Chasing the Wind: An Aberdyfi Road Trip
Despite having recently upgraded from my wheelbarrow to a new trolley as my windsurf transport of choice, I did something a little different on Sunday — time for a road trip. The winds were SSW and the seas were large and angry. Too large and angry to sail on my own off the seafront at Ynyslas, and too southerly to make use of the shelter in the estuary. So instead, I drove around to Aberdyfi, where not only were the conditions better but there would also be other people out sailing.
It’s a different world in Aberdyfi. Ynyslas is often deserted, whereas Aberdyfi is a proper little tourist hotspot. I met Shem there, and a few others were heading out wing-foiling or kite-surfing. The wind was a bit marginal off the beach in the shelter of the estuary, but it looked stronger further out and was forecast to build. I rigged a 5.7 m sail and my larger 104-litre wave board, hoping I might change down to either my 5.0 m sail or my 89-litre board later.
At first there wasn’t really enough wind. I bobbled about trying to work upwind, occasionally planing but mostly slogging off the plane. At times there wasn’t even enough to waterstart. Eventually, the wind picked up and I managed to gain some ground upwind, out of the estuary and into the waves off the corner of the beach. There was plenty of wind here now, and some lovely ramps too, which led to some huge jumps.
I was soon fully powered, blasting back towards the estuary on rolling swell, then carving back out into the waves. Flat water into swell into waves — just perfect. The sun was shining, the water was warm, and I was flying. I was pretty much on my own out there though, as the wind-foilers stayed in the flatter, more sheltered waters of the channel.
A couple of the wing-foilers eventually swapped onto windsurf boards once the wind filled in, but by then I was pretty tired. I didn’t spend much time with them before deciding enough was enough and heading back downwind to town beach, while they carried on out towards the waves. In some ways I ended up sailing in conditions very similar to what I’d have had straight off the beach at Ynyslas — and truth be told, I wasn’t actually that far from there most of the time anyway. The advantage was the ability to launch in flat water without the full on assault of the waves and also smaller waves than those on the other side of the Dyfi Bar at Ynyslas.
The red lines show my GPS track from Sunday’s session. The green X’s mark where I usually sail from. If only there were an easier way to get my kit to the area outlined in green, I could enjoy almost exactly the same conditions as I had in Aberdyfi — but from home, without the drive.
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[…] opposite our house, and I’ve done that of course, but earlier in the month I drove all the way to Aberdyfi for a sail. Then, on Friday, Steve was here and fancied some flat water, so we headed to the estuary for a […]