St Georges Day Sail :)

Back on the water after a break of 62 days !!! that must be a record in all my years of windsurfing what with trips away in the camper and work I have missed many days the best was probably last week when we had several days of ENE winds with low water late afternoon making perfect for The Dip at Felixstowe but pesky work got in the way.

As luck would have it the weekend forecast was for a good breeze but sadly moving N the NW – not brilliant directions here in the East and the temperature dropped as well. Still undeterred and desperate to get out on the water again I headed to Bradfield on the River Stour as my best option locally. With high water after one I arrived at the lane down to the River at 10.30 only to follow local windsurfer Jason Powell down, the lane is in a very bad state of repair, full of pot-holes and mud so care had to be taken. You can still park in the farmer’s field at the end but the entrance to the field is very rutted and the parking area is lots smaller than the last time I visited as the farmer had ploughed it! So we parked at the very end of the lane which has now been blocked by concrete barriers placed there by the council to stop parking on the beach and to deter jet skiers!

It was raining when we arrived and the wind was light so we had a chat for a while then the weather improved but the onshore breeze was still only 10 mph so I rigged the 9.4 for the longboard. The wind had filled in a little by the time I put my wetsuit on but the kit was fine for most of the 3-hour session:) I headed down River first and past Wrabness into a huge area of water turning by Parkstone Quay and back all the way to the end of the river at Mistley but the wind was very up and down the whole session so I was glad I was on my longboard. I had a short stop after two hours to warm my hands before sailing to the railway bridge at Mistley before returning back to the van sailing close to the shore past Mistley and Manningtree docks to end the three hours on the water – it’s great to be back:)

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