The van has progresses and stopped all at the same time. Getting the back racked and ready took priority over seating; finally I got to go back on the water. Got to confess it wasn’t all it could have been, the day ended in a mile walk. With Karpathos only a week away, I’ll give my ankle that extra time to get to full strength.

The van is finally showing signs of having a direction, a single seat and a couple of swivel plates should finish the cab. Further back I’ll add a bench seat and table that should be able to seat six round for a drink.

Effort moved to the boards and sails this week, we fashioned a new rack, and moved the existing sail rack to make more room. We haven’t really lost any room, there’s still enough space for 20 rigged sails going up to 8.0 and 11 boards on racks. The rack well extend to add a few more but just how far do we want to go, plus there’s plenty of room for a boards bag or two on the floor if necessary.

I hadn’t really planned to sail this week, Jonathan Bradford was down and keen to go for a sail. He was my first real sponsor and while he left windsurfing years ago has stayed a good friend. Weather Online was showing the wind were good off Walton, but would drop later, guess I should have taken more notice of the dropping part.

We’ve found a great jump spot up wind but only accessible by sea, it’s like a magnet, we just have to head up there. We hadn’t even had time to enjoy the place before the winds stated to drop, but being too persistent I was the last to turn back. We renamed Weather Online to “Whatever Online” due the inaccuracy we’ve had lately, guess the mile walk was my punishment for ignoring an accurate forecast.

It’s still been another week dominated by biking, miles keep passing by, but at least I don’t have to ride alone all the time. Pete worked for F-Hot Finz for years before becoming a full time fireman, unfortunately he also changed to a part time windsurfer and only sails when it warm. I joined him on a ride to work, we past a few of his Jaywick jobs on the way. He was back in Jaywick working before I could get home.

Much to my amazement, the Reece and Samantha are even stepping up to the biking, though I don’t think they’d quite planned to come so far.