Sunday 24th April - Windsurf ***** The Dip, Felixstowe – sunny.

Fin – 26.90 knot max, 25.46 knot ave., 14.84 knot hour (year PB), 20.47 knot mile (year PB), 58.17 km., 16.61 knot alpha.

 F2 Ride 282 with 36 fin and Tushingham Vulcan 6m.

The wind Gods just keep on giving with a constant 20 knots plus with wall to wall sunshine this was just as good as Felixstowe gets:) With low water around midday there was no need for an early start but getting stuck on wordle I decided to get up and during breakfast I checked the webcam and a few sailors had already arrived so quickly put my wetsuit on, hitched the trailer and headed down to The Dip, arriving at 10 after arranging with Mag that she would walk down later. It was nice to see Neil for his first fin session for ages along with Swainy, Ian David and Andy but considering the near perfect conditions and a weekend it was very quiet, the kiters did not arrive for several hours either! There was a good breeze so no messing straight out with the F2 Ride 282 at 155 lt. which proved ideal, next sail choice, Andy M was just heading out with 5.8 which looked perfect so I went for my 6m and for once got the sail spot on, Swainy rigged 6.2, surprisingly one of the lightest sailers Ian and one of the heavier sailers Neil both went for 5.6 with both going well while foil racer David Coles went foiling with 7m which looked interesting to say the least! If I had some foiling gear, sadly I broke all mine a couple of days ago then I would have foiled with 4.7 or 5.2 at the most! After getting some pics of Neils nice new sail I headed out to make the most of wind against tide where you could sail broad and get back easily:) Again the sea was very big out by the red and white bouy making gybing difficult for me, it was best to sail broad for half a mile and then head up turning past the bouy and enjoy the ride in, it got particularly good as you approached the line of channel bouys near kite beach and you could turn in the flatter water close to the beach where sometimes you lost the wind. As usual I go for a fast hour to start and for the third day in a row improved my year hour, I was quite pleased as did end up in the water several times! I saw Swainy try a duck gybe, something I could do in this direction several years ago so tried a couple, sadly attempts ended in me swimming but good fun none the less:) Sailing so many days in a row was taking its toil so I headed in having been out for a couple of hours covering 26 miles. Had a nice chat on the beach, talked about my broken foil and board and now I nearly snapped the back off my board when I did not hit the bottom, the only conclusion is when the crappy Slingshot fuselage snapped the large front wing hit the mast acting like a big brake putting a huge amount of stress on the back of my board, we are wondering if it is going to be worth repairing so with a new board and foil it could be a very expensive month! With the tide now turned the sea had really smoothed off so we went for a few more runs in what proved to be the best conditions of the whole session. After covering 36 miles with a top speed of 31 mph it was time to call it a day, just in time for Mag to arrive. We all had a good chat while I packed up before heading home for lunch in the sunny, peaceful back garden. There Is a chance that we might have even more wind tomorrow with an even better low water so I might have to force myself to go down even if completely knackered:)

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