Windsurfing Yearly Roundups

2021 - Covid, Ironing and Global Warming

 

 

We said that 2020 was the year of Covid and Windsurfing. But we never expected 2021 to be more of the same. However at least this year the rest of us could enjoy windsurfing right throughout the year including restrictions - and without having to pretend to be called Loughridge....

So this is a canter through the year of 2021 with some of the highlights and clearly as many of the low lights as we could publish without being sued. There were a number of common themes throughout the year :

• Covid didn't go away, but with jabs and the sheer desperation to get on the water, we managed what was in effect a pretty normal year
• A lot more people converted to various forms of ironing. Yes foils were in and indeed winging came in with it. It used to be that some people kept really big sails so they could windsurfing in quite light winds. But foils changed that and a lot more people use them as a lighter wind escape route. On the other hand, it means there is even more technical bollox to learn and talk about - a quick discussion on front vs rear wing size anyone?
• And odd weather became more prevalent. One of the most windless summers we have seen followed by a tropical autumn. Greta may not like it much, but for us water buffs Global Warning is not without its advantages

 

So, to the year that was in it.

 

JANUARY

 

The year started with a cold blast, literally in the case of Ming and Tim. It was far too cold for most people, but these two hit the water. Real men stuff, but it wasn't all plain sailing. This from our ironing board correspondant, Tim Moore :

 

 

However while these two were showing off in County Down, Ciaran was showing how it should be done in the Pond. We witnessed him duck gybing on his foil. How annoying is this? Take a look for yourselves.

 

FEBRUARY 2021 IN THE MIDST OF LOCKDOWN

 

Photos by Mark Herndog

Millisle 15th Feb.

Raptor in the air

 

 

Raptor in the air again

No stopping Raptor!

 

And as feeling run high about the Brexit effect on the 'border' on the Irish Sea :

We all wondered what the unionists of Larne had against SUP, surfers and windsurfers who sail in the Irish Sea?

 

 

MARCH 2021

Remember when the Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal. Well we have the answer.

 

 

Dave Cheyne in the air. Typical day at Kearney, 31st March, photos by Hern Dog.

 

 

As things opened up a bit more, Nick Fletcher organised a socially distanced SUP down the Bann. Yes it's 10 miles, but it's all downstream and a large group of us enjoyed a lovely sunny day only stopping for a nice picnic half way. The first time I've gone under a motorway on a board, a bit surreal.

 

 

 

 

Nick put together a neat video with music. I've stolen it here, so you can take a look.

 

Not part of the same SUP trip, but this is the Lagan near Down Royal which also featured on some lock down SUPing.

 

 

CROWNING OF THE IRISH 2020 FOIL CHAMPION

 

As you know 2020 was a difficult year, however the cunning Mr Fletcher managed to run the Downings Event in a format not too far removed from Normal. However, to do it, he allowed foils and fins to race together and the mighty Ciaran Moore proceeded  to risk the ire of the normal windsurfers by racing them. One things which came out of this was that we was first placed amongst the ironing board crew.

It then turned out that this was  the only event possible that year and so he became the all Ireland 2020 foil champion. Only problem is that there were no events being run where he could be presented with his trophy.

So it came to pass that the 'Ceremony' was held amidst the mud at Derrymore Quay aka Busted Marina. In front of an assembled crowd of 3 windsurfers. So there is the moment of the socially distanced handover outside Nick's small trailer.

 

 

There is however an alternative caption for this picture -

Two men have just come out of the toilet and look very happy....

 

Make up your own minds.

 

However, just to keep the Irish Foiling Champion grounded, here is an action shot from his Go Pro (before it sank in the Pond) :

 

 

APRIL FOOL - ORANGE ROBERT

 

We loved this post from Big Robert at the start of April. But we still don't know why he's called Big Robert...

 

 

 

 

You don't get proper waves at this spot, but you do get rolling swell, especially as you head out of the bay over some big shoals.

 

And here's another day, a nice sunny afternoon this time and 7.5m is the order of the day. The local doggers watch on in awe at the mad windsurfers.

 

But we don't care. We are the A team - Paddy, Barry, Jarlath and Ciaran. You would have thought this was sunny enough to bring Charlie out, but no...

 

I was there too - don't look too closely at this picture as it might damage your eyesight....

 

Foiling at Oxford Island

 

Still April and the forecast is showing nothing much, but northerly and maybe a little puff near the end of the day. However the sun shone, albeit it was f'n freezing.

I went down to the 'Disco Centre' for a look but there wasn't enough for me. On the other hand Nick on 7m and foil and Ciaran on 6m were trying.

 

They floated around for a while in what little wind there was but at least the sun was up. And we know about Oxford Island when it's northerly and the sun shines. It can come up and add a few knots. And it did.

So I stood and froze while taking these shots and some nice videos.

 

 

Ciaran

 

 

 Nick

 

APRIL 2021 - SLALOM TRAINING SESSION

 

You could say that Newtownards Sailing Club was taking a rather cautious approach to unlocking after the winter Covid. Or you could blame the RYA who were issuing very conservative guidelines. Either way club members weren't getting much value for their subs.

So up steps Nick Fletcher and offers to run - not racing (that would break the guidelines) but a slalom training session. The results was great. A whole bunch of us at the club, going fast and practising starts, racing gybes and finishes. Great stuff. Of course there were no results, how could there be when there was no racing. However Nick did say this :

 

"Alex won this training race and probably overall results, Chris second, David third, all sailed well especially Alan who got some good results, zander was getting close to beating daddy Philip Ali had some good races, Francis did well, Andrew had a good few races and paddy probably got 4th, John did amazing for first big outing and Brian kelly also had some good results, Robert Mulholland had some good starts but failed to compete any of the courses so has a big DNF and comes last, I think my sailor of the day goes to Alan some pretty impressive results. Thanks everyone for taking part makes the effort of organising it all worth while. Enjoy. Nick"

I think Nick is being rather kind to me here. I did sail a lot better and had some good starts, but there were a lot of much faster people than me on the water. Still I got a third place and was also third in the master blaster. Really great to to finally open the Fox out fully on salt water. It flies!

https://youtu.be/1kQ7GJkJRqc  for the full video, edited and to music.

 

 

Someone always makes an ass of themselves..

 

 

 

And at Ards more generally :

 

David C chasing down Andrew at Ards.

 

SPRING WATCH

I'm sure you were all riveted to Spring Watch this Spring. They did at least have one presenter from NI, but all was not as it seemed.

During a really interesting exposee of Lough Neagh midges - it was interesting as we've all inadvertently eaten to many of them - there was a brief appearance of a winger. They were filming at Oxford Island so, on the law of averages, it was of course Ciaran.

This poor quality screen shot from the TV makes it look like he's been set in concrete (we wish)....

While the presenter was bigging up how important the midges are to the ecosystem and making it looked like she loved the little critters - Ciaran reported the truth. She didn't just hate them, she was scared of them. Every time a cloud of them appeared, apparently she ran screaming to the car. Sadly this bit did not make national television.

 

MING WATCH

And if you missed Springwatch, then there was always Mingwatch. We don't know why he was sailing with his bath hat on, but he has been out an awful lot on his foil. He used to be a Wednesday afternoon man, but these days and helped by the low wind capabilities of his foils he is out a lot more days than that.

 

When I say days, I should really say day and night. We all know he is prone to sailing well after normal people have packed up, gone home and gone to bed. Here's the proof from one such late sail.

 

BALLYTURD SPRING

 

We know Wookie is happy, but his face never shows it.... Still at least he outran the tanker.

Big ship far away, small windsurfer nearby Dougal...

 

Dave Cheyne proudly takes off.

 

JUNE 2021 - AND THE NORTH WIND DOTH BLOW

People who live around Lough Neagh know about the northerly effect when it's sunny. The forecasts show very little, but the wind comes down the lough over the cold water.

 

Cha passing Bird Shit Island

 

At the hot land you get the air moving up and creating a sort of vacuum. Hence the northerly breeze is accelerated into something windsurfable.

As an example, at the end of June we had 3 evenings in a row. All forecast to be rubbish. I was on 7.5m, 8.5m and then a really solid and fast 7.5m session on the Fox.

All in a summer wetsuit and with the added joy of watching teenage dunkers strip off to get into the water. Always worth looking out for - the northerlies when the sun shines I mean.

And then to report the most perfect day.

Afternoon off work, sun splitting the stones, Oxford Island in a nice constant northerly. 6.5m on my Fox for me, others similar. One and half hours of hard blasting with hardly a dunker about to get in the way.

Then in we come and Saint Sacha produces a BBQ kit, burgers and beer! 30 minutes later we are all recharging our batteries. And then out we went again for more of the same.

It just doesn't get any better. I understand people were also out at Ballyturd charging through the brown stuff. Not quite the same.

The proof.

From the left - Lord, Barry, Saint Sacha and Benji. I wouldn't buy a used car from any of them - but great company.

The other noticeable thing about the May/June weather was the sunsets.

 

 

Busted Marina after a good slalom session.

The view from my sunroom looking south.

Surreal.

 

KEARNEY SPRING

Another nice day off and everyone was watching the forecasts and wondering if Kearney might work in the bright sunshine. Somehow it fell to me to get there early and  tell everyone whether to join me. My verdict was 6.2m and not quite there yet but coming. So about 8 of us eventually took the plunge and came along.

Good to see the mended Ali Todd there. He may be fixed but his cars aren't. He arrived in a hire vehicle with his usual warm vocabulary. Wookie, Raptor and Alan Yeates were amongst the others to rock up.

Generally a good sail, but a bit light at first and small waves. After a couple of runs not well powered on  the 6.2m I moved it to my SUP. Now I get abuse for doing this from the hard core wave men, but out I went while they sat around and pondered. And I got some good runs and onto some nice waves for 30 minutes until the wind moved up. After that it was back to the quad and the same again only faster.

 

 When many of us were leaving the wind freshened more and the late comers had a good sail.

A different day but boys at play.

 

MAGHEROARTY REVISITED AT LAST!

 

With various travel restrictions, there haven't exactly been many (actually any) reports from Magheroarty. But Big Robert and Graeme decided to fix that and as you can see they had a great sail. Not exactly crowded either.

 

 

BUSINESS AS USUAL AT NEWCASTLE AND MINERS

 

 

 JULY HEATWAVE

 

It's not often I'd windsurf in trunks alone - a fortunate situation for other water users in NI. But this July was different.

Downings was very different this July. First of all it was postponed for a week due to Covid notifications affecting the organisers. Then the forecasts were pretty much zero wind, so many people didn't travel. And then there was the heatwave - hence the trunks and the sight of other budgies being smuggled.

It wasn't pretty, but it was hot. And, as always, it was great fun.

 

 

This shows almost all of the NSC contingent - clearly poised to swing into athletic action. From the left - Lord aka me, Ming aka the Merciless, Andrew (doing a fairly good impersonation of a teapot) and Paddy.

The 'races' were a bit pedestrian. A good SUP race to warm up of course. A few people took this seriously but for the rest of us it was reassuring to be beaten by a bunch of girls - actually bit of a dream for many windsufers....

 

 

 

 

 

Philip clearly decided to improve the chances of a win by bringing his entire team. It did work in that Zander won the best boy class - putting his father to shame of course...

 

And Ming won the prize for the best Winger. Congratulations Chris. Just don't mentioned that he was also the only Winger in the village.....

And I must give a special word of thanks to Paddy Lyner - who turned out be my best friend and my worst enemy. Most of the races were off the plane and every now and then there was a little gust of wind and the foilers would get going. Mind you, even they were on 8-9m sails on their ironing boards.

So you can imagine that the rest of us were mostly getting a good tan in the floatathon.

To improve my chances in non-planing conditions I put my 8.5m on my SUP and it proved a good choice on the Saturday. Towards the end of the day the thermals were up a bit and I swapped to my Manta slalom board and rather ironically got some nice planing runs in - after the racing had ended for the day!

However on Sunday there was even less wind and, back on the SUP, I struggled to stay up wind. Oh for a dagger board. It was then that Paddy informed my that standard Tuttle fin would go onto my SUP as a dagger board. Oh I was transformed in the next race as I could float just as quickly as anyone else and enjoyed the racing.

The problem came in the next 'race' when I hit a massive piece of weed at the start line. It wrapped around my new dagger board and refused to shift. So I dragged it round the entire course and was of course even slower than before.

Definitely not my day.

On the plus side we all got a fabulous tan and  the event was run safely and with a lot of fun. Big thanks to Nick as ever.

 

THE WINDLESS SUMMER

 

Gas prices shot up and energy bills rose - all due to no wind ie the various windmills did not contribute to the National Grid. Didn't we know it - the windsurfing was rubbish.

I did both weeks of the Hobbits' Donegal windsurfing course and only got one proper windsurfing day. That's not to say that we didn't have a good  time - you can do and learn a lot in waves, especially in near tropical sunshine.

We also learned a lot about our 'friends'. So what did we learn about Jarlath? Take a closer look at this photograph and you might see what we saw...

 

 

And then there was the rainy day at Carrickfinn. Well here's one way to keep dry while carrying your kit.

And then there's the rule about who owns each wave. I know the answer to that - I do. I have past form here having scared the stuffing out of Andy Tease (that's a lot of stuffing) when I bore down on him on my moster SUP a few years ago. Well I was at it again ...

 

 

And then again, this time Mark jumped off and dived for his life..

And that happened the following week? Peter Hart arrived and so did the wind. So much that Paddy Lyner took off - and for once not for the hospital! Nice jump Paddy.

 

 

 

The full write up is in another article if you're interested. Short summary - not much happened....

 

SKUNK SEPTEMBER

 

In September we had nearly a week of lovely SW and S with a bit of E conditions at Derrymore AKA Busted Marina on the east shore of Lough Neagh.

And a rare thing happened, we got a skunk of Foxes. Honestly, that's the collective pro-noun. And as it happened Charlie, Ciaran and I were all out on 120 Foxes.

Here's the full skunk.

 

 

And now 2/3 on land while Ciaran flies round on the water. We were on 6.5m and flying but he was on 7m and ducking!

 

 

 STRANGE THINGS SPOTTED IN THE WATER AT BALLYTURD

 

For once the strange things in the water near Bangor were not brown and smelly - they were black and unsavorory - windsurfers no less.

 

In what appears to be a very positive development Ballyholme Yacht club wanted to run a windsurfing event. So they teamed up with IWA and with a lot of help from Nick Fletcher - it actually happened. Entry wasn't that high as people were concerned about this locality when it wasn't northerlie and the rather offical looking rule book (how do boat sailors put up with all this brass button nonesense), but the fact is the races ran and were very successful.

There don't seem to be any published results, but someone must have won - so if you know the results let me know and I will add them. But there are some photographs from the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 The entire fleet?

 

 

All of the abovve pictures courtesy of Andrew Gallagher and gleefully stolen by me.

 

However I'm also very grateful to Mark - who has clearly good a very big one - lens that is.

 

These shots are about 1.5 miles out and make it look like Kilroot Power Station is part of the official course.

 

 

 

 Now in this case we are not sure if Mark's lens is making Minger look close to the passing boat. Or if in real life he's hanging around in the shipping lane. As they say, he has previous...

 

 

TWO - NO, MAKE THAT THREE RESCUES - OR NOT

 

Rescues are like buses, nothing for ages and then three come along at once.

And so it was on the pond recently, where two were in fact at Busted Marina.

The first was always just a mattter of time. Sacha is a regular sailor at Lough Neagh, often seen out dashing around on slalom gear and more recently on his new ironing board. But he does love to travel long distances and in fact really enjoys being far out, far away and attempting to go somewhere instead of just charging back and forth the way most of the rest of us do.

However, there is a problem about doing this if you don't tell your mates. And so it was one nice sunny Sunday at the end of October. 4 or 5 of the usual suspects were running around at Derrymore on 6-7m. Sacha however decided to work his new high powered 5.5m and vanished over the horizon. Nothing unusal there, but over an hour later we still hadn't seen him. With dusk due in a couple of hours, we decided to play safe and called the coast guard. Although the conditions were mild, anyone sailing for that length of time would by now be getting very tired. Or worse.

Sacha, blissfully unaware of this, had in fact made quite a difficult sail upwind to Oxford Island. Then he got off and stretched his legs and had a rest and no doubt admired the lady dunkers. Eventually he headed back to Busted and was very surprised when he was stalked by the coast guard boat. And the blue lights were flashing at Derrymore when he landed too.

The crews were not put out at all. Much better, they said, to play safe and ensure our friend was OK. Sasha was hugely embarassed, as indeed he should be, and perhaps  the penny will now have dropped about telling people what his plans are.

No harm done.

 

Then a couple of days later Paddy and the ever present Ciaran went out again at Busted. Now Paddy had been having some problems with his 95. Big crack type problems, but he'd done a good job and lashed a lot of carbon into it. Still, he did take it easy - as he put it, he gently landed all his jumps at the rear of the board. Well, whatever, he was charging down a nice wave when his board snapped clean in two!

He said it was one of the most sore catapults he'd ever done. Imagine, the front part of the board including the rig breaks off and you are in the straps alone on the back part. Ouch!

But now he had a problem about getting in. And it was quite wavey with the wind over 20 knots. Ciaran saw he was in trouble and came out and carried back the rear of the board. Then he came back to try to tow Paddy and the front bit, but the conditions defeated them. So Paddy perched the rig on the remains of the board and started swimming. Ciaran kept checking on him but Paddy was sure he was OK.

He's a fit lad, but it took him well over an hour. He didn't want to ditch nearly £2k of rig so it was slow. And he didn't realise how cold he was getting. He did get in and when he did he noticed his hands felt warm. Ciaran recognised the early signs of hyperthermia and got him warm clothing and a hot drink. And only then did Paddy start to shake.

Now it wasn't that bad, says your humble scribe who didn't have to swim for over an hour in cold water, but there is a clear warning here. You don't always realise the trouble you are in and hyperthermia can creep up on you.

Again, no harm done. But Paddy is happy for me to write this story in the hope that others will read it and think.

It could be you....

 

Here's  the evidence - in pieces....

 

And now to number three.

This picture tells an interesting story. Why, you ask, is a wing lying in the middle of the road at Bangor. Could the coast guard be invoved? Yes!

 

 

It all started, as so many memorable stories do, with Minger. He was out at Cultra winging it on his brand new (now there's a surprise) wing. £800 he claims, so applying the usual Ming discount factor that's probably £600. And then his leash snapped. He says it was a design fault, much narrower than the last (new) one he bought and so not enough velcro to take the strain. Whatever the reason, his wing decided it wanted to visit Scotland and off it headed. This left Minger with a 45 minute swim in with his tiny winging board and nothing better to do that curse the manufacturer of the sub standard wing.

However his fairy godmother in the form of Dave Cheyne was watching and, knowing Ming's recent medical history thought his back had gone again. So he called the coast guard. However when he saw that Ming had swum into his depth he called them again to tell them to stand down. But of course they then appeared round the headland - no doubt to stay hello to their old and regular friend Chris.

Now we all know what good guys the boys in the boats are. As soon as they saw that Chris was OK and safe off they headed - without being asked - to locate the wing. And they found it and brought it back to Bangor where Ming was able to go and get it.

Now that's excellent service and they, once again, are due all our grateful thanks. And Minger is arranging a suitable present to show his own gratitude.

So, there you go. Three rescues in which no-one was actually rescued. I wonder what next week will bring...

 

GLOBAL WARMING RESCUES MAGHEROARTY

 

Well maybe not quite, but in a quarter where energy prices have shot up due to a lack of wind for our windmills, we did have an unseasonably warm autumn. I certainly didn't expect to be sailing topless throughout November, yet I wasn't the only one.

And so a particularly good couple of days ensured at a very warm Magheroarty and fortunately Mark Herron got tired of enjoying the waves and so could his long lens out.

 

 

 

 

The guity (of enjoying themselves so much) included John Adrain, Vic, Neil, Nigel Fanta Pants and of course Alex Raptor Dugan

 

 

Once more the Loch Altan reverberated to Robert's subtle tones and lots of Guinness as the assorted granny bothers relaxed....

 

 

To quote Hern-dog - "Of course you should have been there cos it was epic!"

 

END OF YEAR ROUND UP

 

As the days shortened there were quite a few chances to sail at Ards in still reasonably warm weather. In contrast to the poor return on your subs at the club in 2020, much work and improvement has been going on. The shower area and changing rooms have been totally refurbished and we now have our own weather station. No more relying on the Flying Club, you can access Ards directly.

The only issue I've had is that it appears to be reading a little high. The actual sensor is high up on the roof of the club house, so you need to take this into account.

It also means a sad farewell to Dirty Debbie. She was our windtalker which we purchased nearly 20 years ago from America. In those days the way you accessed her remotely was to ring a number. Initially, to pay for Debbie, this was on a premium number - you know those dodgy 0898 numbers that used to be used for sex lines? Given that and the fact that the blurb explained that the voice was from a real girl whose name was Debbie, you can imagine the jokes. Ring this number and Dirty Debbie will satisfy your every need type of thing.

However technology marches on the Debbie has been retired.

The other big change is new gates. The old (member pass operated) gates struggled to open if the wind was howling. So new, substantial sliding gates have been installed.

Club member think these are to keep the rif raf out. However the Cunningburn cheapskates say these are to keep the club members locked in.

 

 

Looking back over the year you can see some clear patterns. Foiling including winging has really taken off. And technology is helping our sport hugely. Not just the amazing 360 degree cameras and quick and dirty editing, but also in terms of tracking.

 

 

 

So here for example is the childish crayon output from Minger showing a session he did at Killyleagh. In fact posting up these works of art now seems to be a new form of willy waving by those who got out and annoy those who didn't. Still, it is progress.

 

Another clear pattern is on the so cold wild swimmers. They can be a nuisance in a lot of places, but at Oxford Island they are a total infestation. And not just on the water, they seem to have a pathological need to park 2 metres from the water. Clearly they don't have the strength to swim and to walk. The result is us frequently having to carry our kit through them and their stuff on land. There will be blood.

Someone complained to the council. But their response was to send a bloke out to clear the vegetation from the overgrown signs which said no swimming. So that's them covered against being sued.

A much more practical approach has been taken by Paddy who incidentally has glued the two halves of his board together again - cheap deal anyone? This Christmas present is shown below and we are all thinking of getting some of these made.

 

 

And we finish the year with the other Paddy. Always smiling (always talking) and always helping windsurfers get on the water. This was his Christmas card to windsurfers.

 

 

 

Keep smiling Paddy. And the same for the rest of us.