Wednesday 22nd March - Windsurf **** River Orwell at Levington – mainly cloudy and mild.
Foil – 21.27 knot max (year and spot PB), 19.53 knot ave, 12.91 knot hour, 18.37 knot mile (PB), 49.78 km., 16.23 knot alpha.
Starboard Freeride 150 and an Evolution Freeride foil with a Tushingham Thunderbird 6.50m.
After yesterdays trip over to Levington but did not sail as our parking spot was full of dredging pipes, I was keen to make the most of the continued mild and breezy weather. Arriving at the marina at 10 I still could not park so headed to the other end where we used to windsurf from. The tide was still fairly low and with the onshore wind blowing over 20 mph I was tempted to take my fin board out so put that on the beach as fellow windsurfer Michael Galbraith arrived to foil. I then rigged my 6.5 while Michael in the end decided on his 5.8 but by the time I had my wetsuit on the wind had dropped so I set up my foil boards and took a chance with my 6.5. I didn’t have to wade out far to find deep water and after a few short tacks was out in deep water and was soon up and flying towards Pin Mill, in fact I spent most of the session doing long 2 mile runs up the river where the water was pretty smooth but Michael headed down towards the docks, shorter runs but possibly more wind. There was certainly some big gusts getting to 25 knots at time, I did have a couple of nice wipe-outs pushing a little too hard! Not much sunshine today, just brief glimpses and very few boats out today but loads of water to play in. My autumn wetsuit was not too bad but I definitely need a 6mm suit with a dry zip, will keep an eye open on Ebay, I also need a long sleeve shorty for when things warm up. I did try to beat down towards Felixstowe docks but the wind went very light so returned to the long runs again and pushed for a few fast mile runs, actually getting a PB, in fact I broke my previous best twice, SW is a great direction for long fast runs in smooth water. I broke 20 knots three time and managed a best of 21.27 on my last run of the day, maybe time to get a smaller front and rear wing. After a couple of f=good crashes where I landed heavily on my sail on the third one, I put my hand through my poor old Tushingham, my sails are now well best their best and I could do with a few new one preferably HD versions and I need a 6.6, 5.8 and 5, could be time to buy a lottery ticket! So, a good session, out for over two hours covering 30 miles and my knee held out OK and maybe the same again tomorrow? Then pack up, hot shower and home, will have to repair my 6.5 but have some good tape:)
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