Saturday 8th August - Windsurf ***** - River Stour at Bradfield – sunny periods and hot.

Exocet RF 91 AST with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning 8.5m.

Foil – 16.71 knot max, 15.34 knot ave., 9.38 knot hour, 13.74 knot mile, 39.67 km., 10.96 knot alpha.

What a real bonus session this was and well done to foiling newcomer Neil Hurrell for making the call to head over to Bradfield. There was a chance of a foiling breeze from the east this afternoon but was not holding my breath, the wall to wall sunshine from yesterday was replaced by more cloud today but still hot! With the day starting with light airs it was time for yet more exercises in the back garden, I then messaged Andy Mexome to see if he was back from his fishing holiday and he was, our original plan was to try Levington so I messaged James Pollard who said he was at Levington with a crap light offshore breeze. Then Neil said he was heading over to Bradfield for his first salt water foil, Andy said he would join him, so I checked the tide and as it was not high water at Mistley until nearly four I decided to head over but was not expecting to sail as it looked very light but I thought there might be a few people there to catch up with. Mag decided to come although she was enjoying herself potting up in the garden! We arrived at Bradfield around two and as the farmer has blocked the turning circle at the end of the lane it does cause problems and we had to open our gate to let someone turn around. There were a few in the field including a nice couple in a little campervan who have been staying overnight, he is a kitesurfer. Andy and Neil were there so we had a chat, it was pretty hot but the wind looked very light although there was several on the beach enjoying the day:) Mag had her lunch in the van it being a bit hot for her with little wind! Then ultra keen Neil whose foil board was already set up decided to rig his 8m as the breeze started to build. So, we also set up me going for 8.5 while Andy went for 8.2 but I really wasn’t expecting to fly anywhere I set of just behind Neil in light airs. Then taking a leaf out of Andy’s book pumped up and actually flew across the river and that pretty much set the tone for the whole session. There were some good gusts where you didn’t have to pump but for most runs you had to pump. I can’t believe it has taken me a year to realise that you need to pump and once up you can keep it flying all the way across the river. There was a flotilla of yachts moored up over on the far corner of Holbrook Bay, I think it’s called Sutton Point and the owners were having a big party on the beach. In fact, it is the most yachts I have seen out on the Stour. So, I beat over to sail through the moored boats and had some nice runs into Holbrook bay but you had to keep an eye on the tide as I didn’t want to get stuck down this way when the tide turned! The highlight of the day was seeing a naked lady in the back of one of the yachts, I think he sailed past that boat several times, I missed her completely! Again, it was a tack free day and I went for a gybe on every turn, no flying gybes yet but am getting three quarters of the way around before getting in a meddle but I managed to keep out of the water only falling in when waving to a couple in a boat! Neil was also in the air loads and was really enjoying the long run, much better than Alton and I couldn’t believe there were no other foilers here today??? So easily a 5 Star day flying the width of the river on most runs with so nice upwind sailing with a couple of good downwind returns to Bradfield. Got back to people having fun on the beach with the smell of BBQ! Mag had cooled down in the nice breeze and was sitting outside reading her book:) We had a cuppa and cake relaxing in the sunshine before heading for home, meet some nice people there today too and perhaps do it all again tomorrow afternoon?

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