Until recently, my UK sailing experiences have been Bray Lake, Club trips to Dale and a session in Langstone. After royally treating myself at Christmas to a trio of Storm Force 10′s and other rig component’s from the Bray shop, my endeavours with Gary M to get coastal will have been noted by some I’m sure. With a date in the diary for 17th, musing possible locations in the clubhouse Saturday presented a bit of an impromptu opportunity to head off to Christchurch Harbour on Sunday with Becki and Craig.
An early arrival just after nine ensured we had space. At £4.80 for 4 hours, or £9.00 for the day it’s not one of your better value locations, but it’s pretty and offers a nice grassy bank for rigging. No reason to get your mast stuck with sand (yes – you know who you are). Becki being fairly new to windsurfing found the harbour area shallows offered confidence building security, and a degree of energy conservation on mount and dismount she informs me.
With Craig standing in the water with hint’s and tips and quick changes for demo’s it was easy for him too between paddle boarding. Having hired a RRD155 with its standard fit 46 fin, the shallows presented a different experience for me! A bit of a walk out, a little sailing backwards on the nose whilst testing my navigation of the moorings later and I was then happily pottering up and down the front of Avon beach playing amongst the many Pico’s!
The conditions were almost on the verge of planing at times, but sadly, didn’t quite come up so between gusts it was a light wind skills day for me. Dave and Sue dropped by (recently relocated) for a social, and hopefully once they’ve settled in they’ll have James kit them out to play on our next visit too. A good morning was had – Becki got some good practice in for the next part of her improvers course this week. I’d like to head back again on a slightly windier day, but as the gatecrasher it was good to check out a location I’d not been to before. On arrival at Bray to drop off the board, I hear they were planing all morning – typical, but I guess that’s windsurfing for you…
Contributed by : Candice
