Sunday 30th August - Windsurf ***** - River Stour at Bradfield – mainly cloudy.
Foil – 20.37 knot max (year PB), 17.78 knot ave (year PB)., 9.84 knot hour, 15.26 knot mile (spot PB), 45.47 km., 12.96 knot alpha (year PB).
Exocet RF 91 AST with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning 6.5m.
The wind Gods just keep on giving there in East Anglia and for the second day running we have a fresh Northerly so we leave the alarm clock set from yesterday and are first to arrive at the lovely Bradfield on the banks of the River Stour, sadly the forecast sun is missing:( Neil,Ian,David, Robert, and Graham all foilers turn up but it was a surprisingly low turn out for a windy day although several fin sailors launched from Wrabness later. I had already had my breakfast at home so didn’t miss out like yesterday so I set about rigging and as I had a bit of time before there was enough water, I rigged two sails in case it was good enough to fin. With the 7.8 and 6.5 ready I put on my old Autumn wetsuit as yesterdays one was wetter this morning then when I hung it on the line due to last night’s rain! I was first out with my foil gear but with my waterproof camera today in order to take some pics of the ships and huge windfarm platform down at Parkstone Quay near Harwich. As yesterday the 6-mile run down to Shotley was just fantastic running down the swell feeling in control apart from when some really big gusts came through but I am more than happy now to foil in winds in excess of 25 knots! It was good to sail close to the shore past all the beach houses at Wrabness through the moored boats having the whole river all to myself, even better when the sun made brief appearances:) The wind went a bit patchy as I approached Shotley so stopped by the platform and took some pics before making the return journey and with the wind up I continued up to Mistley Quay for yet more selfies before carrying onto Manningtree but didn’t quite make the sailing club as I keep catching in the mud, the highlight of that leg was foiling newcomer Ian Clarke come flying past me real I floundered in a lull, bloom’n lightweights!!! :) With the wind in this direction this end of the river is not so good with the wind very up and down so I carried on to the best bit, Holbrook Bay and I had some amazing long runs really pushing it and managed my years best speed, it’s always nice to get over 20 knots on my slow old Slingshot, how you get big speeds on a foil is beyond me as I feel like I am sailing at 40 knots! It is so good in the bay as you can sail for miles in a lovely rolling swell and there were just three of us making the most of it, racing foilers David and Graham both hanging onto 9m sails, I personally see no point using sails so big in winds constantly gusting over 25 knots but each to his own! I tried several fast mile runs and got a spot PB but as I got more tired the wipe-outs happened more often! I also tried a few gybes which were not for the faint hearted, I defiantly need to work on that technique and got my fastest Alpha of the year but it is a work in progress! Another foiling newcomer and old mate Neil also had a great day and seemed loathed to come in covering 30 miles today:) It has been a pretty full on week for windsurfing, 109 km sailed last Saturday and then 38 knot max at Southend on Tuesday and my poor old bones were aching so I decided to call it a day and headed back for a cuppa in the van with Mag who had already been on a walk.
Then after soup and a sandwich with most sailors having left, we went for a lovely walk down to Wrabness Nature Reserve and collected a big plastic tube each of blackberries before returning to the van knackered for a well-deserved cuppa and rock cake before making the 25-mile trip home. Luckily, I think we have a few light winds days before maybe some wind next Thursday!
PS - we missed you today Andy Mexome :(
PPS – for the second moth running I have been lucky enough to get in 15 sessions with foiling being by far the largest number covering 408 miles my best month of the year, am just loving the foil !!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.squirrell.1/media_set?set=a.10219668696160593&type=3
http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms/
https://www.77sports.co.uk/
|