Monday 14th December - Windsurf ***** - River Orwell at Levington Marina – sunny and mild.

Foil – 18.46 knot max, 17.48 knot ave ., 9.48 knot hour , 16.23 knot mile , 42.82 km .,12.45  knot alpha.

Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning 7.8m.

I haven’t been since November 24th when I broke my foil fuselage but can’t fault Jamie Dodds from WetnDry and Slingshot UK for organising me a replacement:) I didn’t miss much windsurfing as we have had a spell of cold weather but things are looking much better this week, getting milder with some breeze forecast:) A few foilers were getting excited about today as the thermometer was to hit 12 degrees with sunshine and 20 knots forecast. With high water around 11 I arrived at Levington Marina at 9.15 with Michael and Ian chatting with Andy out on the water already. Andy M was not flying with his 7.8 so we waited hoping for it to fill in which it did after a quick catch-up admiring Michaels new board! I went for 7.8, Michael 6.5 and Ian 6.2. They are still dredging the marina and there are pontoons everywhere and after last nights rain it was very muddy. Still, we had plenty of water and wall to wall sunshine as I headed sailing towards the corner against the tide and didn’t fly at all, even though Andy was flying down towards Felixstowe docks as more wind there as it funnels through up there. Gybing I was soon up and flying all the way to Pin Mill where I lost the wind. I had a great couple of hours flying most of the time doing long runs, over two miles not getting wet at all :) I gybed at every turn but didn’t push it too hard as wanted to stay dry, just amazing being out in the sunshine on this beautiful spot as loads of waders were flying overhead:) There was some good gusts coming through but the 7.8 was fine. I did think of joining Andy towards the docks but the tide had turned and the wind went patchy so I decided against this. Then the wind really picked up for awhile making it interesting, I tried pushing it but only ended up in the water a couple of times! The tide had been dropping for awhile and the wind was going patchy so it was time to call it a day after being out none stop at least two and a half hours covering 26 miles:) Looks like lighter winds tomorrow and then hopefully back on Wednesday for another go.

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http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms

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