Friday 27th September– Windsurf **** - Point Clear – sunny with rain later.

F2 282 Ride with Tushingham X-15 7m and 36 fin.

F2 Zantos 295 with 38 fin and Tushingham Lightning 7.8m.

Fin – 30.51 knot max., 29.14 knot ave., 16.26 knot hour, 22.71 knot mile, 80 km., 18.58 knot alpha.

It was a bit of a risk going to Point Clear today as the better wind was not supposed to arrive until the afternoon and with high water around midday you needed to get there early. We woke at 7.10 and I checked Landguard weather station and although the WSW wind was dropping slightly it was strong enough to take the chance. We quickly loaded the van and were the fourth to arrive on The Green at PC at 8.50. With 20 mph of wind measured on the beach I thought it was enough for my 7m and the 115 lt. but sadly I was wrong:( It was a pain getting out and took a couple of tacks to make it out to open water as there was defiantly not enough wind in the lagoon at this point and not enough out either! So, I wobbled back and quickly rigged my 7.8 for my 133 lt. and then I had a bit of a mare:( I got sand in my extension and in my stupid attempt to clear it punctured my sail with the deck plate, I couldn’t believer it!!! I then had a nightmare trying to tap it as I couldn’t dry it enough and throw a bit of a wobble!!!! Still after all this fannying around the wind had built so I headed into the Laggoon and had loads of nice runs, sadly nothing fast although I did manage 29 knots which I think is a record for my super slow 7.8 Lightning, not my fastest sail! I did manage to hit the bottom by the shingle bar and was lucky not to break anything! With it being near high tide it had chopped up so I decided to go for a wander beating over three miles up the River Colne all by myself:) It was choppy going past East Mersea but calmed down further up the river and had a great time sailing up to the first corner gybing by the red flag which means the army firing ranges were in use and there were hundreds of waders waiting for the tide to drop. After several long runs and with the wind increasing, I thought I better head back. It was worth four stars alone the four-mile reach back ending up at the bottom of the lagoon! Slalom sailors Shaun and Simon were going well but I had had nothing to eat all day so headed back to the van to see how Mag was and to have my porridge from breakfast! Feeling refreshed I headed back out into the lagoon on my smaller kit hoping to break 30 knots! I think I had missed the best of the water conditions as Shaun and Simon had got some good speeds for Point Clear. You had to beat across the lagoon then sail back towards the shingle bar and hope you got a good gust but as usual the fastest speeds were not in the flat water but by bearing off into the really choppy water, gritting your teeth and holding on! In the end I manged to break 30 knots three times with wind gusting to 25 knots but could not hold on for ten seconds! So, a good day at PC I have had better but covered nearly 50 miles so cant have been all bad and we do it all again tomorrow:)

 https://www.facebook.com/stephen.squirrell.1/media_set?set=a.10216767207305185&type=3

 http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms/