First time blog

Where do I start?
Up until last year I enjoyed windsurfing a lot, having tried to do it for about 4 years with not much time on the water. Last year I got bitten by the bug and managed nearly 60 sessions on the water, only stopping on December 27th due to frozen toes.

I had the intention of starting again this year as soon as the water was a bearable temperature, so mid Febuary seemed a good target to get wet. On Febuary the 13th I had a large heart attack lasting from about 3am to 11am. I recovered my physical health quickly and got back out on the water by the start of April. Mentally it has been harder, there is not much support for those of us who are younger and suffer from heart problems. Although the NHS does a good job with their heart attack conveyor belt recovery system, they dont have any answers to satisfy my curiosity as to why! As the months have rolled on I have found my solice on the water which at least puts the negative thoughts out of my mind.

Spring and early summer were not good for wind, but I went out as often as I could even if it was just learning new moves with a big board and small sail in light winds. Summer itself was mixed, with a couple of great weeks at the end of August. Since then I have been out about 5 times every week, with a total session count of 53 including a few times on the stand up paddleboard through the wind drought weeks.

At the start of September I joined the Portland Pirates Speedsailing team and now have clear targets to beat every session when the conditions are right.  I am almost certainly the weakest link in the team at the moment, but the scoring system takes the best two scores for that day. The way I see it is if I get out on the water then on occasion my times may count, and over time my skills will get better, and I will upgrade equipment to speed sailing kit over time when I can afford it.

My goals for 2011 are to get 100 sessions and 1000nautical miles under my belt, with a max speed over 35knots. I am going to try to get sponsored to complete this with all proceeds going to the British Heart Foundation.


After each session if I have the energy I will post on here, I used to write a diary in my iphone which was lost as apple upgraded the software, at least on this I will be able to keep a log and share it with anyone interested.