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Monday 16th July – windsurf ***** Tanners Lane, The Solent – sunny and warm

F2 Ride 282 with Tushingham Lightning 7.0 m.

24.29 knot max., 22.89 knot ave., 15.60 knot hour, 19.53 knot mile, 77.30 km., 16.51 knot alpha.

Our third and best night near Hurst Castle just outside Keyhaven, great the weekend is over as it was lovely and quiet this morning:) Mag and I did our exercises in the sunshine with a lovely mackerel cloud sky, then breakfast and relax with our books. With a breeze forecast for today and tomorrow in the afternoon and my original plan was to drive to Portland but in the end, I couldn’t be bother to drive another 60 odd miles. So, after finding a Lidl in nearby Barton on Sea as we had no food left we made a small detour to Brockenhurst in the New Forest to see the horses but it was very busy so we didn’t stop and continued onto the ‘Secret Spot’ better known as Tanners Lane, a dead-end road that takes you to a small and very pretty shingle beach where you can park right by the water. We had to drive around a baby donkey that was lying down in the middle of the road! There were a few people with kids on the beach even though it had actually clouded over and was cooler than of late. The tide was already on the high-water mark and the breeze was about 12 mph, not quite enough for the gear I have with me so we had lunch, a yummy salad made by Mag. Then another windsurfer arrived and started to rig 6.5 as the wind picked up but still looked patchy close in but the local said there would be more wind out. My instincts told me to go with the 7.8 but I love my new Tushingham Lightning 7m so took a chance with that. I left the beach at about 3.30 just a few metres from the van and headed out into the Solent with the Isle of Wight about two miles away. I didn’t have any plan when I set off but the drew of the island was just too great so I headed over there straight away and with the tide running right towards the Needles I decided to beat up to Lymington just along the coast. The sea was very lumpy especially in the strongest current in the shipping channel and I was soon well past Lymington and had some blasting/gybing fun in the slightly smoother water closer in, but it was difficult to get any speed as the wind was not quite strong enough and the sea very lumpy but it was like a bath and it took me awhile to fall in:) I then decided to return and had a couple of top broad runs over to the Isle of Wight chasing down the few yachts that were out. I actually couldn’t see my starting point and over shoot it sailing to the wrong beach house! It was a short beat back and I had fun reaching back and forth close in, just like a normal windsurfer and managed my best times. I had been joined by four windsurfers and a kiter flying on a foil. It was great fun gybing in the flat water near the beach as the tide dropped but I decided to call it a day before I had too far to walk back to the van. I couldn’t believe the time and had been on the water non-stop the best part of 3 hours covering 48 miles with a top speed of 24 knots so another top session. I had expected Mag to be fast asleep but she was wide awake, in fact she was a little concerned she hadn’t seen me for ages and had had a bit of the munchies! The kettle was soon boiled for a welcome cuppa while my ger dried, then I pack it away and hopefully we will stay here the night as there are no signs saying anything to the contrary, fingers crossed the night high keeps away from the van! With more breeze tomorrow afternoon, I don’t know whether to stay here or perhaps had to Hayling, who knows, the world is our Oyster:)

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