Thursday 4th September  – Windsurf ** River Orwell at Levington  –  sunny periods and heavy rain with gusty winds.

Foil – 18.78  knot max, 17.03 knot ave., 7.39  knot hour, 15.13 knot mile, 32.10 km., 14.86 knot alpha.

Starboard Freeride 150 and a Evolution Freeride foil with a Tushingham Bolt 5.75.

Odd forecast, 20 knots from the SW but heavy showers with possibilly thunder making the wind very unpredicatable so I thought that the River Orwell at Levington was the safest venue. I learned that Ian, Robert and Jerry were heading over fairly early to wing as high water was at 9.40! I arrived at the marina at 9 in lovely sunshine with three wingers setting up 5m wings as it was gusting to 20 knots, so I rigged my 5.75m sail again and was last on the water, those wingers can set-up quickly! By the time I headed out onto the water again the sun had disappeared but the wingers were still going well across the corner to the right of the marina! I did fly up river but ran out of wind so gybed and had a few runs in front of the marina before the rain arrived, I hate sailing in the wet, its difficult to see with my glasses on! The rain made the wind very patchy and I struggled, though lightweight Ian was still flying much more than me! The wind then dropped really light so I decided to head ashore as some heavy rain arrived!!! I had a snack in the van and saw a kingfisher in the marina as the three wingers packed up as the dark clouds moved away and the sun returned! I waited hoping the wind would return as a large number of geese left Levington Creek and did a fly over! I had only sailed 8 miles so was keen to head out again and the wind did return enough to tempt me out as the tide dropped. It was slow start but the wind did return but very gusty and I never really felt comfortable. I did do another 12 miles but it did chop up and it was hugely gusty, then when the heavy rain returned I ended up in the river, time to call it a day as the wind disappeared again so I wobbled back to pack up, shower and hed for home. Just a couple of highlights, the kingfisher and a small cruise boat, the Hebriden Sky was making its way to Ipswich! A reall poor session, thank goodness there is no wind for a couple of days as this was Levington at its worst!

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