Brisk and Blustery Brogborough

Having watched my delayed recordings of the Malaysian Grand Prix, seen the promise of real competition for the Mercedes Team by Ferrari, and the impressive performances of Kimi Raikonen; the Toro Rosso Rookies, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen and the excellent win by Sebastian Vettel, I felt enervated by the desire to take advantage of the high, but blustery wind that beckoned from beyond my windows. I knew it was a chance, but I reckoned that such a wind would entice the Windsurfers likely to jump to get to the lake.

As I came along the road from Brogborough village I saw no one had ventured onto the lake, and I did wonder whether I had made a mistake. I pulled into the car park, got out of the car and battled against the onshore wind and spotted a lone windsurfer just setting off. This did not seem a promising start! Especially as the few breaks in the cloud cover I had seen on my journey up the M1, had disappeared completely, and the rain had restarted. I watched a while before going to the car and getting the camera and tripod set up, if just one man went out I might yet get some pictures.

I readied my gear, set the ISO to 640 and using Aperture Priority set f/8 to give me a chance to stop the action and a bit of leeway for me to keep the subjects in focus! I took a groundsheet  to sit on and set the tripod at its lowest, but with the legs a little wide to give me some stability, and attempted to get the groundsheet down without it getting blown away, and sat down to set it all up. I did get a few shots off, before the wave of rain headed ominously towards me in a white haze, I hastily packed the tripod back up and headed for the Portakabin and rest area. I had no hands free, so was very grateful when one of the windsurfers generously opened the door for me.

The small group within all gathered at the windows to watch the squally rain lash against the panes, we also watched one of their number assemble his sail outside in his normal clothes get a drenching such that he was going to have to step into wet clothes when he finished surfing! Fortunately after about ten minutes the rain abated, so I went back out.

The sun did appear very occasionally and I was rewarded by one man doing several jumps, so my journey was far from a waste. When I left there was just one back out on the lake, but the cold had penetrated my body and my cough had returned, so packed the car and set off back home.