Tuesday 8th - Windsurf **** River Orwell at Levington – sunny.

Foil – 19.71 knot max, 17.89 knot ave ., 9.09 knot hour, 15.00 knot mile , 46.00 km ., 15.66 knot alpha (PB).

Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Vulcan 6m.

Woke to wall-to-wall sunshine with a good breeze from the SE but with high water at Levington at 3.20 I was in no hurry so could do my exercises in the sunshine in our backroom giving the temperature a chance to build. I arrived at the marina just before mid-day with plenty of water and around 20 knots, cross-on from the left. Foil board on the beach it was sail choice lottery, it looked constant breeze so I rigged my 6m for the second session running:) I launched into the marina channel around 12.30 and was on the water for the best part of three hours enjoying the lovely sunny day with only my feet getting cold in the end! SE is a top direction for the River Orwell with the water being particularly smooth making ideal foiling conditions:) With the wind in this direction it meant short runs across the river which made it ideal for gybe practice which is now coming on in leaps and bounds and am loving the feeling of flying turns especially using the smaller 6m in a good breeze:) It must have taken me an hour and a half before I fell in and got my best ever alpha and todays best mile included 5 gybes!!!! As it was wind with tide and only able to short runs, I had to tack on my return by which time David Coles had arrived on his foiling race gear, using 8m today! I continued to beat down the river and had some nice runs towards the docks in super smooth water, I was a little under at this point needing a metre more sail but I was quite content to wait for a gust to get up and flying! So, with the wind going a little patchy I decided to call it a day especially as we have several more days of wind and getting much milder too! Packing up I had a top shower for absolutely ages trying to warm my feet up!

It was another top day for my pics getting one in the local paper and for the second day in a row getting one on BBC’s Look East weather:)

When I got home I got Mag to take a pic of my long hair, I look like a cross between Shakespeare and the mad professor out of Back to the Future, thank goodness it is being cut tomorrow, cant wait!

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