Sunny Windsurfing
That was a nice surprise. After a Surf Ski paddle in the morning, the wind filled in much more than expected and I had a sunny windsurfing session in the afternoon as well.
Surf Ski
The surf ski session saw me paddling into an increasingly strong wind towards Aberdovey. I therefore had some chop to contend with along the seafront and across the channel. Once in the lee of the hills things calmed down and I flew upstream with the tide into clamer and calmer waters. Once past Picnic Island the water was mirror smooth. Assisted by the incoming tide I was making good time and able to concentrate on my paddling technique.
I turned around at the boatyard at Panteidal and then headed back into the current for a while. I managed to time things pretty well though as the flow was easing by now and I was soon into slack water. By the time I was back at Aberdovey the tide was beginning to ebb so I had more assistance out through the channel and into the chop and swell. This time I had a tailwind back along the beach as well. The tide and wind can be flattering sometimes, I averaged 6.3mph for the 10.74 mile paddle.
Sunny Windsurfing
I was back at home and showered by 10:30am so plenty of time to do lots of work, chores and even bake a rhubarb crumble. I then had to head into town for a bit. As I drove home the sea was now covered in white caps and looked lovely for a windsurfing session. My achilles is still a little sore though so I was in two minds as to whether to risk it or not. It was just looking too good though and I didn’t want to miss out on a sunny windsurfing session!
I struggled into my other summer wetsuit. It’s a Typhoon TX2 which is a nightmare to get into and out of so I don’t use it much. My other 3/2mm suit was still wet from the morning surf ski session though. It’s nice to be wearing only a thin suit already. Those 5/3mm suits feel so restrictive in comparison – but then my winter suits are 14 years old and have had over 350 uses so maybe they need updating!
For a change, I took my Mistral SL Red Dot board over to the beach. I’m usually out on a more wave orientated board and most often my short stubby Naish Hybrid Freewave. At just 213cm long the Naish is a fun board but it doesn’t really do straight lines and isn’t very fast. With no waves and just loads of chop the Mistral Slalom Board seemed like the better choice. It’s a fairly unforgiving board though, 80 litres, stiff, fast and demands some respect!
Complete with a 5.7m sail I was well powered up the whole time and soon skimming over the chop at full speed. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing and life was good.
My achilles soon started to hurt a little so I didn’t stay out long.
It was a long walk back up the beach from low tide too. This meant that my sail was almost dry by the time I got to the pebbles. I sat in the sun for 5 minutes watching Col and another kitesurfer and then packed up and headed home. Not a bad Monday really and my achilles has survived to see another day.
