Windsurf Britain

Maui Project Project (Part 2.)

2012-02-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure the cold affects my brain, and that it should be a recognised medical condition that gets treated on the NHS, ideally with a doctor's orders trip to the Caribbean, Australia or Maui. '

Until then I'll continue to suffer. And so will my windsurfing kit. Anyway. My 'thinking' as far as it went, was that I could turn an ancient (in windsurfing terms) board into something resembling a more modern one, simply by chopping the nose off. I had spoken to a few people about this previously, notably my brother who is a bit of a guru at fixing smashed windsurfing boards, particularly noses. I can't remember what he said on the matter, but he didn't sound keen. Something about the rocker line, and it being more effort that it was worth.

However, it's so facking cold that there's nothing else to do that keeps you interested in windsurfing kit. So I went ahead and did it anyway. Part 3 of this post will be the interesting one, the one where it actually gets wet and we see if it still sails OK. It would have been a whole lot more interesting had I actually bothered sailing it before chopping the nose off. But I did say there wasn't a lot of thinking going on...

I thought I'd post an update though, to try to show that it doesn't look that bad, now it's nearly finished (still have to sand the final paint down to give it that invisible matt finish. ) In fact I don't think it even looks that different from this Fanatic Freewave from a couple of years ago (and which was notoriously low nose-rockered. (The new Maui Project actually has more nose rocker than the Fanatic even now, which makes me quite optimistic).

Maui Project new dimensions

Width 58.1cm (unchanged, obviously)

Length 242cm (was 257cm)

Volume 87l? (guess, based on how much got cut off and sanded down) (was 94 quoted)

Shaper: Peter Thommen (sorry Peter)

For comparison, the 2012 Fanatic Freewave 85

Width 58.4cm

Length 238

Maui Project Project (Part 1.)

2012-02-04T06:44:00.000-08:00

No wind weekend, and temperatures barely above freezing. A perfect opportunity to clean out the van (and much needed if I'm honest). Things started well. I began to remove the rotting towels and sweep out the sand. Then I came across the remaining parts of my old Syncro 90 (snapped a couple of weeks ago). It was beyond repair (and actually half is in a bin on the seafront), so I got the saw to cut the back half into small enough bits to fit in the bin. Then I saw my 'new' replacement for the Syncro, a Maui Project Style M from (I think) 2002. A bargain at £60 on ebay, and in pristine condition.

Well, I still had the saw in my hand. Might as well use it.

Everyone knows the only real difference between an 8 year old 90 litre Maui Project Style M and a modern wavy FSW 90 is a bit of width and about 10 cm extra on the nose. I can't do much about the width, but how hard can it be to reshape the nose?

Quite hard as it turns out with saw. But get involved with an angle grinder and you're soon transformed into a master shaper.

I'm now eating celebratory custard creams and drinking tea but worrying slightly that I might have overdone it.

1 year ago

2012-01-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Just got these pictures from this time last year. One of my sisters friends wanted to do some "action sports" photography for a course she was on. Typically the weekend they visited was flat as a pancake and bloody freezing, with a max temperature of 2 degrees. It turned out that we thought that KBay might have a bit of wind and or a bit of a wave. It didn't, but the light was perfect for photographs. Somehow Jono and myself were persuaded to go out for 20minutes. Hat's, gloves, northerly, even without getting wet it was incredibly cold. Much, much colder than this January has been.

Not Today

2012-01-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

This wasn't today unfortunately. I still have a 3 week old stinking cold and chest infection, plus work. Felt like it would have been a nice day for it though. High pressure and cold air back this weekend, so it could be a while until we get back on the water. Hopefully it will be mild and windy for half term, we are off to Cornwall for the week.

DK1

pretty

gusty

always like the look of those sails, focus well too

turn more

sillouette

could be summer

lining up

Late

Tushy

even later

admiring (searching) for her Dad

Is my boom too high?

fun section

Shorebreak on a small day

Different kind of Late

Gregg tries to go windsurfing..

2012-01-23T11:54:00.000-08:00

Read on, as Gregg spent all morning "not" windsurfing...

10.30am "Highcliffe, always forget to go windsurfing there, I think it will be really good"

"Arse, bugger, too sheltered and not breaking so well, ok back to Southbourne it was 4.2 weather there"

"Bloody windy out there, but always go big, I'll rig my 4.7"

"Arse, bugger, bollox, bugger, bloody wind, buggering off bugger bollox, might as well de rig and go bloody home""

Arse, bugger, bollox, bugger, bloody wind, buggering off bugger bollox, now it's bloody sunny and windy again and Colin has stolen my gear, which is his gear, that I stole because it was on top of my gear, which is all bloody broken anyway, in the bloody van"

fun fun fun in the sun sun sun

2012-01-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

What a bonus today was. The plan was to go out in the afternoon, not in the morning. However BigSalty changed that. Highcliff was considered first, there were some surfers out but it was too sheltered. Kimmeridge would amass more time than I had on my hands. Yet again Southbourne was reliable.

At first it seemed like it would be one of those days of walking down the cliff, going out, swimming, walking up the cliff, walking down the cliff, going out swimming, giving up struggling back up the cliff. Luckily that only happened twice.

It was amazing how warm (relatively) it all was too, considering it was essentially North Westerly. Well if that is as cold as they get, they can keep coming (and with some ground swell too)

Cross off again, harder to pick out waves, but if you were in the right spot at the right time you could have some really good fun.

I used my 4.7 Simmer Icon and Mistral Twinser 82 which seemed to be the perfect set up, despite the gusty conditions. Using larger fins have transformed the board in less than perfect conditions. Amazing how much difference to the board changing styles of fins makes. More later.

I would love to upload some more pictures, but blogger is being really slow. More tomorrow..

x off dtl

2012-01-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

Good fun today, tide was low, wind was WNW and small long waves were coming in. Enough to get maybe 5 turns if you were lucky to coincide a good one with a gust of wind. It was gusty though, really gusty and all over the shop maybe 10 - 30 knots!

Actually Colin, not Gregg, my mistake.

Gregg and Colin were meant to be going to KBay, I opted out of that because of my Nephew's 1st (would it have been bad form not to go to this). Turns out they went to Southbourne (damn hard to get away from that place). Looked good loads of nice waves peeling in. I thought Gregg was on a 5.7 ( it was red and white), so I rigged a 5.6. Went out in one of the gusts, did a forward, then got completely annilated. I realise then that Gregg was out on his new Gun 4.7 and it was actually Colin on a red and white 5.3. Unfortunately I advised Ollie Wood to take a 5.8. He was not best pleased. I quickly changed to a 5.0.

Colin harrasing the surfers

I have to apologise to Colin a bit, as he caught two quality waves and was ripping it up, I wrongly it assumed he was Gregg. Gregg had a bit of a disaster of a day. He tried to rescue a kiteboard and then managed to slice his sail in half with it.

"Snapped"

Then he managed to snap his board completely in half, and spent the rest of the time paranoid about snapping everything else.

"This beats London Life"

There was a really good crowd out. Rob, Matt Wigham, Gregg, Colin, Brolly and a few others who I can't remember the names of . Noticeably absent was Coxy who had already arranged to meet his posh chums in the New Forest for some rambling pub fun. Last thing he said to me was "I can't go out today, don't worry though I've taken a bottle of whisky with me". I don't feel sorry for him though, I'm sure he has been out all week while the rest of us have been stuck inside buildings made of glass, brick and mortar with no exit sign.

"Not like you will be needing this anyway Gregg - you're going to be a Dad in 6 weeks

Used the largest stubbies today, certainly gave me loads more drive. Loved them - perhaps maybe I could have used the smaller ones since it was pretty bloody windy!

Oh, just in from Twitter (the really annoying site that lets you know other people are having an amazing time on the water when you are not!)

@TimoIR69Timo Mullen

KBAY again!! Wow KBay has been sooo good this winter! 5hrs in the water today,great jumping 4.7m & 77 Quad!Same 2moro!!

Colin will be very annoyed!

K4's Arrive in Time

2012-01-20T11:57:00.000-08:00

Well, we thought they were lost in the back of a Royal Mail Trannie, but never doubt Her Majesty's most excellent service. They turned up in time for the weekends forecast, and in that time I think they may well have undergone some form of mitosis.

These stubbies are the ones I am interested in, the are a little thicker and square in area. I'm hoping that they support my 85kg bulk better over chop and can be driven harder for jumping, but still retaining the nature of a twin on a wave. Theses ones below are the biggest set in the range at 18cm (not sure of the units of that?!)

I tried making a bigger set of fins before. Initial impressions were that they did give the extra drive I wanted, however the fit in the box was awful and ended up being a bit of a detriment.

From left to right.

15 K4flex, 16 K4flex then 16 stubbie and on the right 18 stubbies. The stubbies are designed to give more power and drive in more onshore/windswell type conditions, where the standard flex fins are for "thrashing the hell out of a wave " as the designer Steve Thorp put it.

Looks like a cracking forecast for the weekend. It's looking like a morning session on Saturday for me and a green card on Sunday for whichever time looks the best. Hopefully we will get some pictures to put up here, and maybe even a little feed back on the fins..

Boscombe Reef

2012-01-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

This is an old story, but one I have been meaning to write briefly about for a little while. It seems a shame that there has been no further development on the multi-million pound Boscombe Reef. In fact there has been un-development, people are actually forbidden to use it, I say forbidden, you might get shouted at by a boy in red shorts and a yellow T Shirt through a loud speaker!

The reef -dry!

This made me ask the question though. Apart from Lakes and Sailing clubs with Range Rover types, when are we actually forbidden to windsurf or surf anywhere. What reef in the world has a sign post telling you that you cannot use it. We use the water at our own risk, and look for the challenges it presents, so a broken reef that in the first place didn't quite work, is now a broken reef that is out of bounds. This, is quite very funny, but amongst Council wizardry, it doesn't quite surprise me.

Same swell not the reef

Boscombe sea front itself (despite the reef) is ever growing in popularity and is a pretty nice place to hang out.

Parking off season is also not toooo bad at 60p an hour. (another council scam, why is 50p not suitable. Who has a 50p and a 10p. Most usually just pop a pound coin in). The beaches left and right of the pier are probably working better than they have for a long while, even at low tide in a medium swell and far better than the reef ever did.

Maybe the sign forbidding it's use, is actually a cover up for the fact that there was no use...

Sorted surf school doing well

Sorted Surf shop have also seemed to embrace paddle boarding, as the popularity of their hire increases, makes sense as it's really accessible even in flat calm. The other thriving business is the restaurant/cafe Urban Reef. Which considering, it's location is really good enough value for money and serves up some really good dishes too. (Especially the first time we went there when their card machine was faulty) ssshhhh.

Paddle boards a plenty..maybe they will hire windsurfers one day..

Hot Hands

2012-01-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

I was late, really late. Another conspiricy, I pretty much missed it. After some very polite arguments, during some wine drinking, of windsurfing needs, musts and schedules verses normal life I almost didn't make it out, James definitely didn't make it out. Thats all Ill say about that.

I'm sure in the South Easterly it was really good all day, sunny, plenty of nice waves peeling in. Gregg, Colin and new recruit to the area Matt Wigham had already been out for a good hour on 5.3's. Colin was pretty excited about it all, so I gather that he had a really good time.

Shame I missed it all really, I had a few average waves and got bloody cold hands, they still hurt now. It was still worth going out though, otherwise I would be sitting here quite down, out and over it.

new K4's

2012-01-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

Somewhere in Britain!

Thorpy sent me some large and medium stubbies to try out, but I think well he thinks, he posted them without putting my address on. Think he has had too much speed.

Classic!

I'm looking forward to trying some bigger fins in my Twinser to see how much more drive they offer. That aside it is so quiet. Good for family time and investing in the windsurfing bank so I can make plenty of withdrawals when needed. We have also book a Cornish cottage for Feburary half term, maybe the fins are there...

2012 account open

2012-01-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

First windsurf of the year was pretty special taking all things into account. Not today (as in Tuesday's practical hurricane). Today's wind meant you could only move if you were in a car, you even had to peddle hard to get down Boscombe hill. There is a walkway between two buildings at school perfectly angled to accelerate any wind. Even a mild force 4 get's accelerated to a force 6! Today people were actually struggling to walk through it. But I'm writing about yesterday's windsurf. Today was a work day so no chance to get out on the water ( a perfect excuse really)

Yesterday served up sideshore longish wally (for here) waves if you were lucky enough to be in time with the sets, blue skies and relatively warm winds for the time of year.

Gregg's brother Jono (of Menorca windsurfing, multiple island games champ etc, fame) was visiting also. It's been a pretty long time since we have all windsurfed together, however the only bit of windsurfing equipment he bought was a pair of boots. Not sure quite what he had in mind. Small islands, they do funny things to the mind.

There was also a herd of kiters out (is that their collective, or maybe a flaggle, or even a teapot of kiters.) Well up by the Bistro they were getting some choice waves, and were looking well powered which helped sail size decisions.

Having not been on the water for so long despite months of good conditions, taking pictures was not really a priority, however Gregg damaged his brand new design 2013 prototype board so had a little time to catch a few snaps of the last runs of the day before the waves came. It was a shame we didn't capture some of the choice sets that were forming well and walling up really nicely.

Coxy trying to get a touch of my Simmer Black Tips.

Some good sections to smack, or even get smacked by!

Little red riding hoood, Mrs Cox and soon to be Author extrodinaire.. (although for some reason, writing under her original name "Lucy Clarke", no idea why?)

Jimbo

Jono, (someone managed to lend him a rig, wetsuit and board to go with his boots). Considering it was 8 degrees in January he reckoned he was perfectly toasty in my Simmer 3:2 he borrowed (plug)!

Westerlies

2011-12-30T00:28:00.000-08:00

Westerlies suit the Gower, happy to be home and disappointed to have missed the late autumn and onset of winter I've enjoyed the last couple of days!

Good to catch up with the guys, sail Horton and get some great waves and good wind angle.

I missed a Pill session with a hospital appointment to see the consultant-but I'm slowly getting used to the idea of fatherhood and the change of life. We have the car seat and it looks like it will fit in the front of the van (does anyone have experience of putting the newborn seat in the front of the van?? middle seat ok? or should we put it in the nearside position??) And the push chair cot looks like it will be ok for sleeping in the back, or not sleeping as the case might be!! All windsurfing with newborn advice welcomely received!!

So, good to see Fester sailing in the dark, working on his Zen like wave riding skills, Dave improving in his 50's, Justin ripping again, Matt on a 4.7 and riding all the better for it, Sam, Ling, Chris, Rhys getting right into his windsurfing and everyone else!! Fantastic the water is so warm, back from WA (working not windsurfing!) and getting in the water no problem. And possibly another sail before I return to work in the New Year!

Sorry, no photos-rushing around maximising my time in the water on the short days, Happy New Year......may it bring treble figure windsurf days in 2012!!!!!!!!!!!

Avon Beach at first light

2011-12-15T10:13:00.001-08:00

5.6 metre swell with a 14 second period. Myself and James Cox had the same idea last night, that Avon could put on one of its rare but special days. Problem for me was that little issue known as work. So the only option was to get there at first light, and get to work whenever possible sometime later.

That was the plan anyway. As it turned out the wind was just too light. As the pics show James went for a swim, but never got to the wind line. A shame as there were some beauties rolling in behind him. Another time perhaps.

You know it's really windy when..

2011-12-12T13:31:00.001-08:00

A north facing dog flap keeps getting blown open in a Southerly wind!

add?..

Shivers Down My Spine

2011-12-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

Looking ahead on Big Salty towards the next week and every day is "going off", but then look at Friday and apparently it is forecast 45knot gusts, 6.6metre waves and 12.5 second swell. That is not something to look forward to, or it is actually bloody exciting to even just go and look at it, or even swim in it and even try and launch in it. If that forecast was at Gwithian you would be thinking that is going to be huge. Up here it is probably enough to wash the whole of Bournemouth away.

So look at Gwithian, now that sends shivers down your spine. 60knots, 9,1 metre waves and an ostentatious 13.3 seconds to build that mountain up! With that wind nothing will hold, but I bet some secret spot in Cornwall that is generally always flat will be superb. IF that is the forecast holds.

More on today...

Juggling kids. Liz was away all weekend, so I had Casey for the whole weekend. Luckily Maria (Gregg's other half was my saviour) She very kindly offered (I think she offered, something happened. Maybe Gregg offered on her behalf) to look after the baby from 1pm to 3pm today to give me 2 power hours to get on the water.

There could be no messing around, one beach, one decision no matter how it looked. Boscombe, cross on, big mush burgers gusty maxed on 5.0 then under. Big jumps then big swims. Usually I would have driven around, and probably Avon would have been better. But because of the time constraint and the situation, I loved it. Had a great sail. I met up with fellow Dad Matt Wigham, expectant Dad Gregg Dunnett. Eventually "should be a dad" Colin Bainbridge got his lazy ass out of his seafront flat, and finally definitely not the Daddy, Coxy also turned up. Coxy actually got some decent rides off the "surf reef"...apparently.

Too Dark Toooo Windy?

2011-12-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

Imagine having all this wind about and and then not being able to say you got out, how much would it be worth. Or was it even worth going out in the first place. I actually got blown up the cliff as I tried to get down it.

The right place to go would probably have been Avon, swell should wrap round nicely and it would be cross offshore waveriding. However time and fading light are no mans friend and Southbourne is 5 minutes away from School, with little traffic.. Sneaking out of work so no one could see my early departure, I managed to get 30 mins of the water, if that. What I got in return was raging sea, huge wind and determined torrents. I felt quite out of control at times on my 4.2 icon (first use) as sizeable swells would break unsuspectingly over you and take you out. I took one nicely formed wave, two overpowerd top turns and I was 600 metres downwind, I couldn't see, it was too dark plus I had to go to the dentist. (I got there went in, 2 minutes later he told me I had perfect teeth and no problems then charged me £17.50 for the effort, I could have told him the same thing and saved us both the hassle). Coxy stayed out till it was too dark to even see the beach, all you could do was hear it. I met with a mildly distressed Lucy Cox at the top of the cliff wondering if her hubby was still alive!

Definitely worth it!!

Seven days in the sun

2011-12-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

Just back from a week's holidays in Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, and one I'd not been to before. As the last holiday with Maria before we become parents (and following so closely from a week in Wales where I'd left her on the beach every day, sailing, surfing and supping) it wasn't to be a full on watersports holiday, more of a reconnaissance trip for another time.

I hired kit for a couple of days, an RRD 9,something sup, which I nearly bought a few months back. Was quite happy as I didn't really like it, preferring the Starboard 8'5" which is more stable and surfs more with a short board style. Also hired a surfboard for a windy day at Cotillo beach, a booming close out. Was pretty terrified sitting out back watching some much better surfers than me pull into stand up barrels and then get obliterated as the wave closed out on them. I managed to enjoy it for a while until I got a couple of waves and then got caught inside on a big set. Still picking the sand out of my face now.

Nice place Fuerte. Bit bleak, treeless, brown and covered in volcanos like a teenager's face, but a nice place all the same. Great seafood and tons of awesome surfing and supping. Going back to work is going to be hard.

Four Hours on Broad Bench

2011-12-03T11:25:00.000-08:00

Well, you have to substract the 45 minutes of non planing plodding it took to get up there!!

Course Wave Racing Sailing!

I think, I that it was probably one of my favourite sessions of the year. Left the house at 8.30am with partner in crime James Cox, thinking that we were early. Actually we were late, people were already coming off the water by the time we got there. Some were out since first light. However it seemed the wind had dropped and swung round to the North West.

Do you remember those course racing days. No? Well you have this buoy miles and miles upwind, you are not planing, you have all manner of current to contend with, shifting wind all over the place and what seems like a lifetime of hard slog ahead of you. I thought I had left those days well behind, until today. 45 minutes of semi non planing tacking upwind and the upwind mark called Broad Bench was finally reached, leaving many by the way.

But what a result it was, nearer you got the better it looked. Probably logo high, maybe a bit more sometimes and also a bit smaller too. Best thing was when you picked out a good one, tracked it upwind backwinding the sail and then waiting for it too bowl before taking the drop, then you had the smoothest bit of water to crank into a hard bottom turn. Occasionally you could get four turns with a couple of sections, many times just a shoulder but all the same by the time you look at the averages, it looked pretty good, and finally the result I've been looking for after so many almost good windsurfs. I'm happy now and over Wednesday and Tuesdays disappointment!

I was on my 5.6 Black Tip, which I think I am in love with, and jokerwave 95. Coxy somehow managed to get up there with a 5.2 and his 85 litre quatro. I just didn't want to take the risk, reasoning that I'd sacrifice some of the looseness for a) getting there in the first place and b) hopefully a higher wave count.

Wednesday before it went horribly wrong

Before it went wrong, I should've stayed behind the lens..

Beautiful Surf

2011-11-27T07:19:00.000-08:00

Some little beauties coming in all along the coast today. I should think the bench at first light would have made for an epic session. Not for me today though, the trials and tribulations of parenthood as a sickness bug have overcome both the baby and the wife. I think I have done quite a good job nursing them both, if I can't get out on the water then hopefully I might be able to take some nice sunset photographs later. There is always another time... or is there. It never feels like enough.

The teachers are on strike on Wednesday, coinciding with a big swell and wind. Are there any baby sitters out there!?!

(R.I.P Gary Speed - a very, very sad piece of news)

Cream Tea and Cheese anyone?

2011-11-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

Damn fine return to the water today. Much more wind predicted which meant loads of fun on my Simmer 5.0Black Tip and Mistral Twinser.

Today I changed the footstrap config on my waveboard, and it made sooo much difference. They are now set at the widest with the back strap right above the fins which made it feel much more controlled, should have done it ages ago, not sure why I didn't. There are so many variables in getting the sweet spot for a board, sometimes it can take a year (of average joe sailing) to find them.

I also took some good pictures, it is enjoyable photographing windsurfing. Sometimes you actually have to remember to put the camera down and get the wetsuit on. Coxy was out this morning, he couldn't stay out for long because he had arrangements to meet some chums in a Gloucester Michelin star restaurant to eat cream tea. Surprisingly, he was sailing with an old mate, Jan Sleigh who was making a quick stop on his way to Cornwall. Times never change, Jan is still the original UK cheese roller! ----remember to poll--->

Poll - what do you think?

2011-11-24T14:09:00.000-08:00

A poll, will this actually work...?

Having read Gregg's post and a lot of activity on Board's forum with a lot of assumption going on, I wonder what is really the cause of the publications "paper" demise. I find it hard to believe that the internet is completely the blame for the drop in sales of magazines. Is the internet just a lazy way of getting information, rarely does the internet actually provide anything with deep insight, but there are plenty of things it does provide for free such as a cheap quick read.

I wonder what peoples thoughts are, actually I wonder if anybody will bother completely the poll. I wonder if nepotism is the blame, or it suddenly became "cool" to not read the mags, despite missing them if they actually went. Maybe it is like the surprise evictions from X Factor, where the good contestants go because no one bothered to vote for them, assuming they would be safe.

If Windsurf magazine are to benefit from this financially then I hope they up their game and invest in good writers, well informed and researched original articles that are inspirational and make you excited and look forward to each month once again. Maybe it is time for a new set of personalities, unknowns in the windsurfing world, with a new set of ideas, opinions to capture the next 20 years of windsurfings future.

Pembrokeshire, a secret spot, and the death of BOARDS

2011-11-20T01:21:00.000-08:00

I've just returned from a week away in Pembrokeshire, a week which didn't have a very promising forecast, but which turned into probably the best sailing and surfing I've had all year, and culminated in a trip I've longed to do for years to a 'secret spot' somewhere in Wales. So I'm pretty happy with that.

However I'm also pretty saddened by the news rumbling around the BOARDS forum that the magazine is basically being canned - down from 12 issues a year to just 2, and reading between the lines (or should that be spin), the printed mag staff are all being fired.

I probably sound a total hypocrite saying this as I don't buy it anymore but I think this is really sad. I practically learnt to read with the first issues of BOARDS, and as a teenager worshipped anyone who appeared in it. Its mountain biking supplement introduced me to bikes and a similar paragliding supplement left me itching to do that as well. I read every test and considered their recommendations the gospel truth, literally saving my pocket money for months to buy - at first (and I remember this clearly) an uphaul when I was about 11, a Gaastra CS1 (that's a sail for anyone who didn't grow up coveting windsurfing equipment) aged about 14, and a Gaastra MW5 (one of the first five batten wave sails - they only had a pink one in the shop) aged about 17. I was learning to drive at the time and missed the brake pedal when trying to park at Ski Surf 2000 in Colchester, crashing into the side of the shop. I knew everything there was to know about 'dedicated slalom boards', 'course slalom boards', elliptical fins, and I longed to try the mistral flex-tail.

It was therefore amazing to me when I saw an advert to join the test team five years later, and jawdroppingly unbelievable when one Bill Dawes sent an email asking to come for an interview. When I was actually offered a job working for the magazine as a result I'd long run out of superlatives. I felt like the luckiest person on the planet.

I wrote for BOARDS, and tested kit for about seven years. I hope I contributed something valuable to it over that time. I felt it was a great institution, to windsurfers right up there with the BBC. It was an honour to add to it.

Since I left it's been sold and Dave White replaced Bill as editor - changes which appeared to point to a strong future at the time. But the hopeful rebirth has been aborted. The institution all but chucked away.

It's demise is being blamed on the internet. The fact we don't really read magazines anymore. Not even on the bog. Is that true? Probably. Does that mean it was inevitable? Maybe, but I still see a lot of magazines in Smiths, many for markets as niche, or 'nicher' than windsurfing. Why are they still there, and BOARDS gone?

I wonder if braver decisions could have kept it fresher (mine included). I've nothing against Simon Bornhoft but he's been teaching people to tack the same way in every issue for as long as I can remember. Perhaps the creep from real editorial to advertorial, pimping sponsors, keeping advertisers happy all went too far? Perhaps too many people saw it as a means to make a name for themselves. To the point that most articles just - weren't very good?

Anyway. Hopefully this is all nostalgic negativity, and BOARDS will live on in its new format. I hope that it will contain some role for both Gary Crossley and Duncan Slater, who are the real heart and soul of the mag, who kept it going as a tradition in recent years.

But this Sunday night I'm still a strange mix of stoked on good sailing and good waves, and sad that the institution of BOARDS is castrated - ends - this way.

Here's some pix from Wales.

Air to Sea Rescue attempt at Kimmeridge

2011-11-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

Just got in from a great surf at Kimmeridge. Another mild Novembers day with low sunlight and warm air. Waves were the size where you wouldn't want them any bigger. They got glassier as the day got later. I was with master of disaster James Cox who persuaded me to take my tiny surfboard rather than my more substantial paddle board.

I kind of feel I missed about a hundred waves because I wasn't on my paddle board and I was pretty rusty on my little surfboard. It's such a dilemma now, because I know I can surf my paddle board pretty well now, and because it is only 8 5 I can do decent turns on it. I caught many waves on my surf board and a few nice ones, however I still feel a bit short changed, knowing that I would have had 3 or 4 times longer rides on a SUP and would have lost count of the number I had. I think I might need to bin my surfboard completely and just get an even smaller SUP.

Today was also the first time I used my Oshea winter suit. They are so much thicker than summer suits and I was actually too hot today, I forgot what I yoga master you have to be to get into front zip suits!. It was only when the sun went down that I felt comfortable enough to paddle hard. I can't believe it is half way through November and still too warm for a winter suit

As we came in there was a bit of worry on the beach, a rib had dramatically overturned on quite a large oncoming wave. The coastguard and helicopter came to help as the crew were stranded on the hull. I'm not sure there was much they could do apart from check the crew are ok and let the rib wash in. Shows how powerful the waves are to overturn a rib so easily.

will it be too much or too little

2011-11-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

So many questions

Is it going to be any good tomorrow, good swell forecast. Kimmeridge could be good, could it be just enough for windsurfing, or too much to mess up paddle boarding? I'm going anyway.

Is next week going to be good with a forecast like that?

Is it possible to get out after work?

What has happened to Boards magazine?

As far as windsurfing goes, it sounds like Gregg and Jono have had some good conditions on their holiday to Newgale, hopefully the will post a story and some pictures up here when they get back