There’s something special about rigging in the dark, especially when the wind and waves come together, but catching the last gust as the sun went down couldn’t have rounded off a better day. While the rest of the week was relatively calm on the water, speed dominated my days. I keep saying that Southend-on-sea is the fastest strip of water in the world; it’s about time I stood by my words.

The best sailing at Clacton is on a pushing tide and a southwest wind, all the forecasts were predicting it, but we’d have to be on the water by 7am to catch it at its best. Dave and Shaun were both up for it, catch a couple of hours sailing and back to work.

While we didn’t get one of the tornado’s that were hitting allover the country, we did have a half hour of madness when it became un-sailable. Shaun looked more like the sand man when he emerged from under his sail, guess it wasn’t the spot to ride out the storm.

As the storm past it took the wind with it, we packed up thinking that was our lot for the day. But the wind returned just in time to get another session in before the sun went down. This time we ended up at Jaywick as the wind had moved round more to the west. A perfect days sailing, and still enough time to get some work done on the van.

Though I hadn’t mentioned it before, the van rebuild was for more than just extra seating; I needed a mobile base to house the timing equipment and make sure speed records at Southen-on-sea become more than a dream. I’ve always believed that the Ray at Southend has the potential to hold all the sailing speed records. The Ray has two courses at different angles, not only are they perfect for the 500m but there’s also plenty of room for a Nautical mile.

I’ve been talking with the town council for some time, didn’t want to rush in without proving the area first. Talking up a location is one thing, and for years I’ve not been able to do anything about it, until GPS came along that is. With everyone into the GPS speed has become so much more popular, everyone gets to know how fast they are, or a speed strip is.

Last year I put a the video on the left online, this is the Ray when its choppy, and yet everyone thinks its flat, it is by any other speed strip standards, but here its different. This year Southend’s Ray sits at the top of the GPS ladder so I guess I’ve proved it.

Having been at the ditch in France several times I know its not cheap to chase records, and now I’m working to get Southend going, I realize just how much it costs the sort of effort that goes in to making it happen. But then if records were easy, who would want to chase them.

I’ve purchased the timing equipment and that arrives soon, the tide has been measured and the course is set to be surveyed, its all coming together

 

Just added -

Speed sailing at Southend
It looks like Southend has more interest than I expected, the phone has been red hot. To save any getting cough on the phone while driving, can you send me your details from the contact form