Wetsuit christened, and an interesting experience!

Rumours of wind and waves this weekend down the SouthWest, and a planned OMWC trip to Westward Ho! meant a chance to testdrive the new suit. Saturday made 1 attempt to sail, 6.5m/102l JP FSW, but wind far too light, couldn't even get going - very enthusiastic to try! I did do some surfing, which was moderately successful. For both of these, the suit was good - not sure if the neck is high enough for an effective seal, didn't seem to notice the shoulder tightness much, seemed warm enough. I spent too long in it out of the water waiting for a friend to join me, so I did get cold. The doublelined bits might be a bit much...

Sunday was windier - again with the 6.5/102 loined another mate in the medium waves, slightly shorted period than Sat. Went out and back, felt tired, but fancied some more action. The wind came up, spent time rigging 5.5, went out again, each time coming back to land on the beach at the end of the ride. I had discussed waveriding with Nick (expert!), and he'd given me some tips, so it was going well - sideshore, DTL stuff!! No surfers!! A bit of pumping required to catch a wave sometimes, and the downhill feeling pretty scarey sometimes, especially when it caught me out - I wasn't putting my feet in the straps quickly enough.

Caught another wave on the way back to the beach, I'd had to wait to waterstart a bit out the back, so the wind had definitely dropped, and then arsingly fell off, in the impact zone, no chance of standing up. I even laughed at myself for being so stupid - I hadn't really tried hard enough to stay on to be honest. Anyway, spent ages trying to waterstart and couldn't, in either direction, not enough wind, I just wanted to get back to the beach! Suddenly I lost hold of my kit, don't know how, and it caught a wave and was a long way off. I tried to swim for it, but clearly couldn't make it so I tried for the beach. Bad. Just couldn't make any progress, started taking on water, head full of salt water... I was panicking bigtime, the harness makes it harder to breathe with the diaphragm restriction, so I was struggling to loosen it but when I did, it didn't help. I was swimming on my back to lessen the effort and ease breathing, but kept swimming along not down the waves, and the shore seemed as far away as it had ever been, and I was getting extremely disorientated. Was this it? Did our hero checkout at this point? How could the story end like this??

Fortunately Nick sailed up, very coolly, and asked how I was - "I'm totally f*cked" was my reply!! He called the RNLI surf chaps over, and I was relieved to see their pickup opposite me, and hoped I could hang on until they got here. Then the bare-chested hero arrived with the big yellow surf rescue board - marvellous!! Clambered on, got back on a great wave ride, even tucked my feet up to keep the speed up, and they issued oxygen, took me back to the van and suggested an A&E checkup in case of "secondary drowning". The hero also rescued my kit, which rather than being washed ashore as you'd expect on an incoming tide, was going round and round in the rip and waves - no wonder I couldn't swim in. A lady passing by helped me off with my wetsuit because my arms were too massively cramped to use properly. And I was tired!! Utterly shattered.

In summary - a good lesson, both in riding waves and surviving waves. Take them very seriously indeed!

New wet suit!

The new wet suit arrived from Snugg on Friday, much against the odds - they must have been working flat out! Tried it on, pretty good fit, but seems a bit tight across the front, just under the arms at the front. Since they guarantee their fit and longevity, I should be able to have ti adjusted if it proves awkward. I also wasn't firm enough about the smoothskin - the back of the legs and lower back are double-lined, so might be a bit chilly in a strong wind, which I knew was happening, but relied on their judgement. I called Friday evening, but they weren't answering, and I don't blame them!

Test run?

Went down to Llangenith in the Gower today - left home about 7.30, got back 12 hours later, accompanied by surfing daughter. It was forecast for wind and waves, thought it would be good practice and it was. I'm VERY rusty! Not having sailed in challenging conditions for at least two months, it was hard work, and I just wasn't slick enough. Five second period waves didn't help, hard to get the kit out in time before the next one arrives, but excuses excuses! Good to be out though, the only drawback to a lot more DTL experimentation was the number of surfers - lovely guys all, but parked in the bit where you turn downwind and drop in, and I wasn't confident enough to feel I could guarantee missing them. Ripped a hole in my RH index finger, which I noticed when stopping for a break, so called it a day, or maybe lunch, cuppa, warm, then rain + mist!

Planning!

Checking the weather, water temp, all that stuff, looks like something warmish in the wetsuit line might be a good idea. So I've ordered a 3mm smoothskin with a front zip from Snugg - hopefully it'll be done in time, they are very busy at the moment and the boss is out, so there's nobody making triathlon suits, putting greater load on the remaining guys. If it doesn't make it I'll probably get an O'Neill like the one I already have that has split, leaks and cuts all over it, inadequately mended with Evostik! Yeah, seems daft to spend twice if I have to, but I got very cold in Cabo, and that has a similar deep West-coast water characteristic. No point in not enjoying it, and wetsuits are a disposable item, since they get cut up and wear anyway. The Snugg one will be good for well into Autumn anyway. Can't wait!

The other preparation item is fitness - struggling to get enough exercise, and doing some weights to increase arm/back strength. This is Hard Work. I've nicked a piece of a Daily Telegraph from the hernia-repairing specialist's office, it has a simple set of exercises that are doing the trick. Trouble is, I got a back spasm which took 4 days to wear off, and I'm also having to watch my feet running - don't want to wreck them by being over-enthusiastic!

And finally, Cribby announced the other day "Just remembered we have been advised to bring head torches to Baja, and any other night vision kit you might have (John A and Ali)". What's all that about, and what's wrong with a normal torch?? I usually take my head torch anyway, it's in one of my standard bags, but is it really necessary? Odd. And the man's getting all excited about it - chat from Greece - "so looking forward to Baja"!

Oh yeah - and I've paid for it :-( - ouch.

Probably!

My son Kris has just pointed out that I must be mad, since all but the flight arrangements are being made by Cribby! This is harsh, but fair. And of course, where he's involved, there will be chaos, so best just to chill and see what happens.

Am I mad?

In the immortal words of Cribby "With constant surf and wind this is THE trip that will really blow your mind"! I wonder if I'll get to meet Carlos Castaneda, the master of the blown mind? Guess not, cos he's dead...

Punta San Carlos - at the edge of the sea, on the margin of the mesa!

It's run by a company called Solosports, who have the access rights to this nature reserve. You either drive in for 12 hours, or get on a small plane and fly for a couple of hours - I'm doing the latter. Flying to LA, some kind of wheeled transport down to San Diego, on the US-Mexico border, then plane to the spot. Get back to San Diego seven days later, then fly from San Diego to Toronto - hi guys - before returning to jolly England.

So, booked the flights - hope the timing is right for the SAN-YYZ flight, it's late at night, and I'm kinda expecting the baggage to have arrived so I can take it with me. If not - well, I'm sure I can manage with a toothbrush and Walmart has lots of cheapo t-shirts ;-). I will have some luggage on the small plane, because you're supposed to take your wetsuit etc. so you can sail on the first and last days. Mmm, maybe waist harnesses are being worn as a fashion accessory in TO this summer...

The plan is to keep this blog going whilst on the trip - apparently wilderness internet access is available, so there's no excuse. I should see if there's any other such blogs on the place...