6 categories

With our van being repaired I was a bit limited where I could go, there was a demo day at Dovercourt but the direction was not great there and I couldn't get my gear to Southend so when my mate Neil Hurrell rang and said he was coming to Felixstowe and he could take my trailer to the beach :) It was a miserable start to the day and the forecast of sunshine and showers with the wind swinging about picking somewhere to sail was the biggest problem.With no one about we ended up going to The Dip where the wind was cross shore mand fingers crossed that it wouldn't go off ??? There was only 5 of us there :( so Neil and Roger rigged 5.7, Swainy went for 5.4,James Bushnell 5.2 and it didn't seem that windy - after looking at my 5.6 it had a broken battern so I took a chance with my 6.4 on my 100 lt board and it was okay but the sea rough and not much fun :( I tried the 5.6 on my wave board but just couldn't get it going and when I slipped off - needed some wax !!! I put a hole in my sail !!! - small board/sail sailing is not for me unless it's on flatwater !! We had 3 sailors turn up but they decided to go to the Fludgers and with the wind now swinging all over the place and up and down too it was a bad day :( I then had ago on the old Xantos and got my fastest runs but it was hard sailing straight into big waves. It then rained really hard and the wind dropped so I called it a day. Thank goodness I am working tomorrow on a road closesure for the ladies British bike race finish at Bury - looking forward to it :)

2 categories

What  a day! Southend on top form - best conditions I have seen here for 3 years or more. What are the chances of that falling on Southend Speed Weekend - a big thanks to the organisers as it was a really well run event and deserves to have more people next time. I kept it old school today going for the 500m and resisting slingshots - pretty happy with the results a PB for me at Southend. One of the best days sailing for a long long time with Jim, Ian and Ant.

Mistral 41, EVO 6 5.8, Z Fins 20

Quite a few at Dip. Rigged 76/5.2.Wind seemed swinging off so Al, Paul and I(derigged) went to Fludyers.
Wind x-shore and sea OK. Good runs on 5.2m then as wind climbed 4.7m,an eventually 4.2m would have been better. Ian and Swainey joined us. Had to sit some out as so windy. Eased to OK then swung off shore and we all came in. Good fun and blast. Sea chop OK