Naish team windsurfers Kevin Greenslade and Dan Ellis may have discovered a piece of water that will give the southern France speed strip a run for its money.
At the moment this precise location is being kept secret but over to Dan to whet your appetite a little bit more.
“It’s not very often that I get this excited driving away from the coast, especially with a good forecast for some classic sailing at Overcoombe. But Kev and I have been waiting for a good south westerly to try out this spot. Prior to this outing Kev is the only person ever to have sailed the Ditch but that was over 10 years ago and he had almost forgotten about it, which I’m pretty glad he didn’t.
I woke up pretty excited yesterday, I was going for a day trip to the countryside!
Kev Greenslade my Naish UK team mate and I had been talking in the pub a while back after a wicked session speed sailing in Portland harbour. Kev remembered sailing in a flood drain when he was a kid up in Somerset and was pretty sure it would make the perfect speed strip. We decided to give it a go next time there was a flood and a good South west wind and then almost forgot all about it. Until last week when Kev gave me a call saying we had a green light for Sunday.
After driving around the country side for a while we came to a hump back bridge and stopped to look over miles of flat plane and what could only be described as “Le ditch UK”. Unfortunately the forecast 30 knots seemed to be hiding so we set off on foot to check it out.
Over a few styles and gates and through some very muddy fields there I was staring at a very special looking piece of flat water.
The good thing about being in the country side is that there’s loads of nice little villages and as the wind was still too light we headed of to one such village and to the “Famous” Parrett Café for a very tasty roast beef sandwich (for the French reading this roast beef is the best!!)
We then headed back hopping the wind had filled in and eager like beavers to get in the cold water. Even though the wind was still pretty light we weren’t going home with out a spin so we rigged up an 8.2 Naish Stealth and put the fin in my Fanatic Falcon 105.
Dan Ellis trying out the new UK speed ditch
Dan Ellis at speed in the countryside
When your walking around in a wetsuit in the countryside in January with a windsurfing board you get a few funny looks from the rambling bird watching types who are used to having the place to themselves but they seemed none the less amused!!
Kev and I took turns and had a few fun runs each, the water really was the flattest I’ve ever sailed in and it was only the fast approaching dark that forced us to quit. We did enough to recky the place out and now can’t wait to come back next time there’s 40knts blowing.
More info: www.dan-ellis.com
