Sunday 1st November - Windsurf **** - Point Clear – cloudy.

 Foil – 18.62 knot max, 17.35 knot ave ., 11.75 knot hour, 15.91 knot mile, 38.84 km ., 12.77 knot alpha.

Exocet RF 91 AST with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 and a Tushingham X – 15 6.4m.

Fin – 29.78 knot max, 27.57 knot ave ., 12.61 knot hour, 17.95 knot mile , 33.00 km ., 17.52 knot alpha.

F2 277 Ride with a 30 fin and a Tushingham X – 15 6.4m.

With another lockdown just around the corner I was keen to make the most of the current Storm Aiden packing two small boards my Falcon 870 and Ride 277 heading off across the border to Point Clear. With our son Robert and Grandson Arlo arriving this afternoon mag stayed at home. I was the first windsurfer to arrive at The Green but there were several kiters already there, it looked like they had stayed the night, I bet the locals are not too pleased about that! There was loads of water but the wind did not look that strong so I set up my F2 Ride 277 at 100 lt. as the wind built. I then rigged two sails my 5.8 and 6.4 but as the other windsurfers arrived the wind was fairly light so three of us agreed to go out on our foils, Andy, Shaun and I while the fin sailors rigged up to 7.8. Andy was first out with 5.8, followed by me with my 6.4 and then Shaun with 7.3. Andy got flying straight away but I struggled for a few runs in pretty light winds. Then the wind filled in and I enjoyed several runs over to East Mersea beating out to see, great fun in a big swell, I was treated to try to go around the island but decided against it with it supposed to get fairly breezy. So, I decided to run three miles up The River Colne, the perfect foiling/windsurfing area and while it was busy in the lagoon, we had the Colne all to ourselves:) It is great fun flying a couple of miles in flat water with some really big gust coming through! I am trying to gybe on nearly every turn now which is challenging but great fun. I try to go fast but am not overly comfortable yet so I don’t push it all the time! With the wind building more and the 6.4 getting a bit of a handful I decided to head back. It was interesting once I passed Brightlingsea as the sea was a huge lumpy mess but I made it to the lagoon OK and after one run in there I returned to the beach. Being high water there was not much room and I would like to thank Ian and Alistair for helping me get my kit ashore. After my sandwich I switched to the fin to make the most of the flat water as the tide dropped and hoped the 200lt. board and 6.4 sail would be big enough. They were for most of the hour and a half I was out but the wind was particularly gusty again today, perhaps a fraction too much south to be ideal. It always goes quiet in the lagoon as the tide drops and people pack up and I had some nice runs and was disappointed to miss 30 knots by a whisker, sadly as the water became really flat the wind let me down so I had to call it a day. Still a good day getting the best of both worlds, fin and foil with the only real downside is my poor old hands are playing me up, getting old and too much windsurfing me thinks!!! Good journey home and a lovely afternoon/evening with Rob and Arlo:)

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