We had an amazing weekend at National Windsurf Festival on Hayling Island last weekend, the wind didn't play ball but everyone sure made up for it in the party! Of the 3 or 4 NWFs I have been to over the years this was definitely the biggest! I was chuffed to get picked by Jenna in the night windsurf too-so we covered ourselves in glow sticks and raced with all the other kid/pro combos. Unfortunately there was no wind at all, really glassy, so for me it was more of a paddle race than a night windsurf! Really fun though...
Images courtesy of Dave White,this is day 1, good to see so many keen people on the water!
I thought the best fancy dress of the night was definitely the Smurfs!
We also have our new Simmer Icons! They look awesome and I can't wait to try them, we haven't had any wind in Cornwall this week but as soon as we do I'll get some pictures out. We did have a 3 surf weekend and a good surf Saturday morning though-finally a bit of size to the swell, but still waiting for a bigger swell to come this winter!
So I did it! I had a time of 2:47:35, which was 160th out of 250 entries, and 13th in my class (females up to 40). I didn't really know how fast to take it, especially as I had a lot of people saying Perranporth was the hardest one in the South West and 'a bit tough' for my first one! I had various advice such as powder in my socks, sweets and energy bars taped to my bike, how to take my wetsuit off as I ran (which really didn't work as I was wearing an overhead zip surf suit-which would probably explain my 'lunch break' long transition time!) and don't start the swim at the front or you will get swum over!
I heeded the advice, and I took the swim easy, however what was meant to be an 800-1000m swim surf dependant, was announced to be 1500m as the surf was so big it was breaking too far out! We swam out, round a buoy, across to another buoy and back to the beach, running about 500m to the transition area. The swim was my strong point, and I was fairly comfortable with the surf, though it was a lot harder with everyone kicking around you and being out of breath whilst being held down or body surfing on the way in. 40-50 people dropped out on the swim straight away and were rescued thanks to the RNLI.
The 38km cycle was better than I thought it would be despite my really tasty energy sweets falling off my bike before I had any! Ha ha! There was one big killer hill at the beginning then the rest was up and down, big downhill into Perranporth and then another lap. My chain came of twice in the bike due to the bumpy roads and changing gear.
The 7.5km beach run was the worst. I started with a double stich and immediately was put off by the rough sand. We had to run up over the cliffs, back down and then to the end of the beach and back, which was luckily a lot harder flatter sand. I took a bit long on this due to my double stitch but ran it off towards the end!
Overall, an amazingly organised event and I was pretty proud to have finished in the time I did with about a week's training. Next time I will train harder, as I have to say the Triathlon bug has bitten!!
Hellooo!! Just a quick one this time. Since my last blog, I have signed up to a Triathlon! I have wanted to do one for a long time at some point in my life and the Perranporth one seemed to pop up as a few friends are doing it too. After lots of indecision and hoping I wouldn't miss a good forecast in September, I finally put my money where my mouth is and paid to enter! Its Sunday the 2nd September-yes next Sunday!! I am a little worried I haven't trained hard enough as its been windy and there has been a bit of swell-and I am not going running if I could be on the water instead! I figured it would be super hard, but you only live once and it will get me in shape for the season! So if you are in Perranporth area next Sunday come and cheer me on from 10am, I will be beasting myself round a 800-1000m surf sea swim, 38km hilly bike and 7.5km dune run urggghhhh!! Any tips let me know-I will need them! :)
In terms of sailing-we had a really good surf at Whitsands on Friday and three windsurf's over the bank holiday at Marazion and Gwithian. Not amazing really, much less windy than forecast for the Saturday and pretty small waves but we had loads of fun with friends! Looking forward to some proper swell coming...
Firstly, sorry it has been so long since I last blogged! This has been due to two reasons: 1. Not much wind so not many sessions, 2. I have been super busy as we have a new van! Amazing news!
So, below are some pictures of our new van through its conversion. Loads still to do and it seems to be absorbing our money but it is a lot faster, cheaper and more efficient than our last van so it should mean many more trips to the beach!! I could give loads of advice on building vans but I think the most important bit this time has been good insulation-this time the temperature is so stable inside we don't have to get up at 7 in the morning on a hot day like in our last van! Should be loads better for the kit too....
Here is a video we recorded while testing the bed as we are putting a timelapse together of the whole build. As the bed is adjustable, the pin didn't locate properly the first time we tested it, have a look at the result!
Windsurfing hasn't been too brilliant over Summer-we have had lots of frustrating conditions of about 12-15 knots, not quite enough for small wave gear but too much to spoil any surf. Very frustrating whilst watching the World cup! It has been perfect for slalom if I had the kit! We have grabbed sessions where possible, a few flat water ones, a session at Fistral which was interesting with the 200 odd beginners! (We weren't hated on too much and stayed out their way!) Yesterday we had a really fun session at Gwithian on 5m, unexpected and really fun despite small shoulderish waves. We also had the wettest session ever at Whitsands during the rainy period, where if you know the beach you will know the mission of a walk down and back up the cliff for 15-20 mins, with a river running down it at the time due to the rain!
This is Whitsands cliff, bit of a shoulder mission carrying windsurf kit down here!
Classic small summer waves, fun in the sun!
We have also been doing some spear fishing (or I just snorkel really as I am not sure I could stab a fish...the boys do the spearing!), but that has been brilliant for breath holds -getting some practise for the Autumn storms when they come! I wear about 8kg of weights with my winter suit making me neutrally buoyant so it is so easy to get to the bottom and sit/swim!
Perfect spearfishing weather, calm and clear
Anyway enough from me, I will update with more van pics and hopefully get some windy sessions in-hurry up storms!!
One last picture... our last couple of days when Pozo had reasonable waves. Amazing place to sail when its like this, such a playground, and so different to the busy choppiness it can be when there are no waves...
So we had some really good wind, and finally some waves! I had a really good sail here the past couple of days and I am so sad not to be staying longer as I think I would improve so much here! My backloops are getting much better and I had some really fun waveriding yesterday. I was fully overpowered on 3.4 though and pulled my shoulder again so today I am resting before flying home tonight-it looks windy in the UK for the weekend so my shoulder needs to get stronger again!
Today the guys are on 3.4, it is so windy but some really nice waves are coming in, it looks like a playground, though I need a 3m sail! Some guys are going to Ojos Garza, a side shore spot, if I had longer here I would join them, oh well!
Anyway here are some pictures. Hopefully the UK will be good for our first weekend back!
So 10 days in Pozo! It is great for 4.5 days leave, as now I have to be so careful with my leave as I only have 5 weeks a year, which is nothing to be able to train hard! Pozo looked liked the most windy destination for this time of year. We have had some good days on the water, the first was a little choppy but the others were 3.4 weather and better waves. I had a session at Vargas practising my forwards, then here at Pozo learning to backloop. No luck yet but I know what I need to do to do better.
Yesterday and this morning have been strange here with no wind and even some rain this morning! So we had a really fun day at a mini water park instead, and today a little wind but I am resting as I ended up yanking my shoulder a little on one of the slides so it feels a little loose, which sucks.
My Polish friend Justyna has had a really bad time here, on her second day she crashed a big forward and has broken 3 bones in her foot and a bone in her ankle. I hope she gets the operation she needs and gets back on the water soon.
Eva also had a close call with another sailor in Pozo. Sometimes there are really difficult conditions here to see and it can be pretty busy, it just shows how everyone needs to be so aware of everyone around them. This was a really good sailor so Eva was lucky he didn't panic and throw his gear away or try and jump over her.
