Wednesday 11th October – windsurfing **** walk **** - Point Clear - cloudy
30.34 kt. max, 28.21 kt. ave., 8.54 kt. hr., 15.75 kt mile, 45.80 km., 18.54 kt. alpha.
F2 Ride 282 + Tushingham Lightning 6.5 + 32 cm fin
Several mates were going to make the most of the SW winds at The Manor, Felixstowe but I didn’t fancy a bumpy open sea session in winds forecast to gust to 30 knots! I toyed with going to Southend but it’s easy to talk yourself out of that with a 140 mile round trip so decided on Point Clear which was do-able being able to get on the water at about two. We decided to have another night in the van as we are missing not being away in France which is our usual Autumn. After a quick trip up to town for supplies we left Felixstowe at 10.30 which is way too early for the tide! We arrived at Point Clear an hour later with the water miles out but had the choice of parking spots on the Green:) It looks good sailing here at low tide with flat water in the channel, you just have to walk 100m across the oyster beds which is best done from the Brightlingsea end, I have done this in the past but the locals don’t seem keen! Mag and I then wrapped up in our coats for a walk heading along the seawall past a collection of interesting cottages to the large carpark opposite Brightlingsea and learned that there is a ferry to take you across but there was no sign of it today. We continued past the caravan site through the maze of ram shackle bungalows to get back to the beach coming out by the Tudor café. We walked back on the beach to the van with the water slowly coming in. The wind gauge showed 18 mph on the beach and 28 mph on the seawall so sail choice was going
be interesting! First things first it was time for lunch, a delicious cheese and salad sandwich:) Then it was time to rig, even though I broke a boom here on my last visit I could still rig two sails, first the 6.5 for the 282 and then the 5.8 for the 80! A few of the local had arrived and were rigging sails between 5 and 7.5m. The water was now up to the sand so I headed out deciding on the bigger kit and was first on the water. I wobbled out underpowered to the lagoon but you had to be careful as it was still a bit on the shallow side! The wind direction was not perfect maybe slightly S of SW coming across the lagoon at an angle making it gusty as it has to come over the marshes. I was getting some big 30 kt gusts and although, sadly, the water was far from flat, I did manage one 30 kt run and several 28/29 runs. As usual there is a large number of waders and geese which is great but no seals today. I was soon joined by 6/7 kiters and the same number of windsurfers with top freestyler Max Row doing some great tricks, Shaun Cook was flying on his slalom kit and Keith Farmer, Michael Honey and Bruce Costal were having fun in the bumpy lagoon. With the shingle bar breached I headed back to the van for a scone and cuppa before having one more go, this time I had a couple of runs out to sea before returning to the lagoon which was flattening off a bit and Shaun improved his max to 32 knots:) It was getting dark now so decided to call it a day and was the last windsurfer off the water! I then had to pack up two sets of gear leaving Point Clear in the dark at 6.30! We then had to decide where to go for the night but didn’t want to drive too far so ended up in a little sheltered carpark on the lane down to Alresford Creek and Mag soon knocked up a delicious plate of mince and mash:) It is still blowing strong but it is supposed to drop for tomorrow so hopefully we can go for a walk here tomorrow:)
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