up Paddle boards playing around and a few people just about get planing on windsurf boards. It’s a shame there wasn’t more wind so that I could have gone windsurfing but it was a actually nice just sitting in the sun chilling whilst Morgan played in the water with Harry.

Certainly a nice way to spend a relaxing morning.

I knew it!… If I spent some money on some new toys something else would break requiring more expense.

I’ve been needing some new tyres for a while so I took the plunge and used my £5 voucher from Wiggle to buy some new Continental Mountain King tyres for my bike (a bargain at £15.99 each!). I’ve also been in ‘need’ of a new 5m sail and some other windsurfing equipment so I’ve order a 5m Gun Hammer, a new mast extension and some harness lines from Gun Sails and have arranged to send my broken booms back for replacement under warranty. Of course, with my ‘key rider’ discount and the usual good value from Gun these were bargains too.

I then went out for a ride on my mountain bike last night and returned needing a new spoke, a wheel re-alignment and some new brake pads… I shall take my bike in for repair tomorrow. Hopefully none of it will break the bank though and I’ll soon be back up and riding with a bike that feels like new and out windsurfing with some new kit… I like new toys!!

I had a tough day at the office yesterday… Started work at 4am and worked until 10.30am, stopping to help get Morgan off to nursery and Anna off to work, then the fun began. A good windsurf session off the beach here at Ynyslas. The windsurfing itself was good, lots of wind and some decent waves, and then the weather got interetsing too. First the sky went very dark indeed and we were surrounded by thunder and lightning (I got off the water as a 4m carbon mast is likely to attract the lightning and I don’t fancy finding out what happens if it hits it whilst I’m attached!), then some really strange looking dark clouds swriled overhead and we were hit by a massive hailstorm, then the wind dropped off, so I packed up and headed home.

As soon as I got home the sun came out and the wind picked up again – typical. A little more work, collected Morgan from nursery and went to watch the cranes at the estuary where they are doing some directional drilling to install a new electricity link beneath the estuary.. I’m not 100% sure what the cable is for and if it will affect our electricity supply, but we’ve been having more than our fair share of power cuts again recently (common at this time of year), so some improvement wouldn’t go amiss.

I then psyched myself up to brave the weather and go out for a night ride on my mountain bike. Only a short one, but it was good to do it. I won’t bore you with the stats from my GPS Heart Rate Monitor again, but as with every training session I’ve used it for so far, my maximum heart rate was 172bpm again!

Just for James (as he requested it in his comment), here are the summary stats: