Thursday 7th December – windsurfing ** Levington cloudy with rain :(

28.59 kt. max, 24.16 kt. ave., 5.97 kt. hr., 16.77 kt mile, 14.20 km., 16.36 kt. alpha.

With two mild days before the wind turns to the North again and goes really cold today was my best chance to get a session in December. I have been out every month with this being my 78th windsurf of the year so it’s been a good 2017:) As usual the weatherman let us down yesterday with the wind failing to arrive and todays forecast was not good with strong SW winds with rain with it turning NW and cooling down in the afternoon! I wanted to go to Point Clear but the forecast was not good enough to make the 80-mile round trip as North at Point Clear is not great. The early rain had not arrived which was not great as I wanted it clear by midday with high water at about 2. I hitched the trailer and headed to Levington Marina just as the rain started:( The tide was still fairly low but it was nice and windy but very miserable in the heavy rain and I would have rigged 5.8 at this point. I sat it out for an hour or so hoping the rain would stop, shame really as the River Orwell looked really good but it was nice to watch the birds including a Kingfisher in the marina and a Stonechat just outside the van. The rain eased so I decided to give it go, I then had to drive back to the marina workshops to find someone to zip me into my wetsuit!

Back at the parking spot the wind had eased which is always the way!!! So, I went with the 133 and 7m. With the wind onshore, you could sail parallel to the shore but was way underpowered, only planning in short bursts. It was pretty grim out in the poor visibility and rain but then when back near the van it started to rain harder with the wind picking up so I set off towards the bay and got my best speed of 28 kts, not bad considering I couldn’t see anything!!! It was now super windy so I waited on the far side of the bay for it to ease. The direction had now changed from SW to WNW making it a beat back to the van. The wind was all over the place now very up and down but I managed to sail back in the end but it did include some spells walking and I had to swim across the marina entrance. The wind had gone very light and with the front past the sun was even staring to show it’s face as I packed up. Not a great session but at least I got out in December, it could be it for awhile with it going very cold again!

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