Wednesday 18th September  – Windsurf ***** River Stour at Wrabness –  sunny.

Foil – 19.75  knot max, 18.25 knot ave, 14.06  knot hour, 15.94 knot mile, 60.69 km., 14.82 knot alpha. 

Starboard Freeride 150 and a Evolution Freeride foil with a Tushingham Bolt 5.5.

They said on yesterdays weather that there was going to be a Partial Lunar Eclipse during the night with 3.30 being the best time to spot it and by pure luck I woke at spot on 3.30 to go to the loo, the joys of being old:) I was cloudy but I got a brief sighting of the moon so went down stairs to put my big lens on the camera, stood in the bath and managed to get a few pics out of the bathroom window as the cloud cleared, I then sent them to the TV weather and posted them on Facebook. I was then lucky enough that Chris Page used one on today's weather forecast and it was also posted online by the local paper the EADT, BBC Suffolk and Chris Page TV :) After yesterdays afternoon sail in the NE at The Dip in Felixstowe I thought I would probably do the same again as I thought I was taking Mag for an 11 o clock appointment but I got that wrong as it was 3 in the afternoon! I then decided to head over to Wrabness for a foil on the River Stour as high tide was in the middle of the day, Mag was not overly impressed as she does not like me driving by myself! I had a quick breakfast and loads my gear in the van and left around 9.30, with a lane closed on the Orwell Bridge I know I would be delayed but two police motorbikers were keeping the traffic flowing and it only added 10/15 minutes to my journey time:) I parked in my spot at Wall Lane in Wrabness with a fin sailor just about to head out with a 120 lt. board and 6.5, sadly he struggled to get going:( Foil board with my new foil was quickly set-up and I took a chance with my 5.5, it was a bit of guess work as NE is a tad off on my rigging beach and is sheltered. I launched just before 11 and floundered across the river a couple of times thinking I should have rigged 6.5 but then as if by magic the wind picked up to about 20 knots and I enjoyed a 37 mile 5 star session doing so top gybes, only dropping in once when I was getting knackered! I had several runs slowly heading down towards Bradfield were several foilers and wingers were starting to head out! I then had great fun slowly beating down the Lovely Stour just to Holbrook School doing long runs across the river, a few yachts were out and I only briefly saw a few mates who launched from Bradfield. I then had some cracking broad runs back, nothing overly fast as the river was bumpy in places and perhaps I needed a little bigger sail to add a few knots to my speed but with a new foil I didn’t want to push it too hard! I made it down to Bradfield now really tired it was time to call it day and head back, what a top session, I might have to do it all again tomorrow and I managed to drive both ways with no problems:) 

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