{"id":23550,"date":"2016-12-23T16:59:02","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T16:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=23550"},"modified":"2016-12-23T16:59:02","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T16:59:02","slug":"braving-storm-barbara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/12\/braving-storm-barbara\/","title":{"rendered":"Braving Storm Barbara – Windsurfing and Biking"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a day that was! There has been very little wind for what seems like ages. Very little\u00a0apart from the mad, short-lived and very destructive squall <\/a>that we had back in November. The forecast for the run up to Christmas was looking good wind-wise though so I was chomping at the bit and ready to go windsurfing. Friday looked like the first day of real wind with Storm Barbara due to hit our shores. She was bringing with her another squall line which was due around 3pm. This time though it was going to be windy all day before the squall came through.<\/p>\n

Windsurfing in Storm Barbara<\/h2>\n

I was up early and after doing some work headed over to the beach at around 9am. I started off with my 5m sail and big wave board. The larger kit was probably a little too much for the conditions, so I changed down to my 4.5m sail. Alastair was sailing on a 4.5m sail. When I stopped to chat to him he said that the 4.5m sail was plenty. Sure enough, once back on the water the 4.5m was more than enough once again. What’s more, the wind was continuing to build. As the wind picked up, the rain started falling too and conditions were getting pretty mad. The\u00a0waves were getting bigger with some nice ramps on the inside and then some big rolling swells out the back. Occasionally these bigger swells would break which certainly made life\u00a0interesting.<\/p>\n

I could probably have got away with my smaller wave board really but had only taken the bigger one across to the beach. As the Storm Barbara\u00a0intensified the big board\u00a0became a bit of a handful. Never way out of control, but sometimes being on the edge is fun!<\/p>\n