Thursday 28th May - Windsurf ***** - River Stour Bradfield – sunny and warm!

Starboard Formula and Slingshot Hover Glide F/Wind with Tushingham Lightning 8.5

Foil – 17.55 knot max, 16.02 knot ave ., 7.81 knot hour, 14.42 knot mile, 35.50 km., 8.99 knot alpha

After this this mornings bike ride and having decided to head over to the River Stour at Bradfield I had time to do my exercises in the sunny and hot back garden with Mag potting up plants:) Then with lunch backed to leave Felixstowe arriving at the beautiful parking spot at Bradfield around one, the first windsurfer there but there were a few having fun on the beach with kids playing in the mud. The tide was still fairly low so we had a relaxing salad in our chairs taking in the view, the band of daises in front of the van are just stunning:) I then set up my foil and take it down to the waters edge with the wind gauge but it was fairly light so went back and rigged my 8.5, the biggest sail I will ever foil with! Still no other windsurfers have arrived as I wade out to find deep water, I have to go for at least 100m before I can sail. Thing things didn’t feel right I set off across the Stour, the sail felt wrong but I stopped on the far bank and discovered I had some weed on the foil. That cleared things went from strength to strength as I decided to beat down river towards Wrabness. My upwind performance is coming along nicely now, not as good as Andy Mexome or David Coles but acceptable for me especially as I had the whole river to myself for an hour so had no one to judge my performance against:) With the breeze gusting over 15 knots in the middle of the river the big sail was perfect, I think you defiantly need some sail cloth to lean into! I am now comfortable in both straps and hooked in, I still touch down from time to time but I am flying a lot more now and there was some fantastic stretches of flat water which was just amazing still flying even when you sailed into more sheltered spots, this is a great foiling spot and we are lucky to have it 25 miles from our house:) After an hour on the water all by myself and was up to Wrabness when Andy launched and soon caught me up and passed me heading for Harwich! It was great flying right up to the beach at Wrabness showing off to the kids or whizzing pas t the few yachts out. The wind went a bit patchy past Wrabness so I headed back sailing broad, I did have some good wipe-outs today when trying to push it but the water was nice and warm and I was wearing my shortie for the first time this year! I had been out two hours of great fun and am loving foiling and cruising long distance is what I love best:) With the tide now dropping and the wind even more patchy it was time to call it a day, having a cuppa and cake with Mag. There were about half a dozen foilers out with everyone par one using Slingshot foils including some foiling novices going really well too. Perhaps the same again tomorrow afternoon but it is our Grandson Arlo’s 3rd Birthday tomorrow and we are not sure when we are getting the important video call so will have to wait and see where I end up???

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