Monday 22nd – Windsurf **** River Orwell at Levington – Sunny and hot:).

Foil – 20.11 knot max., 14.64 knot ave., 2.05 knot hour, 0.00 knot mile, 13.23 km., 0.00 knot alpha.

Starboard Formula and Slingshgot Hover Glide F/Wind with Tushingham Lightning 8.5 and 7m

The wind just keeps on blowing with this being my 10th session of the month and today we had some amazing weather, wall to wall sunshine and 27 degrees with the river warm as a bath:) After a relaxing start to the day with exercises in the garden followed by a few chapters waiting for the tide to come in at Levington but in the end it was too hot so I hitched up the trailer and arrived at the marina before midday with a nice WSW wind and flat water. Local foiling expert Michael Galbraith arrived just after I had finished setting up my foil and rigging 8.5. Michael was debating rigging 5.5 or 6.2 so I thought I might have too much sail! I was first out of the channel heading down across the bay and was soon flying easily but still can’t sustain flight as all the information gained by chatting and watching videos leaves your brain as soon as you are in the air!!!! Also, there were some big gusts coming through to around 20 knots which made things very interesting and things go wrong very quickly!!! I was being pulled off the front and falling off the back too, in fact I was spending more time in the water than on the board:) I know what I should be doing but getting my 65-year-old brain to tell my body might take a few more sessions!!! I was wasting a good session with the big rig so went ashore and quickly rigged 7m which was much better, there were times when it was enough to water start with it! Although this is my 12th foiling session I wasted a lot of time with the NP foil which I couldn’t get to fly, now I have a foil which fly’s too easily and might have to put the mast from ‘c’ to ‘b’ again to calm it down? If you look at my tracks on google earth you will see the trouble, I am having sailing in a straight line!!! :) It was getting busy for here now as three fin sailors were out including long time friend Peter Cutts but it was too up and down for them and foils ruled the day, will not my but Michael sailed every inch of the Orwell with a top speed of 27 knots, its that standard all us learners aspire too! Out on the water I moved my mast foot forward but on the next run my Chinook tendon joint broke so I wobbled back on the safety leash so it was time to call it a day and sat on the new seat by the harbour entrance having a lovely chat with the man who runs the disabled sailing watching Michael fly on his 6.2. I was pleased to call it a day as I had pulled my shoulder, so things are moving along albeit slowly but you can see it becoming addictive. I am still not sure if a foil board would help but at the moment, I am giving this old board some stick so I don’t wait to spend a lot of money on a board I will probably put loads of holes in! By the time we had stopped talking about it and I had packed up two rigs I was last to leave getting home just before 6 for a delicious roast chicken dinner in the garden. I was looking forward to a relaxing evening at home but then had to do a 60-mile round trip to pick up a chest of drawers for our sons’ new hose he has just moved into!

PS – it is supposed to get to 35 degrees later this week, way too hot for us!!!!!

PPS - I nearly forgot I broke 20 knots while flying for the first time today - scary too!

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