{"id":34588,"date":"2020-10-06T10:58:17","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T09:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=34588"},"modified":"2020-10-06T10:58:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T09:58:48","slug":"underpower-over-heating-and-under-the-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2020\/10\/underpower-over-heating-and-under-the-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"Underpowered, Over Heating and Under the Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had a busy day at the University working from 8-5 on a day I don’t normally work yesterday. So, I was looking forward to getting out on the water today as the forecast looked good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Forecast<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Westerly’s all day long, 25- 30 knots – what more could a windsurfer want? I therefore headed over to the beach with my kit and started to rig up. It didn’t feel crazy windy as I rigged up so I went with my bigger board. I brought my 4.0, 4.5 and 5.0m sails with me so I went with the middle one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trapped!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It didn’t start well though as I managed to trap my finger between the mast and the boom clamp and couldn’t get it out. With the finger of my right hand trapped, I only had one hand free to unclip the boom, pull the spring loaded clamp away from the mast and detach the mast. Trying to do all of that with one hand was impossible so I was stuck and in pain too. I finally managed to get it free with the help of my knee and my head but I’m not sure if my fingernail will live to tell the tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully I’ve learned my lesson though and won’t do that again. It was a brand new boom with a different clamp to what I’m used to and I wasn’t aware of the fact that it was a man-trap!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underpowered<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With that over and done with I was soon ready to get on the water. I was a little underpowered really and wished I’d rigged the 5m sail. I did get going and had a few fun blasts up and down the beach but I was never fully powered up and could (as usual) have done with more wind. According to the weather station<\/a> it was gusting close to 30 knots but that isn’t quite enough for a 4.5m sail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did head to the beach to let off some downhaul and make a few other adjustments but it wasn’t enough. Ideally I would have changed up to my 5m sail but by now the tide was already touching the pebbles and coming in fast. High tide wasn’t for another 2.5 hours at around 11am but the water was higher than expected. I didn’t therefore have much time to rig another sail and get back out so I persevered but it was never great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n