Sunday 24th July – bike **** then windsurf ****

What a top weekend after yesterday’s lovely 18-mile bike ride today threatened some breeze this afternoon:) So we were up at 8 packed our crunchy muesli and fruit got out our bikes and headed to the Ferry for breakfast, the tide was very low and lots of shingle bars were exposed. There was even a large tent on Bawdsey beach and a man with his dog were having a ball on the far bars:) Only a couple of fishing boats left while we were there as there was not enough water for the yachts. Then we returned home via the lovely Grove woods. The Hurrells were already at The Fludgers and hoping to be on the water by midday as the winds increased. I spent an hour on the computer putting yesterday’s pics on Facebook and checking the weather, the Landguard wind gauge was showing over 11 kts so I headed to The Dip, The Fludgers was a non-starter as the beach would be crowded and parking impossible. At The Dip I quickly rigged 9.4 and was ready as Neil and Craig Hurrell arrived, after a qick chat we decided to beat down to the River Orwell at Languard. The beat was really nice slightly underpowered in a very lumpy sea but good fun none the less. We passed a board rigged on the beach at The Manor and it turned out to be Peter Goodchild, a mate I haven’t seen for a couple of years. He sailed up for a chat and he had not been sailing for ages:( we even got an ice lolly from a man on the beach. It was time to head back but sadly the wind had dropped, we started on a dead run but that was difficult in the big sea so started reaching, catching the gusts and waves you could slow plan so could hook in. The Hurrells stopped at The Fludgers while I continued and at one point was a couple of miles off shore, out with the many yachts. There were two windsurfers out at The Dip Mark Swain and Chris Phillips on big shortboards and 8m. After a snack and chat I headed out in a nice breeze, not enough to reach 20 kts. Reaching so beat down the coast again reaching The Manor this time. On returning my plan was to call it a day as the tide was very high and there was not much beach but after a chat with Mark Smalling down in his big camper with no windsurfing gear the wind had filled in so I decided to try for a 20 kt run and got it first time out with nearly 22 kts but the wind was not really strong enough and the tide had turned pushing you away from The Dip. I had a few runs in Bawdsey Bay but going fast was impossible in winds not quite strong enough with a very lumpy sea and tide running so I called it a day.

So 5 hours out having fun on the longboard, good company too :)

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