Saturday 22nd August - Windsurf ***** - Point Clear – sunny periods.
F2 282 Ride with Tushingham X-15 7m and 30 fin.
Fin – 31.89 knot max, 29.05 knot ave., 16.72 knot hour, 21.80 knot mile, 109.54 km (year PB)., 18.66 knot alpha.
After yesterday full session at Levington in winds gusting to 40 knots I was not sure about today and didn’t know if we could face a journey anywhere so went to bet last night undecided? I had friends going to Bradfield, West Mersea and Point Clear and in the end chose Point Clear. It is one of my favourite venues for varied sailing conditions, flattish water in a small lagoon, open sea sailing towards Jaywick and two miles of the River Colne if you want to get away from the crowds, free parking too, the only down side is, it can get busy with a large amount of kiters hell bent on trying in inflict you serious damage:( We packed lunch and an evening meal as high was late afternoon and I had a feeling it would be a late one and as usual we arrived first and way too early with the sea being way out! Still it was sunny and very pretty here with loads of lovely mud leaving Mag and I loads of time to go for a nice walk after I had sent the Felixstowe my usual pic of the low water and mud after we had had a lot of banter on the WhatsApp group on the way down:) We walked down onto the beach as the footpath by the beach houses is fairly narrow and did our usual circuit past Brightlingsea and back through the caravan site, the highlight being a couple of horses trotting on the beach:) A few had arrived by now so it was time to think about gear, it always feels winder in the car park on top of the small sea wall so I took a reading by the waters edge and it was 20 knots so rigged my 4 cam 7m and the F2 Ride 282 at 115 litres which proved pretty much perfect all day:) I always try to get into the lagoon as early as possible as its then the waters at its flattest and was first to set sail, just beating follow Felixstowe sailor Ian on his wave kit. There was not enough wind for Ian in the lagoon so I had it all to myself for half an hour, not windy enough to be fast but just great fun gybing in the flat water. After an hour or so of gybe feast where I was joined by several more windsurfers and kiters, it had chopped up a little and I was a fraction under to go really fast I headed out to sea to do some exploring:) I ended up towards Jaywick after one tack and then had a good run back running down the swell and with the wind up I continued past Brightlingsea where it was very bumpy. I hit a huge gust here and ended up in the water having trouble waterstarting, with the chop breaking over my head! I ended up by the bird hides on the River Colne, a journey of 5 miles from the jaywick end and was caught in some mega gust where the rig was nearly ripped from my hands, it made me a little nervous but there was some yachts sailing to Wivenhoe so I was not alone! I then beat to east Mersea and tried to get near the marshes at the end of the Army ranges but the wind didn’t seem right for that. So, after making the bird hides again, I had a mega reach back wind the wind only going patchy as I passed the end of East Mersea. With the tide now high the sea was big as I headed back to join Mag for lunch. With the beach here all but gone at high water I managed to get my kit safely against the sea wall and went to join Mag. The lagoon was now busy with the usual 30 kites plus windsurfers so I had lunch and waited for the tide to turn hoping to make the most of the better, flatter water as the tide drops and it can get quieter too as people start to pack up. I then had probably two more hours of the best that Point Clear can offer, it just got windier as the tide dropped and the water went flatter, I got my second 16 knot hour of the day. Getting gybe after gybe, I can do them great when the water is flat, its out to sea I have the problem! With the wind increasing I was now on a mission to break 30 knots. In the end I broke it three times by beating to the far corner of the lagoon, then run the gauntlet of the kamikaze kiters, hell bent on inflicting you serious injury then bearing off into the choppy water by the couple of moored yachts! Again, I could not hold on for 10 seconds so failed to get a 30 knot average. I realised then that I was close to sailing a 100k so just kept doing run after run until I was pretty much the last man standing and eventually had to call time when I was sailing in more mud than water! I made it back to the shore pretty knacker after sailing 109.54km (68 miles) just missing out on 32 knot max so I was well pleased. I have to say that Mag was not quite so impressed and thought I would never return, saying it was the last time she was coming to PC!!!! Still after a cuppa and cake we were friends again and she went for a quick walk while I packed up and witnessed a real girly fight on the beach! There were teenagers’ girls really going for it, rolling about in the sand and had to be pulled apart! That’s something you don’t want to see on a nice day by the sea! With my gear safely packed away, its always nice to only use one sail/board all day we tucked into yummy Lidl paella before heading for home around 9 o clock, the end of a top day – 5 Star plus :)
PS – the only downside of a near perfect day is the huge number of kiters now using this tiny lagoon, sadly most have very little water awareness and very rarely look around them before turning or jumping and it really is only a matter of time before there is another serios accident!I was nearly sailed into the shingle bank twice by kiters who had no idea I was there! I heard that yesterday there could have easily been another kiting fatality when a kitersurfer, apparently an instructor who should know better jumped by the moored fishing boats in 40 knot + winds, ending up on the beach so close to the concrete excess ramp, he was very lucky! No one wants to see kitesurfing banned from anywhere but these irresponsible kiters just to take more care for everyone’s safety.
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.squirrell.1/media_set?set=a.10219668696160593&type=3
http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms/
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