Will it be too much or too little

Marine Forecast: 49.5ºN/2.5ºW

Tuesday 13/12/2011

Morning

Gale warning with dangerous seas. Small craft advisory. Use extreme caution. Moderate long period swell.
Seas: W  12 feet at 11 sec.
Winds: W  force 6 to 7

Afternoon

Gale warning with dangerous seas. Small craft advisory. Use extreme caution. Large short period wind waves.
Seas: W  13 feet at 11 sec.
Winds: SW  F7 to gale F8 with some gusts to 50mph

There is s a whole 'lotta' wind coming this way, as well as stormy seas, rain and maybe a bit of flooding. The National Weather Service has issued a few warnings and watches which essentially mean a big storm system is working its way up the English Channel.  A wind warning is in effect until Thursday, changing to a high wind watch from then until Saturday afternoon.
What a couple of beautiful windsurfing days we have had since the last post! Last Wednesday was probably the best session of the winter so far for me. 4.2 winds, waves on the rise, what can go wrong? Well!!!

WIND AND LOTS OF IT

PLUS

A Few Wipe outs
That's what can go wrong

Another dose of big waves on Guernsey this week plus the arrival of big winds has ushered in the winter windsurfing season on Guernsey.  Proper winds and swell are hitting town and I finally can enjoy the sky.

Tuesday brought yet another big swell our way. The beach was closing out, T'others opened up for some nice down the line, but a little toooo windy to lay the rail down and botttom turn. Just three nutters out at Centers/Gnarly suck ups. Big logo/mast high sets exploding on both reefs meant for some survival sailing by Hutch, the boy Marshall and myself.  Omg, omg, omg, what an insane day I had today! Harness accidentally hooked in on a loop. Unfortunately, I didn't managed to un-hook  before eating it and hitting the water... Caught a few butt hole tightening waves before it got a bit windy. I'll take a day of BIG clean waves over 50 knots, but strong wind is pretty fun too. Tis the season and I can’t wait for some real wind     

Here's a pic of Hutchy sizing up the waves
  on his first run out

The sea of the sky opened up letting down a crashing of torrential downpour from its dark underbelly.  All of the west coast was drenched in this inescapable rain and all was grey! With the rain came nuking gusts of 50 knots that forced us to the shore line to take cover as the squall passed. Couple more runs out and we decided to save the energies for another day......    
Strong winds are in the forecast for the rest of the week so after several months of collecting dust, the small gear is going to get its share of use and abuse for the next week at least.


À la perchoine...