French Autumn 2015

Saturday 12^th September.

After a top sail with round UK sailor Jono  Dunnett it was home at 2.30, shower and load the van with windsurfers,bikes and cases etc., then left Felixstowe for our son Robert and his girlfriend Hannah place at Sayers Croft, Ewhurst. After a good journey we arrive at 7:30 have a top Shepherd’s pie and look at some of their stunning pics of their latest adventure to the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador :)  To bed in the Sayers croft car park completely knackered!

Sunday 13^th September.

Up at 7:30 then have breakfast with Rob before he goes to work.  Nice morning with Hannah sorting out blogs/pics etc and listening to music on Youtube:) Rob brings back a couple of boxes of free turkey lunch from the canteen and we go for a walk in the lovely woods, then Rob cooks tea – great sweet and sour pork and rice:) then we have to leave for the shuttle at 7:30. Incident free trip to the train and we arrive in France and are parked up just outside Calais at mid-night on the hill overlooking the Cap Blanc.

Monday 14^th September.

Mag’s two day headache continues into a third day and she felt really rough today:( Shame as we woke to stunning views of the White Cliffs and ferries coming and going at Calais, there were loads of people braving the strong winds walking. We then drove along the lovely coast road, we never tire of this route past Wissant,Wimeraux to Boulogne where we stop for diesel (so’oooooooooooo cheap here now) and bread, we see loads of kitesurfers and windsurfers out enjoying the waves:) It’s then a short section of toll motorway before turning off to another of our favourites, Le Crotoy in the Baie de Somme – a Grand Site of France :) We arrive at the windsurfing/kiting spot at the end of the prom with SW winds gusting to 40mph!!!! But the high tide has just turned giving you only an hour of water so I decided against sailing and we drove to the sluice gates just past the camper aire where we spent the afternoon watching the walkers, cyclists and men with guns ( they just love killing things in France – it’s ducks here:( ) battle against the wind now gusting to over 50 mph!!! the parking meters that cover Le Crotoy have now reached this car park too but the machine was broken and we didn’t have any change so didn’t pay:)  Then with the tide well out the siren goes, the sluices rise and the etang water spills out into the estuary – quite a sight! We then head out of Le Crotoy to the out of the way car park half way along the bay where the mussel tractors access their beds to tuck up out of the wind for the night. We have a short blustery walk as the sun sets over the bay and spot loads of Spoonbills flying over :)

Tuesday 15^th September - windsurf ***** sunny periods - Le Crotoy – F2 Xantos - Tushingham X-15 5.8 – 32.32kts max – 28.40kt ave. – 26.23kt n/mile – 43 km – 76 mins – top day :)

Quite night in our sheltered spot and only heard one mussel tractor heading out into the bay, Mag feeling much better this morning:) even out before breakfast collecting blackberries for our porridge:) With high water yesterday at approx 1:30 I thought if we drove the short distance to kite beach by eleven it would be fine but we got there and there was no water in sight!!! So we headed into Le Crotoy for bread and change for the parking meter, then over to the sluice to check the wind and it was gusting to 40 mph!!! much too much for me with the kit I have with me, mainly speed/slalom kit for La Franqui not best suited to surf conditions found in the bay and it wasn’t looking good for a sail! Back at the end of the prom at mid day and there were a few kiters and windsurfers getting ready although the water was still a long way out! I found a nice place to park tucked out of the wind with the local windsurfers with a nice piece of grass to rig and asked what sails they were rigging? 3.2 and 4.5 were the answers!!! :( I have tried my 80lt slalom board in similar conditions before so I had to go with the big 133 and 5.2 cambered sail is not good on this board so took a chance and rigged my lovely new X-15 5.8 – easy to rig but sets way too flat for speed, perhaps I will ask Tushingham for some advice when I next get internet. I walked my board over the road and down the slip way to the water and the wind didn’t seem too bad, by the time I was back with my sail the sea was nearly up to the board giving us to nearly 4 o’clock before we ran out of water! The first few runs were horrendous in the mega strong winds at high water and I was really struggling :( I came ashore for a rest, chatted to a local who said the wind was forecast to drop a little and that the sea would get better, I then helped to rescue a kitesurfer those kite deflated and his board was gone! We got his kite ashore in one piece and he found his board:) I then decided to brave the sea again and slowly heading down the bay never sure how deep the water was? In fact I was never out of my depth the whole session and skimming along in access of 28 knots in a few feet of rolling surf keeps you on your toes! This is a great spot with fantastic rolling surf and would be fantastic with some smaller freeride kite but I just love to go fast and you could find some lovely flatwater inbetween the surf if you could stay on the board over the waves! I had a few runs sailing 3 + mile nearly to the end of the bay and back flat out bearing off down the wave into troughs of flat really broad and managed to hit over 32 knots! A 30kt average was on but I ran out of water as the tide dropped with the wind! :( but I was particularly pleased with the 26.23 n/mile – not bad for flat out blasting in surf!  So a great session of surf speedsailing:) out with over 30 kiters and a dozen windsurfers and with the wind gone I headed back to the slipway in time to met up with Mag who had been reading/dozing in the van and coming over to the beach to check I was still alive and to take some nice pics. Back at the van I changed and was able to load the van easily in light airs, have a top cheese sandwich and cuppa before heading to St Valery to check the steam train timetable for tomorrow as its Mag’s birthday :) After a quick stop at the supermarket we head to a great quiet overnight spot by the canal just outside Saigneville where I wash out my wetsuit and we clean the van as its covered in salt spray. I am knackered and my bad shoulder is hurting – it will never recover if I keep going windsurfing but after a cake and cuppa we walk along the canal for an hour as the sun sets with hundreds of gulls heading in formation to the coast, a heron balancing on one leg, a kingfisher fishing and then storks flying across! A great day and we have only just started – fingers crossed the strong winds will disappear and we have wall to wall sunshine for Mags birthday!