Crossfit v Windsurfing

The video above is an example of one of our workouts we did on Wednesday, with lots of kettlebell swinging! On Thursday after work we snuck in a windsurf session at Whitsands beach, our local near Plymouth. While the rest of the UK was snowing all over Plymouth just recieved torrential rain and flooding - funny, last time I sailed Whitsands it was exactly the same! So we changed inside the van and got all the kit out as quick as possible to avoid flooding our van, and trekked 10 minutes down the cliff. The waves were head to logo, but as it was low tide, they were just dumping on the sand bar and Whitsands being Whitsands, there was no break in the sets and a lot of white water. Due to the fetch of the beach the rip was pretty strong, so even though it was 3.7 to 4.2 weather, I didn't plane at all and it became a lottery as to whether you would wobble out between a big dump. Actually pretty scary sailing with rock, rips, bad visability and no-one but me and Stef out. Did I mention lots of swimming too?

Anyway I haven't sailed whitsands for about 3 months before this session, mostly because it is pretty fickle and the 10 minute cliff hike kind of puts you off. I have to say though climbing the cliff compared to last time seemed a doddle (still a massive shoulder ache), but I was fitter and those squats and kettle bell swings must be helping my legs and shoulders! Great to feel my training is paying off in at least some aspect of my fitness!

Afterwards I think the torrential rain made us go a little crazy and we mucked about taking stupid shots! On the way back I also made a calll to the local police as the cliff road was subsiding and had dropped about 3 inches-always good to know when there are buses going along that route!

Pleased to make the top of the cliff!

A Beasty Easterly!

Last weekend was 3.7 weather easterly winds, it was going to be freezing! We slept in the van at Falmouth the night before after an amazing curry with Frenchie and Steve King, it was about 1 degree. The next morning we drove to the South Coast, a spot I'd never sailed before, following the satnav to a farm (classic) before finally arriving at the beach. There was a nice rigging area in the forest which gave us a false hope of a warm session! I wore gloves but they quickly annoyed me and give me cramp in my forearms, so ended up wearing them just on my thumbs with them flapping around. I am still yet to find a good pair of windsurf gloves! Anyway, suprisingly the session wasn't all that cold, it was full power 3.7 weather cross-on head building to logo and really fun! I had some nice wave rides and crashed a lot of forwards and backie attemps-really need to do more jumping and improve! Here are some photos I took and Steve took after the session of Andy King and some others.

Yesterday we sailed Bigbury after work but the spring tides and the river killed all the wind after 10 minutes and underpowered onshore was not fun-I ended up getting pretty angry! However, a week on Tuesday, 6 of us are heading to Sines in Portugal to PigDog Surfcamp for 2 weeks of surfing-wooop!! Looking forward to some warmer water and nice waves :)