Speed Weekend
An ever-changing forecast made the trip to Southend difficult to call for those living the other side of the country, but those committed to the jury were rewarded with what must be one of the longest and flattest speed courses in the world. We may have had a good weekend, but it does leave you wondering what would happen if the trading standards could take the met office to court.
We were all sold on a day with 50knots out of the southwest; we ended up with the wind out of the southeast and only just into the thirties. Conditions I wouldn’t have normally headed to the Ray for, but now I’ve seen it can work its on the good to go list.
The Ray was busy with boards flat-out in both directions on the square course, several had made a 500 mile round trip to be there, and from talking to them later, its going to be a regular trip from now on. I took a couple of speed virgins with me, Shaun and Dave didn’t really want to leave a good days sailing at Clacton for speed, and particularly when I picked them up at 5:30am.
It was hard to get them rigging as they viewed the walk out to the Ray, I had walked out one lot of kit and was heading out with a second set while they still winging about the early start. The wind had filled in for nearly an hour before I really saw the boys on the strip, Dave was on wave fit, but Shaun had ditched his for my second board and sail.
After watching there first attempts I took them further past the course and upwind to the pier, from here we could get on the second course which had more angle. Everyone was wearing a GPS and this new angle upped their max speeds by another 5knots, even in this unusual direction it was still flat way off the bank.
The Ray’s speed strip disappears as the tide rushes in, so we headed home for another sail. The original plan was to go to Point Clear near my home, but that doesn’t work in a Southeast wind so we headed for Clacton. We Put Shaun out to test the wind, but no sooner had he hit the water the wind started to swing and drop bringing our sailing to an end.
How quickly things change, Dave and Shaun all of a sudden want to be in the 40knot club. Dave had managed 32knots on his wave kit while Shaun pushed over 35knots on my set-up, not bad for starters, but even better to see them so keen for another session.
I’d like to thank Mike Horsfall for taking the Southend Pix, plus a quick apology for those expecting to see some video from the day. Yes I was videoing, but I had a small leak, not enough to trash the camera but enough to mess up the lens. If anyone knows of a small waterproof head cam, let me know it would make life a lot easie
Read MoreWe were all sold on a day with 50knots out of the southwest; we ended up with the wind out of the southeast and only just into the thirties. Conditions I wouldn’t have normally headed to the Ray for, but now I’ve seen it can work its on the good to go list.
The Ray was busy with boards flat-out in both directions on the square course, several had made a 500 mile round trip to be there, and from talking to them later, its going to be a regular trip from now on. I took a couple of speed virgins with me, Shaun and Dave didn’t really want to leave a good days sailing at Clacton for speed, and particularly when I picked them up at 5:30am.
It was hard to get them rigging as they viewed the walk out to the Ray, I had walked out one lot of kit and was heading out with a second set while they still winging about the early start. The wind had filled in for nearly an hour before I really saw the boys on the strip, Dave was on wave fit, but Shaun had ditched his for my second board and sail.
After watching there first attempts I took them further past the course and upwind to the pier, from here we could get on the second course which had more angle. Everyone was wearing a GPS and this new angle upped their max speeds by another 5knots, even in this unusual direction it was still flat way off the bank.
The Ray’s speed strip disappears as the tide rushes in, so we headed home for another sail. The original plan was to go to Point Clear near my home, but that doesn’t work in a Southeast wind so we headed for Clacton. We Put Shaun out to test the wind, but no sooner had he hit the water the wind started to swing and drop bringing our sailing to an end.
How quickly things change, Dave and Shaun all of a sudden want to be in the 40knot club. Dave had managed 32knots on his wave kit while Shaun pushed over 35knots on my set-up, not bad for starters, but even better to see them so keen for another session.
I’d like to thank Mike Horsfall for taking the Southend Pix, plus a quick apology for those expecting to see some video from the day. Yes I was videoing, but I had a small leak, not enough to trash the camera but enough to mess up the lens. If anyone knows of a small waterproof head cam, let me know it would make life a lot easie
