Wednesday 10th August - Windsurf ***** - The Dip at Felixstowe – sunny and hot.

 Foil – 19.24 knot max, (spot PB) 17.55 knot ave., 11.68 knot hour, 14.34 knot mile, 68.57 km., 13.42 knot alpha.

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

Another day with wall to wall sunshine, 25 degrees and a good breeze from the East, 15 knots from 10.30 but a few of us had agreed to meet up at The Dip at one to give time for the tide to drop by which time the wind had eased back! So, it was big sail again, me and Neil went for 7.5 while lighter Robert rigged 6.5 and after some drama when Neil could not find his van keys, we got on the water around 1.45. As yesterday you had to pump strongly to get flying and then you were OK, no trip to Rough Towers but a few runs out towards the shipping channel with the longest being 3 miles. The sea was once again pretty big out past the red and white bouy, sadly the wind eased on the flat water on the inside where you wanted to gybe, which is still a work in progress and am getting in a muddle sometimes on when to let go of the sail! The wind picked up a tad so I decided to head down the coast doing four really good broad runs playing with the swell, ending up at The Manor Marrtello Tower. The beat was once again nice and challenging with the best breeze of the day and a big sea but I made it back easily in 5 tacks to find another foiler out, Tom with a board like mine and 7.8. He was doing short runs in super flat water and he certainly has the hang of gybing, a skill he has recently learned at Alton, his son is now foiling on my old Starboard formula board with some modifications. I then had an hour of some of my best ever foiling at Felixstowe in flat water trying to gybe I got a few so am improving slowly but was pleased also to get my best ever speed at Felixstowe of 19.24 knots. In the end I was out well over three hours covering over 42 miles with at least a couple more days of east winds:)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=stephen.squirrell.1&set=a.10223974970974772