Surfladle

a lack of Playtime and for many who are holding to the rules of what you can and cannot do in Lockdown , a forecast of useable wind is currently a torture rather than a pleasure! Your time will come and your patience will be paid in full.

Thursday’s winds were pretty epic and I love the way we went from a 40mph forecast to a gusting 70mph by the late Wednesday evening BBC news (guess they are still struggling to get data until the Low is hitting the land). I had to go past Gatwick on Thursday evening and watched a plane abort a landing at the last moment. That was a surprise to me as the winds were supposed to have abated by then and by the way it throttled up,  it must have been ‘interesting’ to have been onboard! 

We seem to have agreement from the Beeb and Windguru that tomorrow’s winds will once again be

‘Strong’, so please be sure of your personal fitness and skill plus your kits integrity, if you are lucky enough to be able to ‘venture out’. If not, there is always the Rugby or a nice spot of DIY. 

 

Kit supply report.. most of our week is still being spent enquiring about when we can expect delivery for the current customer back orders and for the new enquirers. I do feel sorry for the Reps and the admin staff who must be under a constant bombardment from the shops but with such long delays it is important to try and keep everyone in the loop.  As one customer pointed out, the special order board companies, such as Witchcraft , are now able to supply in under half of the time of more mainline suppliers.. who would have ever thought that could happen! It is also becoming clear that although the Brexit Issues are slowly getting sorted the move is to only being able to place orders of a high value with a large number of our European suppliers, so the days of ordering just a sail or a wetsuit for a customer are going to go, which will be a real pain for all concerned.  The future however is bright as the current rate of worldwide sales will secure a stronger Watersports industry long term. 

 

 

Now to the weekends weather..

Saturday is blowing it’s bits off from the Sou’West-West with the stronger winds allegedly here in the morning 35-46kts and the dropping back in the afternoon to 25-30kts. Temp is 8° and no rain!

Tide hits High at 11.34hrs on a 6.1m so perfect for Shoreham early doors or after 2pm for a reasonable launch  (LA will be epic over High). 

Sunday we have a bit of a differing.. both say a touch of Nor’West in the morning backing West in the afternoon but as the Beeb is saying 14-19kts and Guru 18-26kts.. take your choice! Temp up to 11° and no rain. Tide is High at 12.10hrs on a 6.14m.

 

And that is it..  Rugby is on for those that fancy it and DO NOT FORGET MOTHERS DAY on Sunday!

Thanks again for another week of help from the NHS and may everyone have a great weekend in Paradise! BFN

 

Thanks to British Marine Life Studies for the pic of a wintery Shoreham Port West Harbour arm taking a battering and to Naylands for the Mothering Sunday Pic! REMOVED IN CASE OF COPYRIGHT.