Where's you favourite place in the world to sail has to be the No1 question I get asked, its easy to answer. Maui or Brightlingsea, and you couldn't get two places further apart. Everyone understands Maui, sun, wind and waves, it has it all, well almost. It wasn't where I learnt, and like me, my mates only get to visit now and then. On the other hand Brightlingsea is colder, flatter, and doesn't get the wind, but it my home patch and where I learnt with my mates.

Back when I started my sailing buddy was Steve Cook, but as time has passed he's sailed less and now its his son Shaun Cook, Dave Fuller, and Nik Green that I mainly sail with at home, Nik's blown his knee out wakeboarding, so is relegated to the beach for the next few months.

I've been away more Easters than I've had at home, so this was a special one, home with the family, plus we also scored two days of wind. On Tuesday we sailed out of Clacton, South West is dead side shore, and I we're going to get any waves (I use the word "waves" loosely) Clacton is the spot.

The temperature went into double figures on Thursday as a force five westerly blew through. Brightlingsea is the best spot to launch from for us, only a minute from the house and a short reach out to "Point Clear" where sailing is possible both sides of the spit at high tide.

The water inside the bay is only useful for a couple of hours ether side of high tide while the mud flats are covered. You can see from the pix and video, the water is perfectly flat for about fifteen hundred meters, and even as you drop away from the bank it still doesn't chop up.

We took a small waterproof camera out just after high tide, but to see it at its best catch the tide as its pushing in, the water is flatter in the bay, but more important the conditions are better on the other side of the spit also. Not that there'll be any waves to talk off, but you do get a mile or more of small jumpable wave, and is why we tend to spend more time out side the bay.

The wind stopped play over the weekend, but the temperature kept rising, so hopefully we can say good by to the winter and start looking forward to a windy summer with my mates.