Thorpe Bay Grand Prix event proved to be one of the most memorable for me in more ways than one! Saturday was what could only be described as insane.

We launched in 25knots and by the time the race started it was gusting 30. So much so that with the combined sea state, no one apart from Chris Rashley was able to get downwind. A few tried and I did get round the windward mark in 3rd and thought I’d go for it managing a run of about 200 metres but it was way out of control and ended in a stack. After that I realised the others weren’t even trying so I opted to allow the wind to blow be back down the course with the boat on it’s side. In the end it was a good option as I made the same progress as the guys who were upright and drifting. Richie Lovering was the first to make it stick down wind by totally oversheeting and just pointing dead downwind.

The winds then eased enough for me to make a bid to get ashore.

I had a religious moment when I managed to get back to shore and literally the moment the boat was on the beach all hell broke loose with three people holding ninjario down as a 47mph squall ripped through with hailstones and lightning! Special thanks to Tom Lambert’s Dad and a local windsurfer who hung on the the boat despite the might of the squall.

Mike Lennon wasn’t quite so lucky and was literally 30 seconds behind me which was just a fraction too late. The sky went black, the waves where whipped in to a fury and where he was just metres away from the beach, it wasn’t close enough… He and his boat got blown further down the shore and the rescue crew had to decimate his rigging to separate the sail from the boat. Luckily he got ashore relatively unscathed and was able to re splice his rope work back together again.

Man of the day was Chris Rashley who decided the safest place to be was out in the bay! Bare in mind visibility was down to about 20 metres, winds were 47mph and there was lighting strikes going off, Chris jumped ship and swam a few feet away from his boat to avoid being cooked! Then when it all passed through, he emerged and got ashore safely.

Ben Paton also got caught out and was blown further down the shore but also came away unscathed…

When it did clear, I looked upward and had my religious moment… “what if I was 30 seconds later… would I have coped as well as Mike and the others?..”

Sunday looked like it was going to be a repeat with dark clouds coming through and gusts of up to 30 mph. Chris was the only guy to head out whilst we sat around deliberating. I decided enough was enough and figured I had come to Thorpe bay to race so it was time to rig up and head out.

Getting round the windward mark and then the outer reach mark in race one, I realised there were some big gusts coming through and taking Richie’s advice I remembered to sheet in hard and just get downwind as quickly as possible. The chop was nowhere near as bad as it had been on the saturday so it was far more manageable. I managed a glance down at the speed puck and saw 24.1 and thought to myself “yes I’ve got a new PB”. When  I got ashore after the second race and checked the best speed I was shocked to see 25.4 on the readout!

I think 30 is definitely possible but only on flat water so I guess it’s something new to aim for! Mind you I also think you need around 30 knots of wind to achieve that as well.. would I head out in that again? Mmmmmmm…….

To round it all off, bugger me if I didn’t grab a podium finish in the end! Full report on the UK site.