Good Evening. Friday night once again and didn’t that week go quick! Time must have sped up due to the nice warm weather or perhaps like me, you were rushing around trying to get all of those chores done they needed doing before the weather changes. Needless to say, I failed,  but not to worry, let’s enjoy the Weekend!

I guess this has been our Indian Summer and how odd that the Nor’East wind which we normally associate with damned cold winds, is bathing us in the last of the summer heat from the continent. Hopefully it will not be followed by the heavy rainfall that central parts of Europe have suffered from storm Boris (Becker or Johnson?) or the heavy snowfall that Austria was a little surprised to see in September.

What a year for weather 2024 has been.. 

At least it provided last weekend’s BWA event in Rhosneigr with good wave sailing conditions. Congratulations to.. ahh, I won’t say who won just in case you’ve not watched it as yet,  but I will say that Andy Chambers, who was here on Monday (sporting a suspected burst ear drum..) to do a quick run through on the new Goya / Quatro / KT kit,  did mention that he’d had a hard round against Hove local Lucas Meldrum. We did also discuss, briefly, the age of the Pro Fleet, as a large number should now be in the Masters class but that would leave the Pro’s rather depleted. Anyhow, you can see the event’s highlights via Windsurfing TV or on You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTU7LiK7K64

But getting back to the kit that Andy brought a long, it was interesting to hear about the way that the carbon lay up in the Goya Banzai sails has made such a difference to their performance, as Peter Darkin who purchased a set of the Banzai Max Carbon’s testified, in a previous Friday night ramble. Andy reckons that the Banzai Iris, which is the ultra bright version and only has the carbon lay up in the above boom panels with std. X-ply beneath, is worth the extra £’s , as it gives the sail so much more range, which served him well in Rhosneigr (without the carbon the top of the sail tends to distort when maxed, which creates rider ‘distress’ ). There’s a short vid on YouTube which runs through the sail constructions, if you are interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq7mQmjeqtg

He also mentioned that the new Goya and Quatro wave boards have eight layers of glass in the nose, which is like a built-in nose bumper, to lessen the wave sailors nightmare of continual mast impacts damaging the nose. The boards are all losing weight due to better construction processes, trimming foot pads where they don’t need to be thick and getting rid of decals and paint. They reckon it has saved almost a kg on a 95lt board. Looking at the boards every year, you tend to think nothing much changes, so while we had the new Goya One 85 Freewave here, we thought we would see just how much things have changed since the 2006 version that happened to be sat on the used rack. I don’t think the picture does the ‘difference’ justice but believe me,  a lot has changed in 18 years. 

Moving onto the KT foiling kit, he also said that the Ginxu 2 wing board’s step has been reduced in depth which has made the board far more stable at ‘rest’ (experienced riders found that the first version was difficult to balance on ) but does not appear to have detracted from its ability to plane early and get onto the foil or from the ‘feel’ the rider gets from the foil due to the thinner board depth between their rear foot and the foil, which is why the step is there. This better stability and ability to take off early, has now made the board an option for a newcomer in the lighter weight bracket, as 92lts is the largest size. Progress is a wonderful thing.  Other things that newcomers and seasoned riders will also benefit from in the range is dished decks of the new Dragonfly SUP boards, which is added to lessen ‘foot wonder’ (keeps your feet in the right place) and improve foil feedback to the rider. New underside shapes have increased performance on the down winders but displacement hulls are notoriously ‘twitchy’ prior to the board actually moving, so Andy also mentioned that if you are looking at buying your first board of this type, he definitely recommends the Surf as the double concave underside shape is far more stable and will enable faster progression if used as a SUP / Downwind foiler or as a super light wind Wing board. Andy said a lot more things but that’s all I can remember, without  getting it wrong!! Many thanks to Andy for keeping the appointment, even when he had to be back in Bournemouth by mid-afternoon, for Medical Attention! More Pictures of the boards etc. can be seen on our facebook page, as only one can be posted on the blog. https://www.facebook.com/Surfladle/?locale=en_GB

Ok.  I think that is enough rambling for this evening, as the days are so much shorter and I need to be out in the light, for at least an hour! So, time for the weekends weather.

Saturday, the Nor’East wind is backing to an East 5-16kts during the morning and then becoming East’Sou’East  7–17kt for the afternoon, so wind sports look possible. There’s no rain forecast but some of the weather apps have a 30% probability during the early hours, so it might be damp when you pull the curtains back.Top temp is 22°C, so make the most of another warm day in paradise. Tide is High at 14.15hrs on a rather large 6.7m, so apart from a bad wind direction which will mess up wing foils, it's a good tide to be out on the estuary (and a good thing that no heavy rain is due!). Glad that the BHF riders will have a glorious day to enjoy their 60 mile trek from London to Hove Lawns (nothing like a nice headwind for the final few miles along the seafront!) and we hope their efforts raise a good amount for the charity.

Now for Sunday, for which there are differing forecasts. The Met currently say that the day starts off with a few light showers, clearing by around 10am and then a possibility of a light shower in the afternoon. Windguru show rain for pretty much all day (that may not please the flyover Boot sale organiser.. hate to think how much they miss out on if they have to cancel) but they do agree on the wind being East’Sou’East in the morning 8-20kts and then Sou’East in the afternoon, 8-18kt. Tide is High at 14.58hrs on a 6.4m. I do hope the Met have the rain forecast right! Next week sees a change, for the worse. 

And that’s that for another week, you are free to go.

Do have a great weekend and party till you drop, if you can (if only!). 

Cheers.