Friday 6th April – windsurf ** The Manor, Felixstowe – mainly cloudy and cool.

19.16 knot max, 17.02 knot ave., 6.21 knot hour, 15.04 knot mile, 11.50 km., 0.00 knot alpha

My second session of the week and the first time out at Felixstowe since 22nd November, 2017! With a SE 20 knot wind forecast The Manor is the best option in Felixstowe with the wind onshore it means you can sail the whole of the seafront and trouble being a bit on the chilly side. I arrived at about 10.15 to find Neil and Craig Hurrell, Roger Vickers and Peter Edmunds already there. The general feeling was 6.5 but the gauge was only gusting between 12 and 20 mph but started to rig my 6.5. Craig went out and was only planning in patches so switched to the 7.8 on the Xantos 295. With it being 9 degrees, I went for the full winter wetsuit and hat. Next problem getting off the beach with quite a large shore dump. Managed to get away and headed off towards The Fludgers, the sea was big and the wind was light but OK, then half way I popped out of my harness lines and went in! That cooled me off nicely but I completed the 1.85 run turning before I reached Jacobs Ladder. Again, it was a slow return but still hooked in and in the straps, I ran out of wind just before landing back at The Manor and had to watch my gear washed up the beach luckily nothing broke! Had a warm up then did it again but this time the wind dropped on the return making it a struggle so packed up when got back, shame the wind didn’t play ball as this is a great direction for Felixstowe but nice to catch up with some mates and Mag even turned up on her bike:)

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