Life Begins at 40 Knots – Update
Well, I think that windsurf session this morning may have been my last chance to hit 40 knots before I’m 40 in a few weeks time. There may be another chance but it hasn’t quite come together yet.
I had a nice early start as Ivor, our local katabatic wind was in full force, so I was on the water at around 7am.
I was going to rig my 5.2m North Warp but as the water was flat and set to get flatter and the wind forecast to ease I went with the 6.3m which took a bit of rigging but I managed to get it rigged better than ever today. I also went out on my big (80 ltr) slalom board.
I was a little overpowered to start with but soon settled into it. That was until I hit something submerged at high speed which stopped the board dead and sent me flying over the front and deep into the water. So deep in fact that is was dark down there and I had to swim pretty hard to get back to the surface. I have no idea what it was that I hit, but there wasn’t any damage to my board or me. My wrist hurt a little and I was a bit scared of hitting it again for a while so took it easy.
I then saw Snoozer arrive on the beach so went in to say hello. He said that there was no wind anywhere else but he had looked at the Weather Station, saw that Ivor was doing its thing and so came to the estuary.
I went back out and he soon joined me with his kite and by the looks of things he was glad he’d made the effort as he was having a good time blasting up and down trying to keep up with me.
The wind had eased a little by now but the speed channel was showing and my confidence after the earlier crash had returned. I was now having a lovely speed session although now that the water was so flat some more wind so that I was completely and utterly maxed out would have been nice. It wasn’t to be though – One day the wind and water will be just right at the same time.
Speed Rankings
Today’s session moved me up the rankings in various groups on Sports Track Live. I’m currently sitting pretty at the top of the 1 hr rankings in the GPS Speed group and I’m doing fairly well in a number of rankings in the Boards Group too. (My username is ‘justal’).
A great session though, if a little chilly on the hands and although it may be my last chance to hit 40 knots before I’m 40 it doesn’t really matter. I’ve got close with a maximum speed of 37.1 knots and the conditions just haven’t been kind to me. In fact, today was the first day that I’ve been able to use my big speed sail properly since buying it way back in March. The usual easterlies that we get in the spring never arrived and when we have had easterlies they have either been completely mad or haven’t coincided with a suitable tide for either the speed channel or the seafront. It’s been fun trying though and I can now just revise my challenge to try to hit 40 knots whilst I’m 40…. Bring on the wind!
