By the time the rest of the crew had arrived I had two sails rigged and connected to boards. I didn’t want to miss a single moment and the conditions were looking decent already even though we were far away from the magic hour. I really enjoy sailing with Jamie, Lecky and Timo especially in my own back yard, I think it always inspires you to sail better when your mates are pushing you and you are on your home turf, especially with JC pointing his lens at you!
We must have been sailing a good couple of hours and conditions were solid, but not epic, and the level of sailing was slowly improving. I knew the magic hour was almost upon us, many times in the past I would have just gone in and packed up, but having recently sailed and researched the best tides I was sure that we still could be waiting for the best moment of the day.
Mid-afternoon with the sun dropping provides a magical light here in the UK this time of year and just as the waves started to turn golden in colour, the sets started to slowly become more and more frequent. The tide was becoming just weak enough to allow the waves to push into shore while the current was still sucking outwards, keeping the waves in good shape. It was just the right motivation for the boys to stay out longer. Though we were all on our last reserves of energy, we all somehow managed to raise our sailing games up about 110%, sticking our 360’s and takas, left, right and centre, perfectly timed with the best wind and waves of the day and the nice light.
It was one of those moments you get sometimes when you go windsurfing, the perfect hour, at home, with your buddies and when everything goes right!
And what better way to finish the session then with a beer in your local pub! My best session of the winter, enough said!”