Christmas over, time to get in the water!
Um, WNW today with an early afternoon high tide. Not right for Daymer and Bigbury looks a bit small to work with the tide up, so I'm going check out the bristol channel.

Maybe Doniford - there looks like there will be plenty of wind and waves up there today, with the wind just slightly onshore. Or explore some the other spots around there.

Giles

Sunday Wind

Wind's been a bit all over place with this low coming in really close. Currently it looks like settling on SW gradually going NW through the day (on the south coast anyway - the north coast looks too close to the low). There's a bit of disagreement about how long it'll stay SW.

If stays SW, Exmouth could be nice. If not then Bigbury. Just have to see how things unfold.

Better not weather watch for too long as the Exmouth tide is about 9.30!

Cheers,

Giles

Windy November

Thursday 19th November saw another forecast that was for Exmouth. Today 20-30 gusting 40 SW.
When the bar was showing the speed course was kicking, most of us reached 30 knotts plus. I recorded 34.56 kts, another PB for me. I am yet to get everybody Else's final speeds. However my PB came at a cost, another boom reshaped into a 'Z Boom', if your old enough to know what that is!!. Gear was 5.8 x15, 85l Sonic, 27 Select S07 27cm Fin.
Later in the day, I rigged the 4.7 on the 94 Kode. Out the back near orecombe for some waves. Again Exmouth did not disappoint, good logo high with nice glassy gaps between the sets. Some big jumps and a forward attempt. Again, pain and no result.
It was great to see so many windsurfers out on the water again, its a long time since I saw Exmouth this popular, but this is awesome. Keep it up the wind is still forecast for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Winter Course Race Calendar

Good news for all the long board sailors, Sunday the 22nd starts the winter race calendar. Please see the web site for all the other dates.
This year we are going to ask for SUB's, not for profit, just simply to allow us to offer a raffle prize draw for all the sailors at the end of the series. We will have a first prize of a Tushingham XR Race Sail, and a couple more little prizes. By asking for the subs I also think you are more likely to get out of bed and come racing.
There are no weekly costs for the racing, instead of asking for a £5 entry each race day we are going to ask for £30 for the year with no weekly charge.
I am hoping that we will get a minimum of 15 people that would give us a prize fund of £450. Thats a few good prizes, and you dont have to win the event to win first prize.
Get out of bed and come RACING!!!

First Race Date 22nd November 8:00am

Wow that was windy

After spending all morning travelling to Plymouth to go speed sailing, not getting the right conditions and driving back, I realised that Exmouth is the best. Why didnt I just stay here.

Saturday, saw the student windsurfing association hold there wave event at Exmouth. There were over 30 windsurfers out there and alot of good sailors, forwards and back loops all day. The wind swung westerly later in the day and got very blustery. I went out on a 4.7 and had no chance, I used Pete's 4.2 and was still stacked!. I have to say the twinzer is awesome but it would have been better if the sea state was a little less choppy.

Sunday at Daymer Bay

Hey, everyone, its going to blow this sunday and we are all going to Daymer for the day. Its forecast nw going n and daymer will be big 8ft, im taking all the demo kit and Gilles will be there with the Quad. Lets see what the turn out will be like.

November starting with a bang

Lots of wind and waves, Sunday onwards.

Looks like my run of sailing Bigbury is set to continue. Daymer could be good too.

Hopefully I can take some time off work monday or tuesday.

cheers,
Giles

Wind today!

But will it hang around for the late tide at Exmouth (16:20)?
Could be good with the wind going from Southerly round to WSW.
Other local spots like Sidmouth or Sandy Bay could work today. Sandy bay has beach at all tides and Sidmouth has a beach for low tide and reef that can work with the tide up a bit.
As for travelling - Bigbury is a bit onshore, Daymer probably flat, so as long as the wind's around I'm probably staying local.
Got a new board (Starboard Quad 86) this week, so I'm really hoping for some nice waves.

Giles

EDIT: Not enough waves at Exmouth, so off to Bigbury!

Free New Sail

Im giving away a free x15 if you can beat my logged speed by the end of the year. All you need to do is become a member of the blog and send me your downloaded GPS speed file. Ill check all claimed speeds and if you beat me Ill give you a new sail.
Come on give it a go, if you need to borrow a GPS come to the shop and ill lend you one.

Sunday afternoon at Bigbury

Been umming about what to do this weekend. I was hoping it would be better than it's turned out.

However, it looks like Bigbury has got some wind and a little wave to go with it. Hopefully, it'll start to break as the tide drops this afternoon.

Giles

Speed Training

Looks like Tuesday will bring good southerly's / south westerly's 20Kts. Tuesday Low tide is around 3PM looks a bit late for the wind. Hopefully Ill get a bit of training in for the Weymouth speed week. Anyone fancy a challenge on Tuesday, give me a call in the shop and Ill lend you a GPS.
If its not speed conditions Ill be forward looping, have you got the balls to give it a go. Come down on Tuesday and have a shot!!

End of summer blast

Well people its been the better part of three weeks of no wind. But things look good for Saturday 3rd October, Westerlies 25mph, get to the sea front early (10am). The tides are late in the day so the morning will give us the chance of getting to the back of the sandbar before the tide gets to low. Ill be out there along with Dave and a few more local sailors. Ill have all my demo gear with me so don't be shy, have a chat and go on my demo kit!. Ill speak to Dave from exepics and hopefully he will get some photo's on the Day.

3rd September LAST RACE NIGHT

The 3rd looks to be the a winner this week. Southwesterly's 20mph. So get the Slalom gear out.
I will lay the buoys out for a long downwind slalom and hope the wind stays as forecast.
Please come along and join in, its all for a bit of fun!

Post Wed/Fri review

As predicted Wednesday and Friday blew like mad.
Wednesday was the best day, until about 3pm. Waves were getting to about 5foot and I was on the Kode 94 with a 5.5 Storm, Pete went out the RRD 95 with ezzy 5.2. I sailed from 9am to 3pm. It was fantastic. I still didn't have the balls to Forward Loop, but did pull a Back Loop off.

Friday did not do it for me, it was very blustery and the chop was a real knee tester. After Wednesday Friday was some what underwhelming.

26th Big Blow

Its going to blow on Wednesday and Friday, see you all down the seafront.

19th Race Review

Good to see so many out again. Looks like the racing scene is getting bigger.
It was nice to see Toby and Eva visit for the racing.
Who was the T15 Guy, good to see the race night is getting out to different people and people on a variety of gear.

The Next and final meet for the year is on the 3rd September 18:00 at the duck pond.

I might organise one off the front if enough of you pressure me!

See you there if not before

Next Race Night 19th August

The next Race meeting will be the 19th August at the Duckpond around 18:00.

After Dave's intervention last time, I have learnt a lot about how to set out the course.
This time we will again set off with an upwind start. Also after speaking to Mark Taylor ( The fast one on the IMCO ), we have a different but also effecticve way of starting the race. We will have the slowest member of the race sail on a port tack allong the start line. All other racers can only cross the line once the marker sailor has passed. This meens the slowest sailor gets a little head start and all the others are left with the choice of fighting it out.

Anyway, Ill breif you all on the night, ( we may get a windy day for Slalom yet. )

5th August Race Review

This has been published on the Boards web site and will be in the Sept Windsurf Mag.

Wednesday 5th August was the sixth of eight race nights that have been planned by Waterfront Sports Exmouth. Since the beginning of the year the race night has been gaining momentum and now regularly has over 15 competitors. Our last race night was a huge success that saw Dave Hackford from Tushingham start the event with a very detailed talk about tactics and tuning, This was then followed by a number of practice starts to get the races in tune with how to start a race. We then had 3 races around a pre planned course and finally ended up in the Beach Pub for a well deserved de brief.

The racing was very close considering the diverse range of kit and ability. I would like to thank Dave for his help and all our racers for turning up and supporting our long board resurgence. It is fantastic to see young children from the local comprehensive getting involved and well done to Shane for making it around the course. We some how need to let more people know about the Long Board come back and get the children involved from an earlier age.


Results Race 1 Race 2

1st Mark Taylor 1st Pete Manfield

2nd Dave Hackford 2nd Mark Taylor

3rd Alex Burges 3rd Dave Hackford

4th Pete Manfield 4th Alex Burges

Marathon Cruise to Turf.

I am planning a cruise to turf locks, I have no date yet but am looking for people to register there interest by emailing me at info@waterfrontsports.co.uk Just fill the subject box out with Turf and I will get a list of users all talking and get the date sorted.

I plan to set off 2 hours before High tide from the seafront, sail to turf, have a pint and then sail back. This will be a cruise not a race, however I will handicap the start for the return leg, so first to the pub will be last to leave.

Dave Hackford Tuning Day

On Wednesday 5th August Dave Hackford will be joining our racing event.

He will arrive at the duckpond around 17:00 hrs and will be helping people with tuning and tactics. Please come along and support our drive to re invigorate long board sailing. All our race nights are simply fun racing and is open to all ages and ability.

For those who don't know Dave Hackford, he is in the latest Boards Magazine talking about the long board come back.

5 PM Dave Hackford --- Tuning/ Tactics
6:30 PM Racing Starts
8:30 PM Beach Pub for a pint and a chat.

See you all there !

Course Racing

This week we are course racing on Sunday 7th June HT 19.20 we will meet at 18.30 at the duck pond. There is not alot of wind forcast but we will still give it a go. The forcasts give differing reports xcweather is giving NW 8mph, windguru is giving Easterly 15kts, hopfully windguru is right!!

Please come along this is free to enter and open to all levels of sailor.

I have also published the dates of the following races.

Saturday 26th June Regatta HT 10.01 Meet 09.00
Sunday 27th June Regatta HT 10.47 Meet 09.30
Tuesday 7th July HT 19.40 Meet 18.30
Tuesday 21st July HT 18.54 Meet 18.00
Wednesday 5th August HT 19.20 Meet 18.30
Wednesday 19th August HT 18.42 Meet 18.00
Thursday 3rd September HT 18.54 Meet 18.00

2nd Course Race

Well this was re scheduled for the Saturday 23rd, but there was still no wind, some people turned up but it was just a simple mess around on the duck pond, we ended up at the beach pub for a drink and debrief.

Windy May weekend

Saturday saw some good winds from the southwest. Early morning saw Alex Burges clocking a GPS Speed of 32 Kts on the Duck Pond. Later that day he joined Mark out on the sea front. This cost him dearly with a huge catapult on his sonic using his 5.8 x15, ending up with a broken mast and boom. Mark was out again on his Carve 99 this time with his Simmer 5.9. He topped out with a max gps speed of 33.1 kts.

Seaton to Exmouth

Congratulations to Alex Burges who sailed from Seaton to Exmouth. Alex raised over £200 for charity. It took him less 4 hours to get to Exmouth and once there decided that he could not be bothered to get a lift back, so sailed it. It took him around an hour to get back !! and averaged over 20kts. Waterfront Sports are pleased to announce we will be donating £25 to Alex to give to his charity.

Opening Day

Saturday 2nd May, was the official shop opening day. The event was a great success and thanks to all that attended. The Mayor of Exmouth cut the ribbon shortly after 12 Noon, this was followed by drinks and nibbles and Dave and his Friend playing guitar. Later that evening Pete and the Wired band played for all in the Beach Pub. During the interval Dave also did a set, I have had a number of people say how much they enjoyed the events. Thanks again to Dave, the Band Wired and all that attended the evening.

31.45 Knts Exmouth Seafront

Saturday saw winds reaching 30mph, Mark was out early morning and hit 31.45 Kts on his old carve 99, if only his new futura had arrived, he may have topped 35. Sailing off the seafront I saw a number of sailors all giving it large, Sails ranged from 5m upto 7.5m, Alex Burges reached 28 kts on his sonic.

Force 2 Planning !!! How ??

Thursday Night myself and Alex Burges had a really good windsurf, how can that be I hear you ask there wasn't any wind! Well we had Raceboards, Alex was using a Kona Warp and I was using the new Starboard Phantom, we both had 9.5 Tushingham XR Race sails and planning, we sailed to Dawlish on a beat, cruising on the rail, then reaching, running etc. We just cruised around for ages. We are going to be doing this a lot in the summer, so if you fancy joining in just give me a call.
We have demo Raceboards Sails etc so if you fancy some great fun in a force 2 give me a call.

Speed Courses

Here is a map that shows the location of the speed courses.

When the wind is forecast as a westerly the Dawlish Warren acts as the break to allow the wind to blow as if it where off shore. It can often be a little blustery. When I sail this for speed it is often that I am well overpowered at the entrance to the river, however by the time you reach the warren, the water is like a mill pond on a summers day and you can sail this broad reach for hundreds of meters. I often sail 1m to 1.5m sail larger than people who would be sailing from the Queens Drive carpark area.

When the wind is southerly and the sand bank is showing the run along the estuary is owsome, the wind is uninterrupted as the sandbank is usually only a meter or so above sea level. As the wind veers off to south westerly, the sand bar still works but reduces reach angle.

Longboard Racing Calendar

Longboard Race nights at the duckpond. If the wind forcast is force 4 or less we will run the event. This event is open to all levels of sailor so please turn up for it.

If the wind is howling we will change to a full out slalom race.

The response so far has been good and it looks like we have a number of people who will be attending. With your help we should be able to get back to the good old days of the estuary full of sails instead of kites!

Please become a member of the blog to show your interest. look out for updates.

Thursday 7th May HT 18.30 Meet 17.30
Sunday 24th May HT 18.36 Meet 17.30
Sunday 7th June HT 19.20 Meet 18.30
Saturday 26th June Regatta HT 10.01 Meet 09.00
Sunday 27th June Regatta HT 10.47 Meet 09.30
Tuesday 7th July HT 19.40 Meet 18.30
Tuesday 21st July HT 18.54 Meet 18.00
Wednesday 5th August HT 19.20 Meet 18.30
Wednesday 19th August HT 18.42 Meet 18.00
Thursday 3rd September HT 18.54 Meet 18.00

We will also be holding a number of GPS Speed events along the speed course off the sea front.
Please call waterfront sports for more information or email Mark at info@waterfrontsports.co.uk
The waterfront sports website http://www.waterfrontsports.co.uk/ has all the latest information updated daily.