Tuesday 8th November - Windsurf **** Point Clear – sunny periods with heavy rain late afternoon.

Fin – 28.09 knot max, 25.59 knot ave., 10.003 knot hour, 19.77 knot mile, 50.17 km., 15.87 knot alpha.  

F2 282 Ride with Tushingham Thunderbird 6.5m and 36 fin.

With wind forecast to gust to 40 mph today Ian and Neil were going to Point Clear to make the most of the good midday high water, the only downside being the direction SSW, not the best for this venue:( I only decided to go around 7.30 as the price of fuel is so expensive these days, leaving Felixstowe at 8.30 having to stop at Tesco at Ipswich for £120 of diesel, its over £8 a gallon, we can remember when Mag got her first car an orange mini it was 50p but then again we are very old:) We arrived at the green at PC at 9.40 with a few already thee including Neil and Ian, thee was loads of water but the wind was pretty marginal. I was keen to fin as I rarely do it these days so set up my F2 Ride 282 at 115 lt and took a chance with my 6.5, with Neil going for 6.4 and Ian 5.6 but Martin B the first out was on 8.5m! It was supposed to be mild but it felt a tad nippy so I put on my winter wetsuit with once again several wingers here today. Neil after swopping his 100 lt. board for something a little bigger headed out towards East Mersea but he was struggling to get going, not helped by the incoming tide which was pushing you down towards Brightlingsea. I set off at 11.30 on my smaller board and the wind was verry marginal at this point and I soon lost ground downwind, after a couple of slow runs I stupidly decided to sail up the River Colne to see if it was any windier up there, sadly at this point it was not and I was wondering if I was going to get back? I was doing runs across the river when the wind did pick up and I ended up having some great runs up South Geedon Creek past Rat Island, just me the oyster trawler and loads of waders, sunny too, I have never sailed up there before pretty flat but a little gusty as the wind was coming across East Mersea. After having fun up the Colne and with the wind up I could now sail back getting past the patchy/lumpy section in font of Brightlingsea before sailing between the groyne and the sea wall landing at the end of PC beach before walking back to see how Mag was, she was concerned as she hadn’t seen me for ages but that’s nothing new! Neil and Ian looked like to be having fun in the bottom of the lagoon so I decided to try and sail up there as the tide was now dropping fast! To get thee I had to sail over towards East Mersea which was challenging as it was windy and very rough but I made it to the shingle bar which I walked over to get to the lagoon. I had a few runs with Neil and Ian before they headed back so in the end it was just me and local sailor Michael Honey, I haven’t seen him for over a year so stopped for a chat:) I then had several runs across the lagoon nothing fast, around 24 knots, I had managed over 25 up the Colne not helped by the short runs but it was good fun gybing in the sunshine, in the end it was just me out having fun in the sun:) With the water level dropping and I was getting knackered I decided to head back and absolutely whizzed out of the lagoon gybing in front of our van and was surprised to have got over 28 knots, my second fasted speed of the year. So, I decided to have a few late runs getting all my best speeds, pushing my average up:) So a good day in the end covering over 30 miles with a bit of exploring up the Colne, fingers crossed the next time I come here the wind will be SW but it is a nice place to come to:) Wetsuit off Mag had already headed the yummy homemade soup which we enjoyed with a top view. I was just going to pack up when the sky darkened and we had some heavy rain for half an hour, breezy too! The rain cleared I was able to de-rig and we were last to leave. We were treated to some rainbows on the way home with a top sunset too, stopping in a lay-by just outside Felixstowe to take a few pics, one being chosen as Editors Pick on BBC weather watchers but sadly it did not make it onto the TV:)

A few more days of wind coming, will probably head to Levington tomorrow for a foil then on Thursday have a day off as I am having a tooth out!

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