Latest News - 14/08/2020

Hot Hot Hot.. now Wet Wet Wet but at least it's the Weekend!



 If it is Friday night than I think we are at the weekend..sadly I have now lost track of the days and it has all become one big blur! The last 2 months have been like a Bank Holiday Monday every day. If only the UK summers were as consistent as this one.. we may well then see a UK watersports industry start to thrive again ( thinking back to the Eighties when the surf cottage industries manufactured so much here). With Brexit on the horizon it may well be that we should return to making rather than just consuming, although I fear our laws regarding working conditions and chemical usage may make the 'toys' quite expensive. Time will tell and thankfully it is down to those of you in the younger generation to pick up the torch and run with it. Go on..you know you want to. 

I know a lot of people struggled with the heat of the last week.. people,who should have been customers, actually ran out of the shop as they could not take the 38° temp we had in there.. but heat is a wonderful thing for beach life, as most of us do like to heat up like a lizard after being in the water, rather than sitting there covered in goose bumps. Mind you, it killed the sales of the now infamous beach 'poncho'! This week coming looks to be back to a normal temperature so I am sure that will bring back the goosebumps.. anyone need a poncho! And it has not just been the beach areas in the UK that have been overcrowded.. the lakes in Germany have as well, as shown by DW.com in one of their news clips. I wonder if they have seen the pics of Brighton and Bournemouth?? There is a link at the end of this blog if you are interested. 

Bodyboards and Beach shoes have been the favourite of course and I don't think there can be many shops left with any stock of either. We are out of beach shoes above size 3 but do still have a few 33" bodyboards at £15.00 and an adult sized 41" at £20.00, should you or the youngsters still be contemplating the best beach toy for easy fun. 
Inflatable SUP.. OMG.. if I had a tenner for every enquiry we have had over the last three months I would have retired by now. Stock is at an all time low, both in the Mega Store and at the suppliers. I had to drop kit off at the shop today (James was at the helm) and apart from our both being astonished that we have only seen each other twice since March the 23rd (that is social distancing..) we both were quite shocked at how empty Ladle looks...never in its last 26 years has it been so.. empty! There is still one abundance though and that is the winter wetsuits we have. Covid has made suit selling very difficult as changing rooms are not allowed to be used, so we are now going for a real clearance on most of the winter suits we have remnants of. If you think it will fit we will give you a cracking deal to take it away. Obviously if it is no good you can bring it back.. but hopefully not. It will be a case of coming to the shop as we just don't have the time at the moment to list them all. 
Ok, now to the weather and the Tides for the weekend. 
Those of you who are crammed onto the ferries trying to escape quarantine will have a very pleasant crossing with a wonderful flat seascape, with a chance of a few flashes and bangs just to add a little excitement. Safe trip home to all going either way.
Saturday we expect very light cyclonic winds eventually becoming Sou'West 6kts. Rain showers likely in the morning but could happen at any point of the day, with more flashing and banging possible. Tides are High at 8.54hrs on a tiny 4.9m so not a lot of water in the river.. unless heavy rain inland. 
Sunday the winds swing to the Sou'East and the weather currently looks very similar to Saturdays,  maybe wetter in the evening. Tide is High at 9.54hrs on a 5.3m.. so not quite so muddy getting into the river! 
And that is your lot for tonight. Not looking great for the BBQ and as I was reminded last week, Shoreham Beach has a BBQ ban in place, but Lancing Parish is OK to BBQ so at Widewater Beach I believe you can. 
Have a great weekend All! 
 

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