A Five Star session here at Felixstowe :) After missing out on the last two windy days :( should have gone to Point Clear on Sunday and we had a couple of hours of 6m weather yesterday but didn't come in until 5 in the evening and we were out on our bikes. So today was supposed to be sw 13/20 mph with wall to wall sunshine, so was keen to get down. Arrived at the beach 10.30 and Michael Galbrath was already out - overpowered with 7.5, so I went with 7.8 on the 133lt and this was perfect for most of the session. With the tide fairly low but coming in - wind against tide - making upwind was easy so I started off by heading downwind over the River Deben and into Bawdsey Bay. I then had a great time blasting broad down the back of the shingle bar, finding nice rolling swells out to sea and flatish water by the bar to gybe in :) I ended up right by Bawdsey Beach and there was just enough water to sail into the river turning near the row of cottages and returning out to sea against the strong current! After a hour and a half I decided to beat back which was fine while I was still behind the shingle bar but out to sea it was sadly all but unsailable - chop on chop :( On reaching the van for a snack Steve Carter was out on 6.9, I decided to give it another go but the sea was horrible, even Steve said how bad it was :( I was out in the rough stuff over the other side of the river when I heard a load cracking sound, I dropped in and checked my boom and it seemed ok so I took it easy back to the beach. I took my boom off and discovered one of the arm was broken :( I was lucky to get back !!!! Even though a few sailors had turned up I decided to call it a day and go home and spend £219 on a new boom !!! but it has got a 2 year unconditional guarantee :)
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