Club Windsurf Trip to OTC Harvey Dawkins2018-02-09T11:51:22+00:00 Trip report by Lagoon club members Michael Watts This was the first time this season Hove Lagoon Club had organised a windsurfing trip away, and what a success it was! You had the option of taking your own kit or renting from The OTC on Portland,as I was traveling with fellow member Matt, we decided to take our own kit in his van. An early start at 6am, but we were lucky to drive straight there with no red lights or traffic jams,arriving at 9am. After a quick chat with John Yeomans, Lagoon’s Advanced Windsurf Instructor, we had a quick coffee and snack in the well stocked and reasonably priced cafe. Once everyone had turned up, 8 of us from Hove Lagoon, we had a quick safety chat and told John what we wanted to get out of the weekend. So off we went, it was about 15 knots during the morning and we practiced on lovely flat water,waist to chest deep. By lunch time the wind had dropped and John decided that it would be freestyle afternoon. This proved to be good fun, we had to form a snake, with all our boards joined together and sail along. It was then follow the leader and each person led and decided what move we would all follow. There were heli tacks,sailing back winded, gybes,clew first sailing,sail and body 360,s to name a few moves. All of us were well wet after these moves,except John ! We were off the water by 5pm and decided to meet up in Weymouth for a tasty burger and a few beers. This was a great time to chat and talk over the day. I headed back to our hotel on Portland with Matt as he was driving and downed a sensible amount of lager in our hotel bar !! Sunday started with a slight hangover, but a full breakfast at our hotel sorted that out. It was much windier, so today was planing and footstraps for us. John was out sailing along side and giving hints and sorting out any problems. By lunch time we were tired and thirsty and went to the cafe to have a plate of fresh homemade pasta for me, and and chilli for Matt. The afternoon was busy on the water,there where freestyle groups,junior windsurf and rippers all out on the water competing,the quality of windsurfing was very high and I have never seen so many windsurfers in one place. We finished about 4pm and after packing up and saying our goodbyes,we headed back to Brighton,exhausted but buzzing with new skills. We have another clinic with Sam Ross coming up,and another at Hayling Island with Danielle and Phil from Get Windsurfing in June and hopefully a trip to Cornwall in the Autumn. I hope there will be more at Weymouth too,a bit of a drive but such a good venue to windsurf in a safe environment and the option to hire the latest kit from the well equipped centre. Share this post Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google + Email Author Harvey Dawkins