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Rich Carter called it early, and the forecast held ..... with promise of Southerly starboard tack cross shore winds, mid-morning high tides, head high waves, cold temperatures and plenty of rain there is an element of needing a session after a barren period combined with the excitement of a solid Force 8 forecast. One thing's for sure .... it'll look very different to the picture below !!!

In fact, it'll probably look more like this shot, only colder, and higher tide !!

The regulars from the Camber Posse will be on hand to make the best of the day's offerings along with Surfkraft riders Rich Carter, Dan Simpson & Ian Kraft, so you'll have to wait for pictures of what it's like.

Planning to launch from close to the lifeboat station, which might prove a sensible choice given the forecast !! 

UPDATE

 Due to the wind direction, we opted for Greatstone. En route Krafty took a peep at Jurys Gap to see just how windy it was.

 Looking west at Jurys Gap

Looking east at Jurys Gap

Moving on from Jurys Gap Krafty headed for Greatstone to meet the rest of the posse

Pulling into the car park, check the view from inside the warmth of the car

Quick check on just how windy it was ...... pretty windy it seemed @ 41.4 KNOTS !!!!

First man out - Shawn (aka shawndawavehead) - on a borrowed 4.2m !!!

 A few of us turned up despite the cold weather

Including Dan Simpson, seen here battling his way to the waters edge. Note the easy launch from here, just before high tide, with cross-shore(SSE) nuclear winds.

Dan & Shawn in the shallows

Dan, out there !!!

Better late than never, Rich rocks up to find everyone else already rigged or on the water and digs out his 4.2m, all the while vowing he'll be buying a 3.7m at the first opportunity .....

Apologies for the poor quality of the pics, but Krafty took them on his Nokia phone before heading out on the water himself on his 4.2m & twin fin.

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 Krafty's session wasn't as much fun as he'd hoped, with pretty serious kit failure pretty early on and spent more of his session swimming than windsurfing. Bit of a 'shit happens' kind of session, where the breakage causes a big moment and spectacular dismount, followed by brief assessment of situation, realising it's a swim back to shore moment trying to restrict further damage to the kit in the waves. With quite a rip running, landing spot was always going to be a distance from launch spot, so the endurance session bolted on a decent walk back upwind with kit into 40+ knots of wind !! 

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Here's what Rich had to say after his session -

Sailed at Romney Sands opposite the Romney Tavern, it was side with tad of on and f**king windy. Wen't out on the 4.2 which was full power all the time, the gusts were huge when they hit and always seemed to hit when up in the air or in the turn. Quite a few out, counted 14 at one point, most on 3.7 - 4.0 or smallest they had in the van. Didn't get the cold hand thing once so it can't be that cold...?? But, I was wearing my ghey atans, ghey balaclava, ghey palmless mitts and Spartan Reflex suit which is definitly the warmest suit i've had. I'm definitly going to get a 3.7 now, been too many times when i've needed it. Loads of backies going on, on the water.. Home now, dinner is on the table as it should be when you get in from work or sailing and a cold beer to go with it. I heard Camber Mafia is pretending to be ill because his missus won't let him out to play..  Waves looked good as i was leaving up at Littlestone end and up by the mulberry harbour with the outgoing tide as usual.

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Dan Simpson had a decent session too, and left with full intentions  to return on the next decent forecast for a session away from his favoured Rhosneigr wave spot. Dan was the only barefoot rider, and he reported back that his feet didn't get too cold. His hands however, did suffer !!

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What Shawn had to say -

windsurfers are a different breed to others, where else would  some one lend you a 4.2 sail as mines being repaired in gusts of 50mph thanks richard, bloody cold and rig got ripped out of hands and flew of down wind, only trying to launch when front hand slipped , gloves!.

 As rich c said it was a mission but worth it and dan simpsons a tidy sailor too ROLL ON THE WARMER WEATHER. 

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Special mention for Sam Latham who came along with Dan for the session, a lightweight youth RSX & slalom racer, who went out on his 3.7m and 69 litre wave board. Not as prepared for the cold as some, Richard having already loaned hsi spare 4.2m to Shawn, loaned Sam a gimp hood to keep his bonce warm.

There is a good local windsurfing scene around the Camber area, and as ever, it was great to catch up with so many die hard windsurfers determined to make the most of the conditions. There must have been 14-15 of us on the water 'enjoying' the conditions.

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On his way back, Krafty couldn't resist a look in at Camber, and reported back that at Jury's a kiter was setting up a 7.0m kite to launch into this ......