2 stars 4 sure. Better than nothing, but far from perfect...

Le Perron

Four days sailing in a row...................
I wish I could put it into words, but I really can't. Indescribable. I'll just leave you with a photo. Not my best picture, but the expression on my face says it all, lol! How good is it when you can be out in the boat one week then windsurfing the next! Love this place. Gotta confess, I had been getting a bit cranky due to lack of wind recently but I'm all better now. Good to see so many others making the most of it too.

When the swell hits our little rock in the English channel the variety of surf crammed into Vazon on this stretch of coast is absolutely mind-boggling. With near constant cross on shore winds from sun-up to sun-down blowing for the last week, it really becomes a matter of what you feel like sailing that day. A beach break that looked like Vargas friendlier little sister kept us content for the first day before it got crowded with surfers.  We jumped ship for the next few days to our second destination up the road to Tothers/ Gnarly suck ups a small shallow reef lying a couple 100 yards of shore with pretty similar conditions to the day before with a small and weak 3-4 ft West swell accompanied by a 5/6 WSW wind. Still some little peaks coming through just no push in the waves.  Good news is that the swell has picked up a bit to be around 5-6ft, the best conditions it has been for the last few days thanks to the last dying phase of  hurricane Katia.   A big outer reef A-frame peak called Le Perron way out in the middle of the bay had us bouncing back and forth between the two reefs.  It was firing in  sets but the sets were few and far between.  With a low spring tide and a big west ground swell running meant that the reef under the Perron was boiling with turbulence.When it's working and all the conditions come together it can be a very exiting wave to ride and can be incredibly dangerous if big sets are coming through, if the tide is low, the breaking wave can break on only a foot of water, or even dry reef (as it was today). Works best in cross /offshore winds from the south west. Tends to receive distant groundswells and the best swell direction is from the west.  Best around mid tide when the tide is rising.  Hutch and I hit the reef first playing safe on the shoulder to check out how deep the reef was only to confront a nice lump of granite on my first drop, a little unnerving. The wave was logo, sometimes mast high. Took a bit of time before I got the hang of the wave. On the other hand Hutch was right in there like a rat up a drain pipe. The Perrons made up of 4 to 5 reef heads with the swell snaking its way through and breaking on the heads causing the wave to break in different spots.   Finally there I got some nice rides , not epic. But after many days with small waves I was stoked to get some bottom turns in.

The surf was flat, but the vibe was good.

As I haven't been wavesailing for a little while, my hopes were on for Wednesday's sail. The forecasts was great. Side On condition and about 6 Beaufort all day long . All morning it was raining, but when I arrived the sun started shining. Hit the water with Stu Martel and we ripped around for a while then it started to get a little boring with no waves so Stu broke out his Gopro for a bit of fun. I took the Gopro hd head cam out to the water, but me and film....I cant find the time to edit some.
So I quickly threw this together for now....  Check out the Vid ......and the nice 360 at the end. (Turn your speakers on great sound track to Tiesto) 
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Nothing big nothing great but Good Fun

Had fun sailing the last few days with the boys.
Pumping wind all day everyday for the last three days.
Nothing big nothing great but Good Fun.
The hunger for better waves still needs to be cured.
Fun small waves on Monday..
Good waves on Tuesday with some sets coming through at 3/4 mast with gusty winds..
Today flat on Tothers, head high on the beach..

Two shots of my good mate Matt

Sand waves

4,7 AND SOME WAVES

Rigged up and ready for some action

I am sitting in my nice warm home listening to the powerful wind blow against and around the house, breaking branches and tossing my neighbour's garbage all over my lawn.

  The first battering of the season will be arriving courtesy of an Atlantic low pressure system winding itself up to the south west of Guernsey tomorrow.  Autumn opens it's doors with strong winds sweeping the islands, fast ferries cancelled, fallen trees and possible structural damage.  It's time to break out some new toys and hit the beach. Surfers.....There isn't any! Hooray! Awesome! Most excellent!.  Lumpy, junky slop, wind swell about waist to head high. Nothing to it. But heah, we can't complain. Last week my new 2012 Ice HD's sails and masts arrived from North and it was time to break them out of their wrapping and put the 4.7 to the test. Here's what North have to say about the Ice......

 One happy owner of the 2012 North  Ice HD
 "Ice Age"

  Numerous changes are hidden in detail. E.g. the shorter luff has a very positive effect. Everything feels more compact and at the same time more neutral making the ICE easier than ever to handle. The handling has improved significantly, without loosing any planing power of its predecessor thanks to a modified luff curve and optimised profile distribution. It is unbelievable how just a few centimetres can make such a change!

Enough of this advertising and time to put it to the test.
The forecast for today read:

Weather : Bright or sunny periods at first this evening with the slight risk of a shower, then becoming cloudy with a little rain or drizzle by the morning.
 
Min : 15 °C

Visibility : Good, locally moderate to poor by the morning.
 
Wind : Southwest fresh F5 to strong F6, increasing strong F6 to 7 after midnight.
 
Open Sea State : Rather rough becoming rough

Haven't been on the water in 20 days. After many weeks without any really good conditions, it looks like the next few days will finally deliver some serious action. It is worth the wait because today was sweet! Wind and water wasn't too cold and I was on a 4.7 with an 80L board. Jibing was lush on the inside but a little bumpy on the outside with some nice ramps to be had even though the waves were a little confused down on the beach, the hunger for better waves needs to be cured. Hopefully that will come tomorrow. With tomorrows forecast looming many a desperate Guernsey windsurfer is looking to take a day off from work to get a day of perfect conditions. After about four hours out in the waves I was hungry, exhausted and very pleased with myself after pulling off a few sweet forwards and some nice bottom turns in the confused surf.

My sailing buddy Matt was also out with his new kit, a new Carbon Art wave board fresh out the costumes shed and nicely finished off with a new Hot Sails fire. Carbon Art's total focus and vision is on designing and building the best windsurf and surf boards. Headquartered in a small and somewhat hidden factory near New Plymouth in New Zealand, Carbon Art manufacture precision windsurf and surfing boards for the world to enjoy. The founder, James Dinnis, built his dream business from a surfing lifestyle to become one of New Zealand's most industrious brands.

Carbon Art New Zealand
Matt and and his new stick.
The big man was super stoked to get his hands on his new piece of carbon 

Nice, warm afternoon, with heaps of people on the water and a general good and relaxed vibe. I guess for us Donkeys this was the last sunny day of the year.....and of course everybody wanted to enjoy it, cause our summer sucked, weather wise.  Great session to break my drought.

Battle of the elements

 "hot versus cold"
quenching the flame by fluid advection

The boys checking out the new stick

The walk home

Oh yes I forgot to mention.....

The new sails  "It does exactly what it says on the tin"      

It has finally arrived...been a long time since I had a ear-to-ear grin on me face following a great sess in the water.