Surfladle

This is The Weekend I personally dread as we are back into Winter and life changes for another 6 months. For some reason I thought it was next weekend so I am still in shock at losing a week! At least we will be getting a  ‘little’ wind to finish the Summer on as Storm Caroline is set to give us a bit of a battering, with winds gusting to ‘a lot’ on Saturday evening..  nothing like going out with a bang!

 

It’s been a very odd day on a personal note as a dear family member passed away recently and their funeral service took place this morning. We were not able to attend as the part of North Wales it was held in is in Lockdown so we watched the Service via a streaming service. The Service was as lovely as it could have been but sadly the congregation were not allowed to sing and for parts of Wales where singing is almost a religion, that was another depressing fact of Covid and its current effects on life, and death. At least we can all look forward to hearing those voices ring out when we can all get together for a proper sending off. Not sure why I shared that but hope its OK.

 

A lady customer who I cannot name at the moment, so let’s call her Jean, sent a bundle of old parts from a Vinta 370 that they had purchased back in the day and had decided that now was a good time to get it out on the water again. I had not seen this particular ‘Grey’ mast tracks since we were teaching back in 1994 but luckily we still had the parts required to resurrect this Iconic piece of British Windsurfing history. ‘Jean’ has just sent us these two pictures of her once again riding the Vinta complete with a 5.6m Tushingham sail (Project or maybe a Vector?) across Lake Coniston.

So glad that she decided to get out on it again and really glad that my ‘rebuild’ held together! Now all we have to do is find her a bottom batten as something had to break! It’s never too late to have fun.

 

Rubber, as in wetsuits and neoprene products as a whole, is in short supply and prices are set to rocket. Xcel, who are a major seller in the Surf and Kite markets, have already SOLD OUT of their winter stock with no more suits due until March 2021. We know that ION, Mystic and Pro Limit are also already looking at a fast diminishing stock level and Neil Pryde are not looking at launching any new suits until the New Year. Prices are rising due to the factories (China and Vietnam are the main manufacturing areas) increasing their costs hence we have seen prices rise by up to 18% over the 2020 models (I love it when we hear that inflation in the UK is 0.5%). We have bought in as many suits as we can to try and make sure we have a reasonable choice but I cannot see them lasting long. The long range forecast for the UK was announced last week and they say that although we won’t have the storms as we have had in recent winters (apart from Caroline..) we will have a fairly mild Winter which will mean the many newcomers to Watersports will want to stay out on the water and will need suits.

 

Now for the Weekends weather and Tides.

Saturday starts off with slightly dodgy  Sou’Sou’West winds at around 27kts but by mid afternoon they ‘grow’ to a strong 35-40kts and by late evening we could see gusts up to 50kts.. hopefully everyone will be on shore by then! Heavy rain later in the day as well. Tides are High at 18.06hrs on a Neap 4.8m, so Low will be at midday… PERFECT for Shoreham.

Sunday the winds are more friendly at 25kts and from the Sou’West, so not so onshore. Tide is High at 18.43hrs on a tiny 4.6m, so watch out for the drop into the ‘trench’ when you walk into the water (the shorebreak is staying in the same place for a long period and that creates a trench as well as a strong sideways current ).

 

And that is that for another Friday Evening… don’t forget to Fall Back into Winter at 2am Sunday Morning and although from now on the shop closes at 1pm on a Sunday, James is likely to stay open a little longer as most people forget.