Friday 12th October – windsurf ** The Dip - Felixstowe – sunny periods.

F2 277 Ride with Tushingham Storm 5.25m and 32 fin.

25.98 knot max ., 23.36 knot ave  ., 5.50 knot hour, 0.00  knot mile, 16.60 km., 15.46 knot alpha

After three days when the promised forecast wind failed to arrive we actually got some wind today but still not as strong as expected. After yesterdays visit to The Dip where the South wind created a large shore dump at high water so I was not overly keen to go there today and my original plan was to head to Point Clear but on waking I checked the Felixstowe web-cam and North Beach looked like Cornwall especially as the tide was low and a couple of kiters were already out. I decided to stay local as Southerly at PC is far from ideal arriving second at the beach with the other sailor out with 5m. With the wind supposed to build I rigged 5.25 with the 277(100lt) and headed out, the best section was the 600 metres to the River Deben, if you continued out through the rough water further out to sea it was all but unsailable, huge confused waves which were very hard to even sail in a straight line. If you were not careful you would end up several groynes upwind towards the section of beach with no beach just concrete steps :( So I decided to stay closer to shore but these are not my conditions and its very tiring, I cant believe I was on the water for three hours solid covering 96 km on my last session while today after only a few runs you had to come ashore knackered, it was very hard work, this seemed to be the opinion of several of the sailors out today. It was a top turnout with our carpark full, it’s a real shame that the Council in their wisdom have decided to place 18 beach hut restricting our parking, not one of their best ideas:( Considering the big sea it was easy to get off the beach but the wind was up and down and in the end dropped to 15kts and the sailors out got fewer and fewer with most packing up before high water which today was  4m+ making getting off the beach and landing difficult. So only two stars for me although I did have a few nice runs finding some smoother water with some nice gybing waves by the river. As the wind eased the sea calmed down but most couldn’t be bothered to rig bigger so packed up. Most people sailed in short bursts before returning to the beach for a chat, at least we survived Storm Callum although the really strong winds were on the west coast! With the wind in this direction there are not many alternatives with Southend being the best but low water is a little early to make it worth the 70 mile trip, so who knows what I will do tomorrow, perhaps anther early visit to The Dip to make the most of low water????

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