Saturday 27th March - Windsurf ** - River Orwell at Nacton Shores – sunny periods.

Fin – 28.07 knot max, 23.87 knot ave., 5.67 knot hour, 11.64 knot mile, 17.62 km.,10.58 knot alpha.

F2 282 Ride and Zantos 295 with Tushingham X-15 7m and 36 fin.

With the wind from the west and cold there was only one option for me today, Nacton Shores on the River Orwell, not ideal as the car park can get very busy and the trees on the opposite bank makes the wind gusty, it is always up and down on the river but it is particularly bad here! I checked the wind early and had around 20 knots plus so had my breakfast, hitched the trailer leaving home at 8.30 taking Mag with my then dropping her off I Trimley for her to walk home. The height barrier was down but I managed to get under, close really as I had my big Xantos on the roof and got parked in my favourite spot by the gate. I then went to check the conditions and it looked great, wall to wall sunshine with not a cloud in the sky and a good breeze blowing down the river, it looked 5m foiling weather but I have not got a mast at the moment, luckily, I have found a Tushingham 75% 4 and 4.30 mast but won’t get it for a couple of weeks, so fin it was today and I wanted to get out quickly as high water was just after 11. I then made two mistakes, first I went with my F2 Ride 282 at 115 lt. which was much too small for the gusty wind and rigged my 4 cam Tushingham X-15 to try and go a little faster than last time and it is a real pain to rotate! And to be honest it was never really big enough, having trouble to stay upwind! I had a few runs on the 115 but struggled really with a big wind shadow on the far bank, I wobbled ashore for selfie time and a seal popped up to keep an eye on me, it is just beautiful here just needed constant wind and more of it! I then swopped to my bigger 133 lt board which was only marginally better. Local sailor Steven Miller had joined me on the water and was going better with his 6.5 but he was on a very wide slalom board, much better upwind too. He did have a 42cm fin compared to my much smaller 36. It was starting to cloud up and it was cold on my poor old hands and as I was having trouble keeping upwind, I decided to call it a day. By this time there was loads of people about, families out for the weekend plus dog walkers and several mountain bikers! After packing up I again went home the Levington way and had four deer run across the road in front of me:) With Levington Marina opening up for windsurfing this coming Monday I went down to check the parking situation. It was not ideal at the moment as they are still dredging and making new pontoons so we will have to be careful to not get in the way if we go Monday. So, I got home early before midday and Mag had enjoyed her walk, stopping off at Morrisons to buy plants but got home to a garden full of pigeon feathers, a nightmare to clear up too! She then found the dead bird under our garden seat having to clear up some blood before the kittens found it! Then our poor kitten, Benny and Rue were badly traumatised when the great brusher of a cat paid a visit, Mag has never seen our cats move so fast, then spending the rest of the day hiding under our quilt! Around 4.30 Mag shouted that the Sparrow Hawk had returned looking for its tea and I was lucky enough to get a few pics through the utility window :) What an amazing bird it is too, stunning yellow eyes as it wondered about under our seat before posing on a log before flying off looking most humped off! Mag then retrieved the dead pigeon from the bin and put it on the grass, perhaps he can have it for breakfast? Loads of wind forecast tomorrow, much too much for me to sail at sea and the SW is a good direction for Levington but not so good launching at Nacton because of the trees opposite. With the clocks going forward tonight there is a good high tide tomorrow much milder too , but parking could be a real problem being a Sunday so I will make my mind up in the morning.

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