Friday 3rd June - Windsurf ***** - The Dip at Felixstowe – sunny and warm with some top clouds.
Longboard Fin – 21.69 knot max, 19.30 knot ave., 10.98 knot hour, 17.40 knot mile, 38.92 km., 8.21 knot alpha.
Fanatic Cat with Tushingham Lightning 8.5m and 39 fin.
Might have been tempted by a session on the River Stour but my new foil has not arrived so was able to stay local as NE works really well at The Dip in Felixstowe, the only negative being the 2.35 high tide as there is very little beach to launch and land. With wall-to-wall sunshine, warm too and light winds first thing I was able to do my exercises in the back garden. I then checked the conditions, the breeze had started to fill in and there were some windsurfing trailers at The Dip, I love the cliff top webcam:) So I quickly hitched the trailer dropping Mag off at Jacobs Ladder for her second walk of the day, she had already had an early morning prom walk! I arrived at the beach around 11.30 with Mark S, Paul S and Chris P already there! There was a good breeze and Paul and Mark had rigged 7.3 to foil while Chris was rigging 7.5 to fin, it looked ideal for some more longboard cruising so quickly put the old battered Fanatic Cat on the beach and rigged my favourite sail for longboarding the Tushingham Lightning 8.5. Paul was first away and we were concerned he might be overpowered but he returned with a thumbs up and then headed over to Bawdsey beach. I was away next and beat out to the red and white bouy and up to kite beach to check the conditions. I was a fraction under at this point but thought I had enough to head off broad downwind and was able to get up and planning by running down the waves. First run was 2.50 miles downwind, quickly followed by 4 more long runs in absolute ideal conditions, with the track at the back, the dagger board up and both feet in the straps in warm sunshine, just brilliant, I do love longboard sailing and will have to take it out for a spin more often! I ended up crossing the shipping channel in front of Felixstowe docks, no problems with no ships entering or leaving port. The large dredger THSD Rotterdam which has been working on the deep-water channel for a while now was slowly working its way towards me. I realised I was not going to get in front of it so had to bear off downwind of it into the lumpy water of the Orwell river mouth! I now needed the track forward to start the beat but it is very stiff to move now so when I went in tacking it was a good opportunity to move the track and take a few pics as I was well clear of the dredger. The wind had now definitely picked up a notch, a good 20 knots and with it the sea quickly became very rough meaning you were sailing straight into some steep waves, I cleared the marker post at the end of Landguard and landed on the beach for a snack. Now all I had to do was beat back in somewhat challenging conditions, I definitely didn’t need any more sail but by sailing slowly and stuffing it high into the wind I got back in 7 tacks by doing fairly long runs. Such fun with both feet in the beating straps with about three quarter plate, tacking was a challenge in the strong wind and big sea going in a few times but was able to water start away most of the time! It is always nice to know that the Coastwatch are keeping an eye on me from The Manor Martello tower and I always carry spares and my radio in case something goes wrong. I got back around high tide with very little beach but landed in the corner by a groyne with no problem:) I had been out probably 2 and a half hour and again broke 21 knots which is nice on an old heavy raceboard. There were three sailors finning now Paul on 6.5, Mark Swain overpowered on 7.3 and Mark Davis having fun on his slalom board and 5.5. Had a nice chat before heading for home, Mag had had a good day having a nice chat with the new neighbours.
Tomorrow is looking maybe even windier so might go down early to mack the most of low water and hope the rain has cleared away!
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