Guest Rider

Today we had our friend Howard join us kiting from Salcombe to Plymouth. Great to have him along, and the nice guy that he is, he even wrote the blog for us today. Howard, you’re welcome back anytime.

I was hugely pleased to be invited to join Stew & Islay on today’s Kite Britain leg starting from Salcombe; it was a moderately early start to fit with the wind and tide forecast, with me being collected from Whitestrand pontoon by the guys and being taken over to their excellent support boat ‘Mentor’. We wasted no time in heading off out of Salcombe Harbour whilst I quickly forced some muesli down and a lot of water as the guys had been emphasising the important of energy and hydration for these long legs. Once we were over Salcombe’s ‘bar’, the wind kindly began to fill in so in no time at all we were off in the tender and set about getting our kites launched. The whole kite launch procedure from a tender would be extremely challenging were it not for Stew, Islay and Jeremy’s expertise and I’m please to say it went very smoothly indeed. So we were off! My foiling skills are still ‘progressing’ shall we say, so the decision had been made to go out on twin tips, and with a 15m kite in the light winds there was just a nice amount of power. It was brilliant cruising along downwind with a few jokes being cracked coming across our headset mikes, plus the odd expletive from me now and then when I caught a piece of chop badly and stacked it. In no time at all we were going past Bolt Head and then across Bigbury Bay, and soon the small peak of the Mewstone rock was in sight, however at these point the wind started to ease off and we all began to teabag now and then, until finally and inevitably, one by one our kites dropped out of the sky into the drink… After a couple of minutes Jeremy was zipping round in the rib to check we were OK. He then collected Stew first of all, packing down his kite, and at this point the wind came up a little again – enough for a foil, but not a twin tip, therefore Stew politely asked me if I would mind swapping back into Mentor for the short remaining distance to Plymouth so that the guys could finish off the last bit on foils – I of course agreed! And actually this then gave me a really nice perspective for the next 30 minutes watching the guys foiling  serenely around the Mewstone and into Plymouth Sound where we then collected them back into Mentor also. I was then nicely dropped off back at the Barbican around midday so I could drive back to work at Salcombe (with great regret!). And at this point I’ll leave it to Stew and Islay to pick up the baton as to what happened for the rest of the day – all I’d like to say is; thanks so much guys to all of you, Stew, Islay, Joe and Jeremy, it was absolutely fantastic and I’m now busy trying to find a gap in my calendar to see if I can join you again sometime!

As it was only midday, we headed out again to make use of the wind. To have had Easterly or NE for the last 3 weeks has been brilliant and saved many upwind miles on the normal SW winds.

It was still light but 15m and foils were perfect (Islay was on the 12m as she’s slightly lighter). The wind direction also meant we could head directly for Falmouth 36nm away. It may sound odd, but for me, this was one of the hardest 4hours of the trip. The waves weren’t particularly agressive, the wind was consistent so it wasn’t related to the conditions, just my knee decided to flare up. I ocassionally have issues with this, and during this trip I’ve been extra careful to take time to stretch – not always an easy task given the tight floor space in our cabin. Possibly I had poor form early in the session, but something about this afternoon agrevated it. We were on a downwind reach for a large portion of the day, with most of my weight driving down through my back/right knee, in an almost squat position. At some point it got too much and I decided to gybe in, heading closer to the shore, and almost perpendicular to where we needed to go. Downwind I’m slower than Stew, so was already holding us up slightly. I remember the first time I took this detour Stew asked what I was doing. I explained I needed a break. Well, by the third time, I’m not sure what was annoying me more, the frustration in Stew’s voice demanding I head in the correct direction, or my throbbing knee that sent shooting shards up my leg each time I mis-judged the swell and jard it as I hit the oncoming wave. I must say this was one time I was grateful for the distance kiting demands, as I didnt have to hide the grimaces on my face, or the tears rolling down my face merging with the splashes from the board. You can imagine my relief when Falmouth was finally in sight.

One further sighting of a Sunfish and numerous Guillemots popping up in front of us we were level with the Fraggle Rock Lighthouse. The wind had now picked up along with the swell, so after packing down in the water we stayed in the rib until we were safely in the harbour before transferring back to Mentor. This was partly due to saftely considerations, but also because we’d been approached by the local lifeguards who had seen us packing down and thought it was odd to see kiters out this way, so they approached Joe on Mentor, who politely explained what we were doing. They wished us luck, but still followed us suspicously, as if we were stowaways trying to sneak into their harbour.

54nm travelled today and time to find a laundry after 2 weeks on anchor.

Fraggle Rock

The creator of the Muppets and one of the producers of Sesame Street – Jim Henson – also wrote the TV series “Fraggle Rock”, one of my favourites growing up. The beginning credits show the lighthouse at the mouth of Falmouth Harbour – St Anthony light, to me, Fraggle Rock where the puppets lived. The producers made the show with the intention of showing it internationally, so all the sections filmed in “Outer Space” where the humans lived, was different depending on where you lived.