Thursday 28th July - Windsurf **** - River Stour at Wrabness – mainly cloudy.

 Foil – 19.48 knot max, 18.58 knot ave., 13.78 knot hour (foil PB), 16.49 knot mile, (spot PB), 75.46 km., 15.28 knot alpha (spot PB).

Starboard Freeride 150 and Evolution Freeride foil with a Sailworks Retro 7.5.

With a good wind from the east forecast today, it gave me a few options today, several were going to the River Stour at Bradfield, a good direction there, coupled with high water around one it was the ideal option but I was a little nervous of going there as the wind started marginal with a touch of south in it. So gave it time to settle with Levington and The Manor at Felixstowe also in the running but I was keen for some flatter water to help improve my gybing. In the end I decided to head over to Wrabness on the Stour giving Mag time to do her exercises and water the garden and we still arrived at 10.20 and parked easily being the only car there:) I caried my foil board to the small rigging beach that looks straight down the Stour towards Mistley while Mag had her breakfast in the van. There was plenty of water to launch but with the wind now from the east it was difficult to judge its strength as a little sheltered here. In the end I went for 7.5 which proved OK for what turned out to be a three and a half hour session but would have been faster and got up wind better with my 6.5 but the old Retro handled wind gusting at times to 20 knots really well:) I spent the first part of the session beating slowly down river in lovely smooth water and was quickly joined by a few sailor’s from Bradfield. There was some weed but I did not get any on my foil and gybing the bigger sail is harder but I managed OK at times although I did end up in the warm water a few times! With the beating going slow after having passed the end of Wrabness I decided to broad reach back and soon passed Bradfield as several yachts headed up river! I got a few cheery waves as I foiled close to the back of their boats:) I then started the beat back with the tide now turned into the wind it pushed up the river state but it was no problem for the foil:) I could have sailed closer to the banks during the session but being on new kit I was wary of hitting the bottom. Again, my upwind angles were not great but I am not racing anyone so am not overly concerned, the Starboard setup seems happier sailing upwind railed up to windward where as my Slingshot seemed happier sailed flat but I am learning all the time on the new kit and feel comfortable for the most part with the -1 rear wing spacer working fine! With the tide dropping it was time to call it a day as I slowly sailed close to the shore, being shallow now I had to walk a bit back but not too far. Time to get out of the shortie and have a late lunch prepared by Mag who really enjoyed her day, first phoning an Aunt in Ipswich before going on a long walk through the nature reserve. All I had to do was pack up, then we walked down to the small sand cliffs to watch the sand martins, always a must see when we come over to Essex and the parents whizz close over head searching for food for their youngsters:) So a great day on the water, it would have been 5 stars if the sun had been out more and I had rigged 6.5, the highlights of the day were seeing a gannet in the middle of the river and three young sand martins pecking out of their nest tunnel and as always the drive over is very pleasant – top day:) A few PB’s got my best ever foil hour today plus a spot PB for mile and alpha:)

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