After the early starts last week I’ve been working on the van to make it more overnight friendly, but with everything in bits I jumped in Nik’s van and headed for the water at te first sign of wind. Being super light it was only going to be an evening kite session. I rigged up quickly and went to slip on the wetsuit when I realised it was still sitting in the back of my van.
It’s started to feel like summer this week, even pulled out the shorts for the first outing. I wasn’t expecting to be dropping the winter wetsuit quite yet, but it wasn’t really an option to go back and pick it up, the sun would have been gone by our return. All Nik could offer was a rigging jacket, he thought I was joking when I said that would do.
It took me awhile to make the final call, once I could see he had enough power to keep going, I decided to make a couple of runs to release the frustration but keep as dry as possible. That plan went out the window as I stepped on the marsh and slipped into a mud bath, at least it confirmed it wasn’t quite summer as my voice went up a couple of octaves.
I’ve said it before, but it amazes me how you just forget everything when you’re on the water, it didn’t feel so bad and while I played it safe on the outside gybe, I couldn’t resist when I was near the marsh bank and could see a quick exit.
One and a half hours later we gave up in the failing light, but it wasn’t until we were heading home in the van that I realised I couldn’t feel my legs, they didn’t return to normal until the next day.
Guess I’ve become too comfortable with my van and having everything at hand, I’d also left the camera gear behind which will explain the lack of sailing pictures. At least the early morning walks with my dog and a couple of evening sessions with the kids in the park gave me something to point my lens at.
