Scottish Mountain Photo Gallery

Windsurfing in Scotland.

This is a collection of photographs of windsurfing in Scotland. This site has been running for 6 years and it is ridiculous that the "Sport of Kings" has not yet had a page of its own. Sorted. Unlike many of the activities in the Scottish Mountain Photo Gallery, it is quite difficult to take photos while windsurfing. Surprisingly, even when climbing, it is easier to get get a good photo than when windsurfing. Funnily enough, it is also easier to pick your nose on a climb. The weather is generally pretty poor when windsurfing and even on land it is difficult to hold a camera steady. Anyway some of these pictures are not quite up to the standard of others on the site and I suppose I have been reluctant to include them. All this is by way of explanation for the lateness of this page.

Troon South Beach, Firth of Clyde

Current wind. (Enter EGPK in departure waypoint box.)

Online weather inshore forecast for Prestwick.

Tide table.

Car parking at NS326298

Sunday 09/03/03

Prestwick

DayTime Dir. Speed Temp/dew point

EGPK 091120Z 19023G38KT 8000 -RA SCT012 BKN025 10/07 Q1000=
EGPK 091120Z 19023G38KT 8000 -RA SCT012 BKN025 10/07 Q1000=
EGPK 091150Z 19026G47KT 8000 -RA SCT012 BKN025 10/07 Q1000=
EGPK 091150Z 19026G47KT 8000 -RA SCT012 BKN025 10/07 Q1000=
EGPK 091220Z 19026G38KT 8000 -RA SCT012 BKN025 10/07 Q1000=
EGPK 091220Z 19026G38KT 8000 -RA SCT012 BKN025 10/07 Q1000=
EGPK 091250Z 19030G40KT 8000 -RA SCT012 BKN025 11/07 Q1000=
EGPK 091250Z 19030G40KT 8000 -RA SCT012 BKN025 11/07 Q1000=

The above is a printout of the weather recordings from Prestwick Airport, which is 2.85 miles from the beach and in a somewhat more sheltered location than Troon. It would be fair to say that we were well powered up. The wind being cross-shore, the shore break was pretty flattened but the swell at the Seal Rock was quite big, particularly when the two sets of waves merged after splitting round the reef. A lot of kite surfers turned up but none went out, I wonder why, there seemed to be enough wind. Mind you, quite a lot of windsurfers seemed to have lost vital bits of kit and spent time rummaging in their vans or car boots, must be because we haven't had any wind for ages. (See last weekend.)

Windsurfing Troon Naish 8'6" Wave, 4.5 North Voodoo. The creases on the sail simply represent the mast flex when someone of athletic build (have you every tried to get cycling kit that is big enough?) applies a little pressure to balance against a gentle breeze going up to the top of Force 9. Pictures taken at 12.04pm.

Windsurfing Troon Copello 253 Twinser, 4.2 North Zeta.

Windsurfing Troon Returning sea god. Have you ever noticed how much neoprene shrinks if you haven't worn it for a while?

Windsurfing Troon Mistral Hookipa, 4.3 Tushingham Project, 28 knots, April 1987.

Fleet Bay, Solway Firth.

NX566525

Tide tables, quite important, this is the Solway!

OnlineWeather inshore forecast for Wigton Bay.

Windsurfing, Fleet Bay Windsurfing, Fleet Bay.

Mistral Shredder 2.98m, 110l, North Infinity 5.0, 25 knots, April 1990.

Photos taken in the water, 1/2 mile from shore, hanging onto a wave board with one hand, photo taken with the other. Camera was £5 disposable Kodak.

Closer,

Yup, that was pretty close.

Would you like to be lying in the water with this thing coming at you 20 knots? I must say Alistair complained very little when I hit him. Even after I resuscitated him, he didn't say a lot. He now lives in NZ and has taken up motor-biking but the bang on the head has clearly had a lasting effect as he cannot decide whether to ride it on the front or the back wheel.