Monday 30th August - Windsurf *** River Stour at Bradfield – cloudy and cool.

Foil – 18.60 knot max, 17.65 knot ave ., 9.93 knot hour, 16.92 knot mile, 46.76 km ., 12.01 knot alpha.

Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning 8.5m.

Bike ** The Manor Martello at Felixstowe.

XC weather was showing wall to wall sunshine but sadly they were way off the mark today and we had typical Bank Holiday Monday weather cloudy and cool, must be doing wonders for the Staycation! NCI (coastwatch) who operate a volunteer lookout at The Manor Martello Tower were having an open day and I was keen to go and have a look as I sail a lot in the vicinity and it is nice to know someone is keeping an eye open for you:) So after breakfast I biked down along the prom and had a nice look around the tower, always good to see inside and then up on the roof just a shame the weather was so poor!

With the wind still in the North and having been to Bradfield four times already this week but with nothing else looking very inviting in the cool gloom I decided to head over to The Stour as with the tide getting later and later this was probably the last chance for a Stour for a while!

Foil ***

So, after I had sorted my Martello pics and Mag worked on her much-loved compost, I packed our lunch and we headed over to Bradfield for the fifth time this week hoping for a session as good as yesterday! Arrived around two with only Paul Chandler there and with the tide very low we had plenty of time for lunch. There were a few more sailors here today as we all started to set up. I took my foil board to the waters edge and had time to rig both my 8.5 and 7m just in case the wind really picked up like yesterday! No shortie today, a full Autumn suit was the order of the day and I was first to wade out with the bigger sail. It was a bit of a trek but got there in the end as I headed down the river. Again, it was a case of waiting for a gust and was flying in places, another day when none of the sailors out were all flying at the same time! I was on the water over three hours getting some nice runs past Wrabness, always fun to sail through the moorings:) but the wind was not as consistent as yesterday with a bit of slogging between the gusts! Continuing my gybing, definitely a work in progress still getting in a meddle at the end but not falling in and can’t wait to try with a smaller small although I do like using the 8.5 on the foil, works really well:) With the gusts becoming less and less and only the racing foilers flying it was time to call it a day and heads back to Mag who had been reading and dozing, no walk for her today for a warming cuppa and cake:)

So, what a fantastic month August has been, 16 sessions sailing 748 km. That’s 465 miles:) Definitely a day off tomorrow then perhaps some NE winds so might be able to get out at Felixstowe?

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