Jeri +2

Time for some sailing news. This post is going to interest windsurfers only, I should think. First I shall describe the spot, by means of detailing its differences from that international benchmark,  Sea Lanes cafe at Worthing. It's a bit like Worthing, in that the wind blows sort of right to left, and beach hooks round a bit on the right, sheltering the launch spot. And Club Ventos is the cafe. Got it? This is all very convenient for me, because I understand Worthing. Now the differences. The hooky bit is about three times the scale, with some rocks on the end. So, the sea swell running right to left wraps round the point and comes in in front, and the right to left wind wraps round the back and blows offshore from the beach... the beach slopes very shallowly so the waves come in in nice clean lines from about 200m out, and so far have never been more than what you might describe as "fun size".  Even I'm not scared of them. The water is 23 degrees.
That's all the good stuff. What's the bad stuff? Well, there's not much, but what there is is causing me a few issues. The more astute among you will have noticed the wind/wave same direction combo. That makes it nice and flat between the waves. It also means longshore current. Quite ferocious longshore current that means the minute you struggle or faff you are heading downwind fast. Offshore winds mean inshore wind shadow. The top of the break is windy. The bottom is not. And nor is the rest of the bay if you miss your return point.  It's just out of depth...
All this means one thing in Jackie's windsurfing cannon; walking. The first day I took a 4.5 and an 83 litre JP wave - bad choice. An 83l wave board is not the same as an 85l freeride board. I got swept all the way down to the dune, which is about a half mile walk. This morning I took a 100l Excite, I think it was called, slalomy sort of thing, and a 4.7m sail, but I set off early before the wind had built. I fell off in the windshadow part of the break and ended up walking back from the end of the village. This afternoon I went back out with a 102l freestyle wave and a 5m sail, finally got planing both ways, and I so nearly made it back to where I started. But the break caught me out again and I had to glug in through the white water dragging the board, with about 150m to walk.   It's not really fun. But it's an upward curve. Ta ta for now.