Saturday 26th – windsurf *** Levington – cloudy and very windy!

F2 Ride 277 295 and 30 cm with Naish 4.7.

Fin – 30.47 knot max., 26.29 knot ave., 6.09 knot hour, 20.51 knot mile, 12.90 km., 15.93 knot alpha.

I went out and played with Storm ‘Hannah’ and survived !!! :) With westerly winds forecast to gust over 40 knots there were not many options today, Southend would have been worth a trip but couldn’t face the drive/walk, Tides not right for Point Clear until late afternoon, also not great for the Stour or Orwell with a midday low. So, in the end I decided to stay local and go to Levington Marina but with Landguard showing a 40 knot gust I was not holding my breath that I would sail but with Stuart Fawke driving an hour to sail at Levington for the first time I thought I had better head over to check it out. On arriving Stuart was there as well as Tom Alexander at what must have been low tide and too be honest it didn’t look very inviting but when Stuart started rigging 4.2 and tom 4.7, I thought I had better give it a try! I tried to rig my Tushingham X-15 5.2m. but I couldn’t get my mast to the top of the sleeve because it was catching on some sail cloth, I will have to sort it as its been a problem for a while! So, I had to find out one of my small and very rarely used wave sails and rigged the Naish 4.7 on my F2 Ride 277. Stuart then launched from the sail beach by the marina entrance, no mud walking required and sailed out of the channel, the wind was patchy close in but he got a bit of a shock as he hit mid river but he made it to the other side! It made a change for me to have another windsurfer there to do my winter wetsuit zip up for me but I was toasty and my hat was back on with temperatures struggling to get to 10 degrees! Again, launching was no problem and I headed out across the river nicely powered with 4.7, the smallest sail I have ever used here on the Orwell! The nice thing about sailing here is you have shallow water both sides but there was a big swell running down the middle of the river and managed 26 knots on the first run which was an OK start considering the conditions. Returning to the marina I ran aground while gybing but was soon sailing back, this time I went broad over the far side and continued down towards the dock where it gets a little flatter. Getting back was no problem especially with the help of the tide. I then had a 1.60 mile run down to the dock and got some interesting gust especially on the way back! I did another un in the river getting a pleasing 30 knot peak, its always nice to break 30 kts:) I had a few more runs across the river but there was a big swell running down the middle and I didn’t get in the straps as too scary. So, with a 30 peak and a 26 average I didn’t think it was worth carrying on, in fact Stuart, Tom and I decided to call it a day at pretty much the same time as the second wave of sailors arrived, Ian Clarke, Paul Smith and Paul Davies. Having packed up it looked like only Paul Smith was heading out even though the river seemed to have flattened off as there was more water now but there were still some huge gusts and Paul had rigged 4m! So I am glad I made the effort as the wind looks to be dropping away for tomorrow and then not much coming next week but I can’t complain as I have had my best month so far this year with 10 sessions so far:)

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