Saturday 4th – Windsurf ***** - River Orwell, Levington – sunny periods.

Starboard Formula and Slingshot Hover Glide F/Wind with Tushingham Lightning 7.

Foil – 19.32 knot max., 17.12 knot ave., 7.96 knot hour, 14.43 knot mile, 23.90 km., 8.99 knot Alpha.

After my first patchy session of the session I was keen to get out again and as it was a sunny day with the temperature rising to 9 degrees. So, I headed over to Levington Marina again hoping to get out on the foil for the first time this year even if the tide being low puts people off sailing here. I waited until the tide was about to turn so if anything went wrong you hopefully wouldn’t end up in the middle of Felixstowe docks and with the wind an ideal wnw you can sail straight out of the marina entrance and have plenty of water to sail in:) Sail choice is always a challenge as it was a fraction off but it was gusting to 20 mph and flat so I took a chance with 7m which is turning out to be my favourite foiling sail:) I didn’t have to walk too far to find someone to zip me into my wetsuit and was soon heading out onto the River Orwell. I was soon flying in my favourite direction broad and it turned out to be a really good session, things are now moving along nicely on the foiling front and was getting some lovely long runs down towards Felixstowe Docks, even managing to keep going through some of the lulls. I mainly sail with only my front foot in the strap as I think the rear strap needs to be further inboard but I am getting more comfortable getting in the harness. I tried pushing on the reaches by sheeting in which is exciting and I got a couple of good falls but managed to stay on most of the time. Also, my beating is improving and I am trying to sail upwind with the board close to the water. I love foiling in the bigger gusts and feel fairly happy in 20 knots of wind and is definitely better than a fin on the river in all but the strongest winds! I had fun flying past a few yachts out sailing on the river and got a wave from the lunch boat up from Ipswich. So, I was out two hours, mainly in lovely sunshine not getting cold and the next week looks promising for a few more sessions:)

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Windsurfing report for 2019.

I have had a good windsurfing 2019 with 101 sessions including 29 on a foil but for the first time in a few years there were none abroad! I have sailed ten different venues spending a lot of time on my local rivers the Orwell and Stour. I have done next to no proper speedsailing but had two successful trips The Ray, first time getting 8 mile runs over 30 knots 30 including a 32.05 mile, best in the UK I believe:) also I improved my average to 37.71 just missing out on breaking 40 knots for the first time in the UK with a 39.81 knot max:) I also gave the Portland sailors a run for their money coming 3rd in the GPS team challenge, top in two categories, mile and distance covered, including a memorable day at Portland where I sailed 193km:) I sailed every month and concentrated on trying for sailing an hour and was actually the second highest rated UK sailor in the GPS Speedsurfing rankings:)  I have taken up foiling this year and after a slow start using the dodgy pink NP foil which I couldn’t get to fly I switched to the Slingshot 76 and things have really improved, getting some nice long flights now and am now looking for a slingshot foil board! Other highlights of the year including a longboard sail up the coast from Felixstowe to Orford lighthouse, I managed to break 30 knots on 13 sessions at 5 different venues covering a total of 4111 km, that’s 2554 miles, so not bad for a pensioner, lets hope 2020 is as good!

Venues :-
River Orwell – Levington – 35 times
River Stour – Wrabness & Bradfield – 16 times
Felixstowe – The Dip & The Manor – 32 times
Point Clear – 10 times
West Mersea – 1 time
Portland Harbour – 3 times
The Ray – 2 times
Alton Water – 1 time.

Equipment used – Boards :-

Fanatic Cat (longboard) – 12 times
Starboard Formula – 29 times
F2 Xantos 310 – 13 times
F2 Xantos 295 – 30 times
F2 Ride 282 – 21 times
F2 Ride 277 4 times
Fanatic Falcon 80 – 5 times
Fanatic Falcon Speed – 1 time

Sails :-

Tushingham Lightning 9.4 – 7 times
Tushingham Lightning 8.5 – 25 times
Tushingham Lightning 7.8 – 19 times
Tushingham Lightning 7 – 21
Tushingham Lightning 6.5 – 14 times
Tushingham X 15  7 – 11 times
Tushingham X 15 6.4 – 3 times
Tushingham X 15 5.8 - 8 times
Tushingham X 15 5.2 – 2 times
Tushingham Vulcan 6 – 1 time
Tushingham Storm 5.2 – 1 time
Naish Nalu 4.7 – 1 time