Friday 20th May - Windsurf **** The River Stour at Wrabness – sunny and warm.

Foil – 19.83 knot max, 18.65 knot ave, 10.30 knot hour, 16.27 knot mile, 51.31 km., 15.03 knot alpha.

Starboard Freeride 150 and an Evolution Freeride foil with a Tushingham Thunderbird 6.5.

With a run of wind from the NE, sunny and warm too I was keen to go to the River Stour at Wrabness today, with high water at one Mag and I arrived around 9.30 with Jason already there and rigged two sails, a 7.3 for his fin and a 6 for the foil! I had put my gear in the van yesterday so no trailer today so parked easily and went and had a look at the river, very pretty as usual with wall to wall sunshine, the tide was still pretty low and to be honest it did not look overly windy out on the water. I set up my foil and rigged the biggest sail I had with me, my 6.5 which proved OK when the wind was up but it was a little up and down today, might have got away with my 7.5 but I do prefer to use smaller sails if possible! I launched at 10.30 with Jason already out on the water with his 7.3 on the fin but it was nowhere near windy enough for that:( In fact I had a few runs across the river not flying at all with the wind being light, I did land on the far bank as I thought I had weed on my foil as I was not flying! No weed but then the gusts started coming through and I was up and flying but it was still fairly holey, I wanted to go for a good hour but that was impossible today. I then beat down the river getting some nice runs ending up well past Wrabness towards Parkston Quay, getting a couple of lovely broad runs back. I had been out nearly three hours, my and a few yachts, the only other windsurfers stayed up at Bradfeild but there was not that many out today, surprising really as the weather was so lovely. My right knee was now playing up so it was time to call it a day so headed back, Jason was also packing up, he had had a better time on the foil I think, definitely not windy enough to fin today. I headed to the van for lunch and to hear about Mags Day? She had a lovely walk through Wrabness Nature Reserve spotting her very first Turtle Dove;) After packing up We walked through the lovely Nature Reserve again full of yellow broom and white hawthorn with nightingales singing, then we heard a turtle dove and were lucky to see it in a tree top, my first sighting too:) We meet a lovely family out with there 3 kids enjoying the warm sunshine and saw a muntjac with them:) Then all I had to do was drive the 26 miles home, easier said than done as knackered and there might be two more breezy days to come!

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Friday 20th May - Windsurf **** The River Stour at Wrabness – sunny and warm.

Foil – 19.83 knot max, 18.65 knot ave, 10.30 knot hour, 16.27 knot mile, 51.31 km., 15.03 knot alpha.

Starboard Freeride 150 and an Evolution Freeride foil with a Tushingham Thunderbird 6.5.

With a run of wind from the NE, sunny and warm too I was keen to go to the River Stour at Wrabness today, with high water at one Mag and I arrived around 9.30 with Jason already there and rigged two sails, a 7.3 for his fin and a 6 for the foil! I had put my gear in the van yesterday so no trailer today so parked easily and went and had a look at the river, very pretty as usual with wall to wall sunshine, the tide was still pretty low and to be honest it did not look overly windy out on the water. I set up my foil and rigged the biggest sail I had with me, my 6.5 which proved OK when the wind was up but it was a little up and down today, might have got away with my 7.5 but I do prefer to use smaller sails if possible! I launched at 10.30 with Jason already out on the water with his 7.3 on the fin but it was nowhere near windy enough for that:( In fact I had a few runs across the river not flying at all with the wind being light, I did land on the far bank as I thought I had weed on my foil as I was not flying! No weed but then the gusts started coming through and I was up and flying but it was still fairly holey, I wanted to go for a good hour but that was impossible today. I then beat down the river getting some nice runs ending up well past Wrabness towards Parkston Quay, getting a couple of lovely broad runs back. I had been out nearly three hours, my and a few yachts, the only other windsurfers stayed up at Bradfeild but there was not that many out today, surprising really as the weather was so lovely. My right knee was now playing up so it was time to call it a day so headed back, Jason was also packing up, he had had a better time on the foil I think, definitely not windy enough to fin today. I headed to the van for lunch and to hear about Mags Day? She had a lovely walk through Wrabness Nature Reserve spotting her very first Turtle Dove;) After packing up We walked through the lovely Nature Reserve again full of yellow broom and white hawthorn with nightingales singing, then we heard a turtle dove and were lucky to see it in a tree top, my first sighting too:) We meet a lovely family out with there 3 kids enjoying the warm sunshine and saw a muntjac with them:) Then all I had to do was drive the 26 miles home, easier said than done as knackered and there might be two more breezy days to come!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=stephen.squirrell.1&set=a.10225660548593159