Funny old day !!! wall to wall sunshine and warm so after getting up at 7:20 for a 6 mile bike ride around Felixstowe I was at The Dip by 9 to make the most of the low water. With winds gusting to 20 Mph I took a chance with my 7m on the 133 but although I managed to plan away from the beach I was way under powered and the wind band was very narrow and you sailed into light airs out by the red and white bouy. Getting back was also a struggle with the tide now coming in so it was wind with tide and it was hard top get the board going which was a shame as this was the sea flatist ! This seemed the story of most of the session as it was not high water until 4! After a couple of runs I came ashore and rigged 8.5 on the 147 which was a little better but this set up is way slower than the smaller kit and it's a pig of a board to gybe :( Speed buddy Peter Cutts arrived and was going better with his 7.8 and was faster too !!! After a break for snacks and a catch up with Pete the wind filled in a little so I took the smaller kit out again and but a couple of knots on my speeds but this was short lived and I was soon back on the big kit. The sea was very lumpy now with the the tide approaching high but I had some fun trying for some mile runs even if getting back was a bit on the slow side! So not too bad a session on the plus side sunny and warm, my face slows the signs of over 7 hours on the beach , on the minus side it could have been a little windier and the incoming tide certainly didn't help. The Dip is not the best place to sail at high water with very little beach and a bit of a dump so I packed knackered with more wind forecast for tomorrow :) Not a bad turn out for a Thursday with 7 windsurfers but only a couple of kiters as they don't like high water, nice to catch up with Peter and Mark Smalling who I haven't seen for months.

Sun an windy - love it ----  but had to go early :-(

Went down The Dip at about 8:30 for breakfast with Mag just as Michael Galbraith arrived. With the tide still fairly high and the wind at about 15 kts I wasn't in too much of a hurry to rig. Michael rigged 7.5 and headed off into the lumpy sea and when Mag set off to walk along the beach home I decided to rig 7.8 on the 133. By this time Neil and Craig Hurrell and Chris Phillips had arrived. I had to put a couple of batterns back in my sail after another top repair by Suffolk Sails, Woodbridge and headed out but the sea was still lumpy but I had enough sail at this point just! I beat up to Kite beach by the golf club and as usual the water was smoother there but again the wind went lighter as you approached the beach but still good gybing close to the beach in the flatter water and sailing off broad and was getting 24 kts max. I then went in search of some flat water in the River Deben, after a interesting ride in through the rough water I manged to beat up river against the strong tide to near the sailing club but unfortunately the wind was light and gusty. I had an hour getting a 25 kt ave with a peak of 27 kts, not bad in the light winds. With the tide now nearly low, great flat water but no way near enough wind I headed out to sea where it was really rough out by the red and white bouy! After covering 30 miles I headed back to the van for snacks and then went out again for another 10 miles as the winds increased but as the tide turned the sea became big everywhere, I had some great broad runs but it was then getting harder to make it back so knackered decided to call it a day after 5 hours and 40 n/miles.
A 4 star day spoiled by my GT-31 (gps) for the second time this month failed to save the session :( It really spoils the day when that happens and if anyone has one for sale I am interested.