May Days

  • May Days

  • Annie's Walk

  • Kit for Sale

  • The Usual Plug

 

Raptor 1 of 3 Raptor 2 of 3 Raptor 3 of 3

May Days

Yes, May was windy. And we made a lot of it - culminating in a fantastic 6 day run of mad wind. There were quite a few good sessions, so let's start with a few of these.

Mid May saw a mixed group head for Kearney. The sun was out and the wind was good, but not howling. 5-6m was the general call and it was more blasting than wave riding. Raptor of course was practising silly stuff on the waves and was pretty much first out and indeed was still out when the rest of us drove off exhausted. Wookie, John the Drain, John Glover, Simon, Lorraine, Andy, Big Roberta and I came away feeling like we'd had a day in the sun.

 

 

 

 

Another Saturday found some people out at Newtownards - both club and car park. First out were Lorraine and Wookie, but after some initial planing Wookie at least gave up - although not before spending a very happy 15 minutes sitting on his board looking like thunder. He described it as 'the worst windsurf I've ever had' - just his luck  then that I had the camera with me...

Happy Wookie

 

To be fair he's fallen in doing some front to sail and there was no way anyone could waterstart in that lull. It was very up and down, one of those days when there's not much except briefly during the squalls when the sail is almost ripped out of your hands. So we were very grateful to Mr Wookie who in driving off immediately brought on a 1 hour spell of really solid 7m weather. I benefited greatly from this and then later on Pat and his ducklings came down and also had a good sail.

The third weekend of May had a number of people heading for Kerry for the big slalom event. Wookie took the whole family while Pat arranged his personal love cottage with room for 6. Indeed he was heard most of the week before trying to persuade people to join him - and even offering to share a bed with them. Clearly it was going to be a big weekend in Kerry...

Those of us left behind also had fun as our 6 day run started. Saturday was pretty good 6m weather. A little up and down but again the waters at Newtownards were awash with sailors. Most of the usual suspects were out but we also think we spotted Russell (or at least his trusty life jacket), Hern Dog, Tourettes and Mr Yeates. Bin Laden went out, had a good sail, and then left most of his kit sitting at the club - thank goodness for Ebay.... For May it was actually a tad chilly, but that didn't seem to deter quite a big crowd at the car park.

Sunday - day 2 -  then was a little lighter but definitely more up and down. Ming the Merciless, Ronnie Lough and Trevor 'babe magnet' Pollen were first out on around 6ms. They had a good sail but complained of it being on and off. Ming stayed and clocked over 32 knots so when it was on it was very on. In fact it was really 7m weather but frequent and sometimes prolonged squalls were coming through making life 'interesting' to those hanging on to larger sails. I hit a modest 26 knots while bouncing over waves wildly out of control on 120ltrs. Bin Laden by then had retrieved his kit and was once again on 110 and 6m. Even Pat's ducklings appeared, despite being deserted by their mother duck, and Dave 1, Dave 2 and Kate sailed. There was also a lot of water start practising going on in the shallows - clearly the ducklings are getting better.

It was nice to see Casper (Phil) materialise as usual just as most people were calling it a day. We've missed his dayglow life jacket and variety of antique equipment. Indeed his sail was a brief one as his antique boom started to break - although for once it wasn't when he was 4 miles out (and downwind).

Amazingly all the forecasts were agreed for Monday - even the BBC were issuing an amber warning. Naturally it was a Monday - they're always windy. However for once your humble scribe had booked a windy week off and was able to experience the life of Andy. It's pretty clear that the Aquarium is not a good tourist attraction when it's windy - as their number one star is never there on those days (just to be clear, when I say Andy is their number one attraction, I don't mean he swims around in a tank for the tourists). John was out good and early and was manfully hanging onto a 4.5m when I arrived at around 11 - well it was supposed to be my holidays. Trevor Pollen was next out - but he had a bit of a shocker - most unlike him. He'd unearthed a 4m sail he'd owned for 5 years and never sailed. He actually had to rip the sail bag open to get the sail out. By now it was windy beyond belief, Debbie was showing around 40 mph and the gusts were unbelievable. There was actually quite a lot of damage to boats at the club as they were rearranged on the concrete storage apron.

Who says there's no waves at Newtownards?

 

Mental Monday

It was so windy that Trevor was (correctly) worried about taking his kit down the slipway so I carried his sail and he struggled down with his board. Once connected he sailed off into the mayhem. Within minutes he'd lost his kit - ripped out of his hands while he attempted to waterstart. He had a difficult, but short, swim in with waves crashing over his head. His kit meantime had cartwheeled off to Pig Island where miraculously his sail and boom where intact although his board had a few more dents in it. It's quite a business repairing antiques like this - I mean his kit, not Trevor. So he retired a bit shell shocked to see if he could rustle up some creosote or whatever.

Graham

 

By now Andy had gone out on 4.2m and 80 ltrs and, after some initial struggles, was coming to terms with the conditions. He was joined by Graham, he of the Scottish accent, on similar kit. It wasn't easy at all and there was a lot of tail walking and ending runs without even attempting a gybe. The saving grace was that the tide was out so it was possible to plop down and recover after a knackering run.

Next out was me - on 78ltrs with a 4m screwed down flat. Clearly this was seen as the light entertainment, a bit like going to Rome to watch the lions eat the unfortunates. I noticed Alan Yeates parking up his jeep to get a good view of the annihilation. However the voyeurs were to be disappointed as somehow I managed to cope and started to get some good runs. But it was bedlam - if you're reading this in e-mail form go the the windsurfcraic site and look at the photos. Who says we don't get waves at Newtownards?

At one stage Andy lost his kit, ironically as he stood in the shallows, and had a mad dash after it. Very entertaining and fortunately for him with a happy ending. All he did was mash part of his fin.

By about 2pm it had become unsailable. The news said gusts of up to 80 mph and while it may not have been quite that, it was arguably the windiest I've ever seen at Newtownards. Even derigging required great care and much standing on things in case they took off.

While I retired to a hot shower in the club, Andy and Graham waited patiently and were rewarded an hour later by a shift to more west and a slight drop in the wind. When I say a slight drop, I do mean relatively. They then had an excellent sail, just a series of short runs from the carpark to Pig Island. Andy now had the conditions dialled and I'd say he was sailing like a pro. Being fitter and lighter these days he was the only person attempting and getting nearly every gybe. His control in  totally ballistic conditions were truly excellent.

Andy gybes in 40 mph

 

Respect Andy

 

In those winds anything flies

Well, what a day number 3 turned out - could it continue?

Day 4 and the answer was yes. Tuesday 24th didn't see any trees down or sailings cancelled, but it was another great windsurfing day. The sun shone and by 10am Alan Yeates was sent out as a wind dummy - and yes he was having a good sail on 5m. Soon Andy and Graham joined him from the car park while Caspar (yes before lunch!) and I rigged from the club. It turned out to be one of those days when wind came though in periods, so you'd get 15 minutes of good 5m weather and then a lull and so on. And then every now and then a real squall could pass by and winds went up to around 40 mph (according to Debbie). So it was interesting to say the least - and by the way the sun was shining too.

The first squall which passed by flattened everyone, so we were all sitting the shallows waiting for it to pass when we realised that one sail was still going. The wind had taken out all of us, even the excellent Andy Tease, and yet Casper was still rattling on. What a reversal - or perhaps he just hadn't noticed the howling gale?

That was the pattern for the day and it allowed to have some pretty excellent sailing. I was on 5.5m on 90 ltrs and had a ball, indeed there were a lot of smiling faces by mid afternoon as the wind started to ebb away. Trevor's Antiques came back out, still shell shocked from his hammering in the day before's gale and muttering that he now had 6 holes in yesterday's board - the Ulster Museum will be gutted.... And we had 2 Robbies on the water. Mr Wright aka Bin Laden was a late entrant while Robbie Richardson - better known as the sailing instructor - was out learning to waterstart. And indeed he was making excellent progress despite a lot of coaching from Trevor Pollen.

And so to Wednesday (day 5)  - and guess what, it was very windy again. After a few days of this lesser mortals like me are beginning to get an understanding of the life of Andy. And talking of Andy he led the charge to the water at Kearney. 11am saw him, Alan Yeates, Graham (did I mention he's Scottish) and me on around 4.5m and 80-90ltrs in some small but nice waves. And as the tide moved in the waves just got better. Graham, who was on his first visit to our premier wave beach, just let his jaw drop further and further as he began to realise how good it was. He did try and communicate this, but being Scottish of course we couldn't understand a word he said. In fact his jaw dropped so low that he started to look like Alan Yeates who always gybes with his mouth open - he says he's just permanently amazed he's windsurfing. Actually, I do have to give Alan major credit for one great jump which we all witnessed but sadly I missed with the camera.

Crash of the day went to Andy who was backsiding a wave (his words, your imagination) when it closed over him and ate him. Duly digested he was spat out on the rocks but somehow came away without damage to his kit - we forgot to ask about damage to him. Actually he already had some damage as he'd taken a lot of skin off his hand in Monday's real gales. We all had a good sail with some lovely gybes on the wave faces. The wind dropped off a little and I had to head off, leaving the others to do it all again as the wind came back just as the waves were at their best. So they sailed until they could sail no more and after that Raptor came out play.

Dropping by the club for a much needed shower it was mental there too. 25-30 on Debbie and Shipman and Ming were out blasting about. No waves though.

And so to Thursday - for most of us our 6th day of hard windsurfing in a row! Northerly this time and by a beautiful coincidence we went to Ballyturd (aka Ballyholme) on the day the BBC News announced it was one of 3 NI beaches which were unfit for bathing. Nothing new to us there - we've literally seen the evidence float by. Actually the TV coverage showed a windsurfer and kiter at Ballyholme - we wonder if it was one of us? That gentleman of leisure Andy Tease led the way with 5m on around 90 ltrs being the average. We were delighted to see Fanta Pants (Nigel) brightening up the water. Actually I nearly put a dent in his bright orange hair when he crashed a jump right in front of me (and on my wave too) and I only just missed him. Better luck next time.

 

Bedford Jumps

And again!

 

Graham was with us again, another one who doesn't seem to let work get in the way of his windsurfing. But we were also joined by John Bedford, Raptor and a few others. The wind was strong but gusty and at mid tide sailing was hard work but fun with some nice waves. The usual corner by the boat club was a bad place to go (although that didn't stop some people from going there) as there was a huge wind shadow. But there were nice waves to play in near the main beach and some big swells and stuff on the other side of Trevor's Knob. By 6pm the waves were very good for jumping and I managed to catch a bit of evidence with my camera.

While kiters debate - Bedford blasts

 

And then we all celebrated by eating Mrs Boyd's famous coffee cake. It was so windy that eating it was actually quite difficult (yes the cake was that light), but we managed to demolish it - so thanks to Nigel's mum.

So after a fabulous run of wind, it all ends on Friday. We've had gales, northerlies, westerlies, southerlies and sailed 3 different locations. And boy did I pick the right week to take as holidays. I'm going to book a week off around this time next year - and I suggest you all do the same and live the life of Andy....

 

ANNIE'S WALK

Another plug, and happily given, to Annie's Walk. This is the annual walk in aid of Marie Currie which the Loughridges and others are organising. It was noticeable how many windsurfers went on the walk last year and indeed it was a fun day out.

The details are :

Sunday 29th May, 2pm

Barnett Demesne

Adults £10, kids £4

Loads of stuff for kids and a nice walk in a good cause.

Go and support it!

 

KIT FOR SALE

We're used to seeing sailors come and go as busy lives and other interests get in the way. But we were particularly sorry to Lance vanish from the scene as we could no longer make jokes about his manly chest - which he seemed to bare at any and every opportunity. Sadly this fun has now gone forever as he's flogging his kit (not his chest).

Hi,

as a former member of the club i still enj getting the newsletter, due to work and family pressures my mojo for sailing has gone,  im looking to sell my kit and im open to offers, it consists of
1Bic techno 135L
2Bic techno 110L
3Fanatic wave 263 90L
4Kids rig,

1Carbon boom 145-185
2Amex boom 160-220
3Jumbo boom 185-235

1Gaastra 5.0 wave sail
2Ezzy infinity 7.5
3North 8.5

Iv a selection of fins, mast extensions, base plates etc, plus all the bits and bobs you gather up over the years,  im not looking to split the kit up  just need the space and a few euro to keep the wife happy, if you know of anyone intrested would you pass on my mobile and email,    best reguards,
lance owens
07802915691

Clearly Lance's use of punctuation and capitals has benefitted greatly from his time as a windsurfer. However it's good kit and contact him if you're interested.

 

The Usual Plug

You're receiving this because you registered on the www.mylyst.com / www.windsurfcraic.co.uk site, you can stop at any time, just follow the links.

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These newsletters are about the people who windsurf - anywhere in Ireland. But a lot of the action takes place at Newtownards Sailing Club - probably the largest windsurfing club in Ireland. For lessons, great beginner kit, to join or just to sail there as a guest and try it out, see the website at www.newtownardssailingclub.co.uk