Wednesday 16th December - Windsurf ***** - River Orwell at Levington Marina – sunny periods and mild.

Foil – 19.98 knot max, 18.36 knot ave ., 10.19 knot hour , 14.06 knot mile , 41.58 km .,13.47  knot alpha (PB).

Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning 7m.

After giving yesterday a miss, its always good to get your wetsuit dry the shame four foilers headed once again over to the River Orwell at Levington Marina. We arranged to meet at eleven but could have sailed much earlier as there was loads of water, in fact it was a big high so we had loads of sailing time:) Andy was again first out with the southerly wind stronger today and he rigged 6.2, Michael 5.5 and Ian 5.6. I have a bit of a hole in my sail range at the moment with no 6.5 so took a chance with my 7m which I have used several times in winds gusting 25 knots and once again it handled the big gusts well but perhaps, I would have got even closer to my gybes with my 6m! The marina is a bit of a mess at the moment with dredging in full swing and the big crane has churned things up and it is very muddy. We have to park a little way from the launch beach so I set up my foil on the concrete near the bins and rig the sails by the bench near the launch area which is fine. With the strongest wind down towards the docks I set off towards Pin Mill but in this direction, it goes patchy so you don’t get the really long runs like on Monday. The sunshine stayed with us again for most of the session, I had my hat and gloves but had another long none stop session staying warm:) After several runs in front of the marina I beat a little way down the river and really started going for my gybes, entering a little faster and I am getting closer, in fact got a PB alpha, getting over 13 knots 4 times but did end up in the water a few times, mainly when pushing it a little too hard! I did have to wait a couple of times to let two coaster past. We also had a nice selection of waders again, we are so lucky to have this beautiful venue on our doorsteps, top foiling venue:) The water level just got higher and higher, in fact I did hit the rock barrier down by Loompit lake when I sailed too close, that puts me off getting a £2000 carbon foil! I ended the session trying some fast runs across the river but I have to work on that although I did miss getting 20 knots by a whisker. I would like to try a faster foil someday to see what difference that makes but I absolutely love the Slingshot 76! So another 26 miles covered in the mild sunshine with more wind coming for Friday and Saturday, who knows I might even be able to get out on the fin on Friday?

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