5 Star Windsurf Session
Autumn is here with a vengeance and Saturday looked set to be another windy day. The third in a row that I had chance to windsurf and with it being a weekend there would be plenty of other people out on the water as well.
I’d arranged with Steve to meet at around 10:30 so we had a coffee and a wander across to the beach once he got here and then headed out. I’d also had a call from an old friend who was in Llanidloes for the weekend and said he’d pop over to see me as well.
Once on the beach there were about 8 kitesurfers out and the wind and waves were doing their thing. SW 25 knots with plenty of whitewater and some big waves out the back. I rigged my 5m sail and little 75ltr JP Wave board and got out on the water. Steve meanwhile went with a 5.3m sail and his new 90 ltr wave board.
Once on the water it was just perfect. Well-powered up to the extent that I could go where-ever I wanted, avoid the waves by bearing away or heading up wind, get some big jumps and make my gybes… Perfect. Steve wasn’t having quite so much fun though (you can read his diary entry here), but he hadn’t been out in a big south-westerly for a while and was struggling to get comfortable and relaxed in the conditions.
The wind filled in with a bit of rain after about 30 minutes so I changed down to a 4.5m and went back out. Once again this was perfect. not quite so much power and there were a couple of times I could have done with more. Sometimes it was difficult to get going again after stalling over the back of a wave or landing from a big jump, but most of the time it was perfect and the smaller sail felt more supple and easier in the air.
Dennis (and Mark) turned up after a while so I had a chat with them then had a few more runs before heading home for coffee and biscuits with them. All in all a perfect session for me with plenty of big jumps, loads of blasting over the foam, lots of nice gybes and even a couple of back-loop attempts… Here’s just a couple of minutes of video picked out from over 2 hours of footage.
