Surfladle

While we have had a pretty peaceful day down here on the South Coast,  the North of England and Scotland in particular have taken a real hammering from Storm Babet. The flooding looks horrendous and you do feel for all of those people whose homes are being wrecked. Note. I know it is not on the same scale as in Gaza or Ukraine but their plight is man made and should not be happening, whereas this is out of any bodies control, nature unleashed. We will see a bit more in the way of Wind and Rain tomorrow but another Red Warning for heavy rainfall has now been issued for the North of the country for Saturday, so it will only get worse. Very sad to see that three people have lost their lives due to the storm and you hope that it ends there. I guess we really should heed the warnings when and where the weather is concerned. As for Shoreham, we have Wet and Windy forecast for tomorrow but the Yellow Warnings seem to have been removed now. On a lighter note..

if you are interested in the chosen Storm names for the Winter here is a link to the Met Office List. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2023/weather-responders-included-in-2023-24-storm-names

 

Foil boards are ‘quite popular’ at the moment and recently the KT brand have been doing well in this month’s sales. We supplied two Dragonfly 7’7” downwind boards a week or so back, which I was really looking forward to see as they are a bit of a rarity (stock levels at KT of this type of board are ‘low’.. actually non existant at this time, so contact us if you are interested and we will get a delivery time). Sadly, due to James having Covid, we did not get pictures of the beasts when the customers came to collect, so I will see if I can get the owners to send us a few. Today however a KT Drifter 105 arrived for a customer and it’s a good looking, nicely finished, lightweight Cobra -Thailand produced board (still rated as the best production facility for composite boards). Best news is that the RRP is a reasonable £1459.00 for a 105lt but now are at a reduced price of £1167.00 and it comes with footstraps! One to consider if you are in the market... 

 

I mentioned yesterday that I had a call from a chap who is Rowing the Atlantic later this year and thought that I should also mention another rather odd sale that occurred on Wednesday, which was a wetsuit for snowboarding in! This however was not just any old snowboarder, this was for a young local man called Charlie Lane who is on the GB Freestyle team at the tender age of just sixteen! Why does he need a wetsuit? Well, when they do the crazy jumps off the 4m high kickers and hopefully land on an airbag, the bag is apparently saturated and a wetsuit keeps them ‘dry’ for the next jump. Who would have thought they were wearing a wetsuit under all of their kit. His father came in as Charlie had been out in Queensland NZ at a comp last week and as all young people do, when he left to get to the next comp in Swiss World he forgot his wetsuit. So, poor old Dad was on a mission to get a suit to take one out to  Charlie who is competing at the Big Air Chur comp in Switzerland tomorrow.

Charlie is the only Brit (as far as we could see) so we wish him well for this comp and the future events ( and I hope his Dad gets sponsorship sorted as it is costing him a fortune!). 

Here is a link to Charlies Instagram Page.. https://www.instagram.com/charlie.lane_/ and if you fancy watching (he is wearing a Mystic 3/2mm under all of the snowboard kit)  this is the Big Air ESPN sign up link https://channelsp.site/allsport.php?live=Big%20Air%20Chur%20Finals%202023

 

Used kit for this weekend.. last week it was an Allwave SUP board and this week it’s another popular board, as we have had a used 2022 Severne Dyno 105 MK3 in really nice condition come through the Megastore doors. The Dyno has been a very popular board in all versions. The Mk1 and 2 were pretty similar in desig (maybe the same)  and were what I would describe as Freewave/ Freeride orientated. The Mk3 made a bit of a change, as it’s now seen as more of a  Freewave and performs best in its Tri fin set up, although it will still carry larger sails but maybe not quite as comfortably as the previous models. This particular board is in very good condition with only minor marks on the starboard rail graphics and the odd tiny mark elsewhere. The fins are all A1 and it comes with the fourth strap, blanking plates and Severne allen key, that does all on this board’s fittings. Price is £1085.00. 

 

And now to the weekend’s weather and the Tide Times.

Saturday, Babet is not supposed to affect us too badly but I would not be surprised if we get a little ‘more’ than they have forecast, both with the wind and the rain. Windguru currently say 25-34kt Southerly during the early morning and then becoming Sou’Sou’West 18-24kt around midday before dropping off to 12-19kt mid-afternoon and backing Nor ‘West 16 -22kt late afternoon. Rainfall is all day and will be at its heaviest between 9am and 3pm. The Tide is High at 15.52hrs on a 5.2m, so a morning / early afternoon sail and then maybe the Wings will be on the River for the High (try not to drink the water as the floods inland will be washing ‘everything’ our way). Surf looks good, so the protected Shoreham Harbour mouth and Brighton Marina are likely to be very busy. Air Temp is around 15°C so also ‘good’.

 

Sunday, it’s a much quieter affair with the wind being a mere 9-12kt Nor’West’West during the morning and then maybe increasing to 13 - 6kt Sou’West in the afternoon. No rainfall predicted and an air temp of 15°C. Tide is High at 17.12hrs on a 4.8m. Could be a SUP day?

 

Next week looks to be wet and windy again.

 

And that is it for this week. We hope everyone has a great weekend and if you are heading off on your Half Term Hols,  that dear old Babet does not ruin it for you! 

We are here 9.30am to 5.30pm tomo and then a 10am to 4.00pm dash on Sunday, which will be the last Sunday summer time opening of 2023, as the clocks change that on the 29th. 

Have a good one everyone!