Nomad away Day Portland

Tell us all about what kind of day/ weekend/holiday you had.

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Adrian
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Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:29
Location: Swindon

Nomad away Day Portland

Post by Adrian »

I had a long weekend planned for Mid or West Wales but given that the forecast was for gales or severe gales and heavy rain I decided to go to Portland and join the away day on Sunday. I want to do a bit of windsurfing this year so put a windsurfer on the roof as well as my kites. Just as I was leaving on Friday my new 15.0 kite arrived so despite the high winds forecast for Saturday and Sunday i threw it in the van anyway.

Friday was about 10 degrees and sunny and felt suprisingly warm and in fact in full winter gear I was slightly overwarm in the shallow water as there were no full immersions to cool you down. The tide for Friday was 0.0 at low water so i was always intending to kite and spent a very pleasant afternoon blasting on my 12.0 - think 6.0 for windsurfers before the wind dropped a bit and I decided to give my new 15.0 a run - think 7.5 to 9.0 in windsurfing terms. Inevitably the wind immedaitely picked back up and it was quite a handful but it gave me an idea of its range and I scored 4 powered up hours for the day.

Saturday dawned windy and very wet plus about 7 degrees so we had a leisurly morning bird watching before I went to the beach in the afternoon to get the best of the temperature which was now varying from between 8 and 9 degrees as a high. This means kiting for me as I can wear gloves comfortably and the tide was still very low but probably just acceptable on a windsurfer except the bar in front of the boat yard which was ready for any unwary booms or fins. The wind was very gusty and I was getting towards the limit on a 7.0 - think 4.0 to 4.5 at times and it was always challenging. Given the temperatures I just did 2 hours but the water was pretty empty for a windy saturday.

Having checked the forum I realised I was going to be the Nomad Away day on Sunday so we had a relaxing breakfast before visiting friends and then getting to the beach for midday as i had decided to kite if no Nomads were present and i prefer to kite low tide at Portland. I checked the boatyard but did not see any Nomads so launched my 10.0 in nice 14 degree sunshine and 20mph wind. An Hour late and it was getting flukey and I decided to change up to my 15.0 which by the time I had rigged was underpowered but planning comfortably. Another hour saw me as the last person on the water but barely able to get going and in kiting you are either planning or sinking so packed up. Very disappointing as I could have been on the water earlier but the local forecast had given 20 mph all day before picking up in the evening. A beautiful day temerature wise but terrible wind wise. A windsurfing friend arrived at 3 just as I was leaving. He lives at Yeovil and with the sun and wind had rushed to the beach gettig real trouble for abandoning the decorating. His anemometer showed 0 mph gusting 6 mph I last saw him rigging whilst muttering............

Overall a good weekend but not at all what I expected.

See you on the water soon.

Adrian
Having fun on the Dark Side

The Dark Lord
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