Saturday 23^rd May – windsurf **** - La Franqui – cloudy to start but clouded over in afternoon – wnw 35/50

Fanatic speed – 5.2 – 20 cm fin – 40.30 kts :)

Woke just in time to take a pic of the Bages sunrise before returning to bed!!! This isn’t the spot to relax and do your exercises because of the wind so we loaded the kit in the van and headed to La Franqui, 16.5 miles away.  We arrived on the beach at 11.30 and were treated to large birds of prey flying low over the sea and beach – can anyone help - we were pretty sure they were Ospreys??? Mag spotted four together later; they even landed on the beach! My plan for the day was to try and get 5 runs in after two bad days – so not much really. I thought I would be better on my Fanatic 80 as it is easier to sail than my speed board but on taking my gauge to the water and with wind gusting to 52 mph the decision was made for me 5.2 on the speedboard and hope I could get it going today! Much to Mag’s dismay I put my weight jacket on right from the start with about 4k of lead and sailed all day in it and didn’t drown while waterstarting!!! It’s the first time I have used it and it seemed to help. The wind was very square making getting back easy – even for me if it was windy enough! I spent the morning just getting enough runs in for a decent average. nothing fancy just concentrating on not spinning out and peaked at about 37kts which I was pleased with, but sailing with lead is knackering for an old boy so I stopped for a rest and a drink but passed on lunch!!! In the afternoon with the wind still strong and square I was going for a mile, I found it best to start close to the beach near the jetty and found getting going a lot better than the last two days:) I did nearly lose all my kit when a gust hit as I was starting off and I had to quickly swim after it – I was very lucky to catch it!!! The first mile attempt ended in a spin out crash but undaunted I spent all afternoon going for it and in the end had a couple of 33+ kt miles. Short of my 35kt best but great fun as there were some big gusts and the water was bumpy in places and you had to avoid the many sailors sailing back upwind! I had one hairy moment when I sailed over a half metre wave but stayed on board luckily :) On the upwind legs I tried to stay in my depth close to the beach but I did stray out to sea once which was scary and pretty rough and I was knackered! I managed to waterstart and slowly head back to the beach but couldn’t resist a short fast run and got 38+kts which I was pleased with.  Then on the way back upwind I again strayed out but managed to find a sandbank about a hundred metre’s offshore to rest before heading to the beach again and was now struggling to hold onto the boom as shot to pieces but as I approached the beach the lure of the flat water was too much so it was in the straps and I went for it bearing off like a proper speedsailor into the chop, my grip gone I lost the rig and for the second time today nearly lost my kit!!! Just managing to swim to it before it disappeared over the horizon!!! I managed to waterstart just and made it to the beach and checked the gps and was surprised to see 40.29 on the display – this might be a PB – I will have to check when I get home :) So a good days speedsailing and I was beginning to get the hang of it, need to work on my 10 sec and peaks will have to try sling shotting more and when not so knackered! It was back to Bages (seeing a lone Stork) to clear out the van of sand and to have the lunch I missed which turned into tea :) Then at 7 went on a 2hour walk to Peyraic along the Etangs   - beautiful and about 5 miles :) Back to the computer to check the day’s results and as usual a little disappointing missing out on a PB average by about half a knot and would have loved a faster mile – just got to hang on longer when I bear off! But considering how bad the last two days were this was a top day :)