Thursday 29th July- Windsurf ***** - River Orwell at Levington Marina – sunny periods.
Fin – 26.61 knot max, 24.57 knot ave ., 9.31 knot hour, 21.94 knot mile , 40.42 km ., 15.25 knot alpha.
F2 Zantos 310 with 44 fin and Tushingham Lightning 8.5
Foil – 18.66 knot max, 17.27 knot ave., 11.14 knot hour, 17.12 knot mile, 45.18 km.,13.25 knot alpha.
Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Thunderbird 6.5m.
With the wind west, dead off at Felixstowe and gusting over 20 knots I decided to head over to the River Orwell at Levington. So, after doing my exercises, packed my lunch, hitched the trailer and headed over to the marina arriving around 10.30 after dropping Mag off enroute to walk home. With the tide now coming in but still fairly low I decided to try the fin board first giving it time for the tide to come in further. I set – up my big Zantos 310 with my 8.5 and sailed out of the marina entrance always easy with the wind in this direction, I find the water conditions are often better with less water in the river. I had two good hours all by myself enjoying the sunshine and a good breeze, maybe a fraction of south in it making getting to the docks difficult but I made it a few times, getting a good mile for the river too. It was great to be sharing the water with a seal and loads of Godwits feeding in the mud, plus a family of Shell Ducks, the youngsters diving to get out of my way:) The wind was switching around a bit with some super gusts too keeping you on your toes so after a couple of hours getting a ok top speed and average I decided to head back as Chris Stephens was setting up his fin and Michael Galbraith his foil I had my lunch deciding whether to set up my foil gear. Andy, Ian and Rob then arrived for their second session of the day after foiling earlier at The Manor. The conditions looked too good to miss so I set up my foil and with sails being rigged to foil ranging from 5 to 6.2 I went for my favourite Tushingham Thunderbird 6.5 which proved ideal despite the wind being pretty gusty, it handles the big wind really well especially in the flatter water down to the docks. I had some lovely long runs down to see the huge container ships in Felixstowe docks. I got a good set of gybes, getting more confident now and actually made one flying one which rather took me by surprise, as the session went on and tiredness was taking its toll, I started to end up in the water a few times but it had been a long day! After several runs to the docks, I beat up towards Pin Mill but it was pretty lumpy in the middle but nice and flat each side of the river to try your gybes. It was great to be out with loads of yachts, I buzzed the Ipswich Tourist boat really close and sailed amongst the kids having a great afternoon dinghy sailing being reefed in really small but they were smiling from ear to ear, great the see the kids having fun! With the wind going very patchy it was time to call it a day being knackered! Had to de-rig two sails and boards but I didn’t mind as had a great sail on both, then a 5-star shower to end a 5 star windsurf! Storm Evert arriving tomorrow with maybe some rain so not sure what to do, will make up my mind up in the morning? Maybe an hour again at Levington will make my mind up in the morning?
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