Saturday 29th January - Windsurf ***** River Orwell at Levington – sunny periods.

Foil – 19.81 knot max, 18.31 knot ave., 11.09 knot hour, 16.21 knot mile, 33.67 km., 14.06 knot alpha.

Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Storm 5.2m.

Fin – 28.98 knot max, 26.39 knot ave., 0.00 knot hour, 0.00 knot mile, 11.30 km., 17.89 knot alpha.

Have been looking forward to today for a few days now, its not often you get a good breeze and 13 degrees in January and was hoping to make the most of Storm Malik and was not disappointed:) With the wind forecast to be anything from west to north west Levington was the only option for me today despite the tides not being the best with high water at 8.36 meaning you would be sailing with the tide going out, which is not a problem if it is windy enough and especially when foiling where it is easy to keep upwind! Arranged with Robert and Ian to meet up at Levington Marina at 9, arriving to some lovely sunshine, very mild and a good breeze. The wind was now probably wnw cross off which makes picking a sail size a bit of guess work but it looked very windy in the middle of the river so we all rigged small, I went for 5.2 while the two lighter sailors went for 4.2 which proved about right until the wind went bonkers later in the morning! With loads of water launching was easy and it was great sailing in the mild sunshine heading down towards Felixstowe docks with some really big gusts coming through which defiantly keep you on your toes but I love foiling with small sails as it makes gybing so much easier although I did go in a few times especially when way overpowered! With the tide running out fairly hard now it did chop up the water but the nice thing about foiling is you can fly over the lumps even if you are having trouble sheeting in at times! After a couple of good hours, the wind really did pick up, I checked the Landguard weather station when I got home and over 40 knots was recorded at Shotley! So, with the water level dropping we all decided to head back, especially with my foot hurting and my arms aching! We all stated to pack up but the conditions looked too good to miss a quick go on the fin board especially as I haven’t been on one since December 1st! So despite the tide going out I quickly set up my F2 Ride 282 and headed out using the 5.2. The good about sailing in this direction is you could turn in shallow water each side of the river. There was a nice swell running down the river which was great fun running down very well powered with the small sail. Not wanting to lose too much downwind I would land on the far bank, I just wanted to get 5 decent runs in to get a better average for the month! I soon discovered you could keep upwind easily so in the end did 7 runs across the river and in the end only missed getting 30 knots by a whisker! Was also pleased with the alpha as it was windy and choppy in front of the launch beach. With the water disappearing fast and getting really knackered it was time to call it a day, what a top day it was too with the best of both worlds, fin and foil! I had a quick chat with Robert and then with Maggie biking down for lunch around one I headed over to the showers. Back at the van around 1.15 and with it being very windy and no sign of Mag I started to pack up thinking that the wind had put Mag off biking over! But fear no she turned up despite her having trouble with her fingers, with me suffering from a really dodgy heel which makes working painful, we are both a coupe of old crocks, she braved the storm to bike over. She had brought a yummy cheese roll which we enjoyed in the comfort of our van before finishing packing up and heading for home – great day was had by all:)

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