UK Downwinder

[trouty]

Hi all me and a few mates are thinking of doing a down winder from Selsey to Brighton this year.
Can anyone tell me if anyone from this forum or anyone they know in the uk has done this or something similar?
I know it could be a bit of a logistical kitemare but am sure it could be done with a backup boat.
Obviously the coast gaurd would be informed and all necessary precautions taken. We have estimated as the crow flies its about 35 miles and am guessing it could be covered if all went well in about 4 hrs.

any helpfull comments apprecaited

thanks

paul

[bri]

in theory you could do littlehampton to shoreham. I've never kited down selsey way. you'd need some kind of support coming down either by boat or car. 1 boat per 2-3 kiters

I don't think you can kite across shoreham harbour either cos of the ships, also the water / current / wind gets a bit weird around there.

post it kiteboarder.co.uk

[bigmark100]

isnt that an upwinder?

[Carlos_C]

only in an easterly

[trouty]

bigmark could well be i guess ....

Bri cheers that is something i wasn't aware of and will have to look into. (couldn't we just dodge em') ? HA maybe NOT

Ill keep you posted of our plans and if there is anyone else out there that can help please post.

thanks

Paul

[dibs]

ive done a two downwiders in that direction, one from lancing to shoreham and one from lancing to just past shoreham, i dont think you'll want to go much further as the distance you travel takes a long time to cover, id say it to between 3-3.5 hours to do the longer one and that seemed plenty. it was an almoth westerly wind both times however so it was pretty much straight downwind, a more southerly direction would have been better, also the waves can limit your speed aswell. if you fancy meeting up some time at somewhere like lancing then that would be kl

[Robsw6]

we did the return channel crossing a few years back and I was surprised how quickly you can do it - 55 miles on a gps in 2 1/2 hrs - in fully powered conditions, could be done even faster (it was light on the way to France). We also did a few training downwinders such as lancing-shoreham.

Best advice is to stay close to shore as possible, keep riders close enough together to communicate, so if a squal comes through you can get into the beach and land each other. Also take water/camel bacs and ideally have a boat or wet bike. Tell the coastguard also.

ps further thoughts: avoid Selsea due to the nasty rips, better to start at Pagham and take a mobile phone (in aqua bag) so that you can go as far as you want and then get collected by car. Also take some money for a cup of tea!

[RichKite]

We have done a downwinder before in UK. Ours was only 17miles straight. We left one car at destination - one half way along then one to start ..... came in handy as the wind died during the session.