What's involved?
The challenge will involve windsurfing up to 160 nautical miles around the Isle Of Wight. At times we could be up to 4 miles offshore from any coast line. There are strong and difficult tidal currents to navigate through, notorious in the Solent area. The combination of the wind and currents is likely to create some unpleasant sea conditions with short fetch, steep waves that will punish the body when travelling at a speed of near 30 knots.If that weren't enough, we will also have to cross one of the world's busiest shipping lanes... and no, being so small we don't have priority before you ask! All of this is ahead of us but we think it will all be worthwhile, not only will it be for a fantastic cause but we'll get to share the experience of a great adventure - 3 brothers pushing hard against body, nature and timebound by available daylight. To ensure we keep within the boundaries of 'safe' we will have a support vessel in the form of a large single hull 500hp speed boat which will be chasing us or us chasing it around the island. Between the 4 watercraft afloat sharing a half a square mile window of water with the inevitable windsurf wipe-outs, there's going to be a fair bit to coordinate to keep the entire team linked up by indidivual GPSs and radios. The boat support team are undertaking their own training regime to meet the demands of near 8 hours on the water buffeted by swell. Presentation of our planned route and some actual example routes (including our failed attempt) are shown below |
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