Friday 4th October – Windsurf **** - River Orwell - Levington – sunny periods.

Starboard Formula and Slingshot Hover Glide F/Wind with Tushingham Lightning 7.

Foil – 19.16 knot max., 17.01 knot ave., 8.39 knot hour, 12.80 knot mile, 31.70 km., 10.74 knot alpha.

Was keen to get out on the foil again as things are starting to come together and much milder than our recent trip to Bradfield where my hands got cold:( In no hurry to get there as I had to wait for the tide to turn and arrived at the Marina at midday with plenty of water and a good westerly which is a good direction here. With gusts of 20 mph I set-up my foil and took a chance with 7m. It is easy to sail straight out of the Marina entrance in this direction and was soon up and flying but there was some big gusts coming through and I nearly returned to my van to swop to a fin  board but decided to stick with it and I am glad I did as I got some really nice two mile runs down the river including one into the middle of the docks where I stopped to take some pics:) I would have gone over to Harwich but the wind went patchy! I did hit the mud again and got my foil covered in mud, it is impossible for me not to catch the bottom and keep my foil scratch free! I seem to be most comfortable sailing fairly broad with my front foot in the strap, hardly sheeting in the sail and I got some nice long runs while the wind was up! It goes a bit wrong when I hook in the harness but that is, I think because my lines are still too long! I am still taking a few dips in the water but it is getting less with each session. I was joined on the water by Michael Galbraith but the wind had turned very patchy so I decided to beat back towards my van. I had a few more short runs before calling it a day, it turned out to be a nice afternoon in the end made even better when the sun came out. There was some good wind forecast for the next week but it looks like a lot of it has disappeared:(

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