09/10/2026
Friday evening has arrived and the Weekend of Fun is almost with us.. but it is looking ‘chilli’.. on Sunday.. with Nachos! Shame about the pouring rain that arrived just as I was shutting up shop but we do need the water!!
After what you could only describe as a winter WAKE UP call (5°C early Thursday morning!!) it was good to feel the warm breeze this morning, as the Northerly which turned up for Wednesday and Thursday was cutting.. a mere 9°C when I left the shop on Wednesday evening in my t-shirt and shorts. The wind did pick up this afternoon , as forecast, but I don’t think the forecast for a 2.0m plus wave height was achieved (looking at the beach cams) but all the same, a very nice way to wind up another week in Autumn time.
And yet another quick reminder, that we are holding the Farewell Ladle Land get together this coming Sunday, for anyone who has ever shopped, supplied, owned or worked at the mega store, during the last 40 years. Surfladle was started by Tony Crowley in 1986 , who’d also owned Tilgate Windsurfing and Angmering Wind and Surf. It then became Surfladle ‘Live’, with Johnny and Jaqui Hobbs at the helm from 1990 to 1994. They also ran Southern Leisure Windsurfing at Chichester, where a chap called ‘Born again Bill’ (sadly gone..) along with his side kick.. me.. taught ‘many’ RYA Level 1 students, as well as overseas exchange students who were staying in Chi. Johnny, along with Ben who ran the shop on a daily basis, also embarked on running a 'road show', with a rather dangerous Windsurfing Simulator ‘thing’ that resembled one of the Bucking Bronco machines that were around then.. oh, those days were ‘fun’ and probably best left in the past.
James, had already purchased Tilgate and Angmering from Tony, so he was ‘in the loop’ and Bill and I had helped James out at Tilgate on a couple of occasions. When trouble was afoot for Johnny in September 1994, he relinquished the shop back to Tony and that’s when my life ‘changed’, as I got a call from Tony saying “what was I doing” and could I run the shop for a few weeks until a buyer could be found. Well, James was looking for a larger premises, so ‘we’ took over and now, 32 years later, I think we’ve done our bit.. it must be time to get out and ‘play’, while we still can.
But what a change has taken place over those mere 40 years, from selling windsurfers which were basically held together by rope and ‘luck’ (you rarely ever completed a session without something falling off), which greatly improved when we got to the ‘clamping boom’ years, then onto the birth of kitesurfing, with those lethal Killer Kites and the many brave pioneering people who tied themselves to them, to the advent of SUP and the sound of ‘pumps’ being pumped at beaches and waterways throughout the country and now to the current High Tech world of foiling equipment, brilliantly CNC’d and rare to have anything ‘fail’… without the aid of user input or factory worker error, of course. It’s certainly been an interesting journey and one we can all chin wag about, this coming Sunday, so please come along if you can.
Parking might be difficult, but try and park respectfully of residents drives and do check the yellow line signs, as they do alter depending upon where you park (the lovely traffic wardens patrol at weekends). The Chilli and Nachos will be ‘on’ from around 12.30pm, for as long as it lasts but coffee and ‘drinks’ will also be available. Moving on…
Last week I was informed these rambles went on far too long ( I wonder if you got this far, this week, Alan.. :), so that’s it for tonight, except of course, for the weekends weather and tide times.
Saturday, West with a touch of North in it, so hopefully not too much North. 12-16kt during the morning and upping to 16-23kt during the afternoon. Air temp is given as 16°C tops and the sea is now 18.2°C, so Open Water swimmers should still be very ‘happy’. Weather is said to be dry with sunny periods, so looking good for the second weekend in October. Tide is High at 11.55hrs on a Spring 6.5m, so loads of water in the estuary and rivers for those paddlers and foiling people. Please remember to try and respect the SSSI areas.
Sunday, starts off with a definite Nor’West wind 8-10kt but will swing Sou’West 8-12kt during the afternoon. Current weather forecast says ‘dry’ for most of the day with a top temp of 16°C but rain is forecast for around 5pm and on into the evening, which I guess will put the weekend ‘to bed’, as they say. Tide hits High at 12.32hrs on a 6.5m.
And that’s about it for this week. As I posted earlier today the Tiree Wave event kicks off tomorrow and Windsurfing TV will be broadcasting throughout the event (World Champions turning up, all trying to grab a sword.. whatever next!).
Back with what I think will be the penultimate shaky beach vid (on Facebook) in the morning. Ta'Ta
