Monday 12th August  – Windsurf ** The Manor at Felixstowe  –  sunny and hot.

Foil – 14.95  knot max , 10.58 knot ave, 2.54  knot hour, 12.86 knot mile, 9.99 km., 6.94 knot alpha. 

Starboard Freeride 150 and a Severne 1000 with a Tushingham Storm 6.5.

Walk – Felixstowe prom.

The forecast promised so much, with the wind building late yesterday afternoon it was supposed to last until lunchtime today and also be the hottest day of the year reaching 35 degrees in London! With the wind onshore from the SE The Manor was the best bet so headed down there just after nine and Squiz Lane was already pretty full, sadly campervans seem to have discovered it:( I managed to get my trailer by the bin and someone left so I could park:) The onshore wind was very light so I decided to have a walk down past the Ferris wheel to the small yellow kiosk bumping into Kevin Clarke who I worked with for 26 years who was done with some of his Grand kids:) We had a lovely catch up chat and I was then going to go home to sort my pics out.

Windsurf – The Manor.

The breeze had picked up enough to tempt me to set up, the borrow Severne is very quick to put to together and with the wind gusting to 15 knots it was enough to rig 6.5, I definitely did not want anything any better because the sea had become pretty lump with a bit of a shore dump. I got off OK by swimming a little way offshore but I had a problem with my harness and had to stop twice a couple of times to try and sort it out! I did a couple of sort beats to get away from the shore, I pumped up and was soon flying towards the pier, then pumped up again and made it Landguard beach, things were looking good as the nice run took me past the pier which is when the breeze dropped back and after a couple of slow runs I decided to head ashore hoping  I could get ashore with no damage as there were some nice waves breaking. I avoided the many simmers and had no problem getting my kit up the beach:) Shame the wind did not play ball as SE is a top direction for cruising up and down the coast! After a nice couple of chats with people at Squiz Lane I headed for home to send some pics to the TV weather and for the first time for awhile I was lucky enough to get one on the ITV and BBC:)  

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