Sarah and I had some good windsurfing this week, encouraged by Al. There was a deep low pressure sitting off the north-east of the British Isles, which induced strong north-west winds in Cardigan Bay.

On Thursday, I on a 6.0 and Sarah a 5.2. There were 4 other windsurfers out there with us, and Sarah says she was glad that there was a girl amongst them.

The seas were fairly big, by my reckoning, and scary. After the first couple of reaches I was going to give up but Al helped to keep us going. Once I relaxed and started to feel less tense I was better. It also helped not to try too hard to get waterstarting, and just do my normal things (accepting that I'd get washed over every now and then). We stayed out for a long time and every reach improved our sailing and I started feeling a lot more comfortable.

On Friday we both used a 5.2. Going back for more of the same on Friday was just as scary, but I felt more relaxed and sailed better. It was just as hard work. All the sailing we did in Margarita has stood us in good stead, even though the water is flat there. 

It is still surprising to discover that you have the skills needed to plough up and over big waves and stay on, and then to even start to enjoy jumping from some of them (once I was comfortable waterstarting).

My Slalom board started to look and fell like a tanker out there and it's not big - a 114Litre board, I can see myself having to buy a wave board soon....

It will still remain scary, but I think that is part of the attraction. I guess I'll just have to take a deep breath and run for the beach next time the wind blows :D