Has Summer finally arrived.. can the SUN shine for more than a day.. will Beach Life return.. is this really Friday evening or has the HEAT of today got to me? Must be the Weekend!

As for last weekend, one nice day followed by one nice morning, with an OK ’ish afternoon but boy, was the Bank Holiday Monday a cracker, if you like torrential rain. Just be glad that this Monday you’ll be working..  or will you?  What a difference Sun makes to our little corner of the World .. gloomy for so many months and yet when that ball of light appears, everybody gets going again. The first calls about SUP have arrived and whether it be “my board won’t inflate” or “I’m interested in a paddling board for the family”, it’s as though life has returned. Please SUN..  stay out for a while.. we need You! 

If SUP is your thing and you are looking for a smaller surf style of board, here’s one that will have you trying other sports as well, such as Wind or Wing surfing or perhaps SUP Foiling. We have a used JP Foil Slate, which is a jack of all trades. The Slate is primarily a Surf orientated SUP but the clever people at JP designed a board that would, or could or can, also morph into a multiple sport’er. The Slate's CV goes something like.. it can SUP, Windsurf SUP, Wing SUP, SUP Foil, Wind and Wing Foil as well. Just one board covers your needs! Being totally honest about its capabilities, you would need to fit a Drift Stopper to limit ‘side slip’ for when it’s being used to learn to Wind or Wing SUP, but it’s not the end of the world at just under £100. However, if the other sports a Foil Slate offers are not for you, well, it’s still a great South Coast Surf SUP. 

You can see the board on the website.. https://www.surfladle.com/used-sup/jp-foil-slate-82-x-30-128lt-2022-used

 and if you fancy a Drift Stopper, it’s here.. https://www.surfladle.com/duotone-drift-stopper-for-wind-and-wing-boarding

Just a quick mention whilst talking Used kit.. if anyone is looking for an Ezzy Wave 5.5m (think it’s a 2021) we have one being traded in during the next couple of days (when you can get here Alan!). This blog could also be a bit long for some of you, so I will apologise now, in case you don’t go much further. Now, how about rubber wear issues?  

The Super Stretch materials now used in the higher spec. wetsuits have been a fantastic development, allowing the wearer to ‘move’ with very little, if any, restriction from the neoprene encasing you but they have to be a tight fit when dry, as they do ‘grow’ when wetted. We have sized people down at least one and in some cases two sizes from their 6/4 suit when buying a summer from the same company, as the 3/2mm material stretched so much! But there’s a bigger ‘but’ when it comes to Junior Suits. It has come up twice in the last week and ‘it’ is the fact that the Super Stretch can be an issue when helping youngsters get into the suit. In the past you could pull on a sleeve or a leg and get the hand or foot through but with Super Stretch the suits are a tighter cut and when you pull, it just stretches. You would think wetting the suit to start with would be the answer but if you’ve ever tried getting youngsters or ladies into a wet wetsuit, you know the suit tends to ‘stick’ even more. So, what’s the answer, if there is one?

According to Sola Wetsuits, who have been a long term UK supplier to the Junior market,  the way you deal with it is to get the child’s foot to the leg opening without pulling the leg up to the crutch, then grip the ankle opening and stretch it over the foot, before getting them to stand when both feet are through and then you start pulling the suit up, bit by bit, The wrist is always the hardest bit, especially with front zip suits, as you risk elbowing or punching the wearer in the face, if your grip on the suit slips in. Once again, get the hand to the opening with the arm bunched up and then grip the wrist opening and stretch it over the hand, rather than trying to pull the whole sleeve up their arm, then when both wrists are through, ease the rest of the suit up into place.  The man from Sola, Cullum, demonstrated this by managing to get a junior’s suit arm with a tiny wrist opening over his paddle sized hands (he’s a fit Cornish surfer) and then proceeding to get the suits tiny arm up to his shoulder.  I’ve added a picture showing the difference in the cuff size of a Sola std. 3/2mm 3XL suit and their SS 5/4mm suit.. it shows how tight the cut has to be to allow for the material growth when wetted. Hope this helps and glad for any comments if a better way has been found ( plastic bags have long been used to aid the entry of feet and hands when trying on wetsuits)  but if all else fails, try a tub of LARD! Only kidding..  I think it’s time for the weekends weather and those exciting Tide Times!

Saturday, SUMMER is still here and although a little cloudy, it  could hit a sultry 24°C (which will of course create Hose Pipe Ban warnings etc.) . Cloud is always likely when the temps sore and the ground is still a tad sodden, as upgoing water vapour is what they’re made of (or is it Candy Floss?) . Sea breezes perform better when moist ground heats up.. allegedly.. but they are not likely this weekend. Sea Mist is of course something else that can occur as the temps rise but fingers crossed, it’s also NOT HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND!  Winds are from the East’ish, with Nor’East during the morning 7 -12kt and then backing to East’Sou’East 9-15kts during the afternoon. Tide is High at 14.21hrs on a 6.1m, which will be great for River paddling but not good for Wings, as the estuary is ’sheltered’ in that direction, so it’s Pump Foiling practice time! 

Sunday, it could be that although a little more cloudy and slightly cooler at 22°C, we might have another SUMMERS day but there have been murmurings on the Net of thunder clouds developing and all of the lovely warm water vapour coming back down Sunday afternoon. NO forecast shows that at the moment but just thought I should mention it, in case they are right! The wind is East veering to South East 7 -14kt during the day and then swinging Sou’Sou’West 6 -12kt during the evening, in preparation for Monday’s Wet and Windy weather.. get the sicky note / email ready! Tide hits High at 15.03hrs on a 5.8m, so again a nice afternoon for a River paddle and possibly for a spot of Wing foiling practice, if the wind is strong enough. 

The forecast quoted is via the Met Office. Windguru differ slightly on the change of wind direction timings and have the temps at 16°C but otherwise they seem to agree. As always, all of that is here say, so don’t hold me responsible if they’ve got it wrong!

And that is it for tonight’s offering, apart from mentioning that the A27 Eastbound between Lancing and the Shoreham Flyover will be closed again this weekend, so expect ‘minor disruption’ (to be fair it was not too bad the last time they closed it). No delays expected during my stroll across the fields (aka The Bog ) to the Wife’s place of work on a Friday evening and quite looking forward to dumping the wellies in favour of trainers, for the first time in 2024!

Back tomorrow with the Saturday Morning Beach Video Shakes but for now, have a fun weekend!