Saturday 10th April - Windsurf *** - River Orwell at Levington Marina – cloudy and cold.

Foil – 18.85 knot max, 17.22 knot ave., 7.39 knot hour, 15.37 knot mile, 21.73 km.,12.13 knot alpha.

Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lighting 7,8 and Vulcan 6m.

After windsurfing for the last couple of days I was looking to have today off before considering a trip to the River Stour on Sunday as the wind is in the north both days so temperatures are going to be low! Then I got a WhatsApp message from super keen foiler Robert asking what Levington is like in an Easterly? I have sailed the Orwell once before and it is OK with some long runs down towards Felixstowe docks in flat water so we agreed to drive over and check it out despite it only being 6 degrees and cloudy! With the wind coming in from the left for a change it is impossible to know how strong it is because of the trees in Levington bay so I took a chance with my 7.8 while Rob rigged his 6.5. There was again loads of water as I slowly sailed away from our small launch beach but soon realised I had made a big mistake when I reached the wind line as it must have been gusting over 25 knots! I did make it down nearly too the docks but I did not sheet in! The run back was also exciting but the wind eased as I approached the marina so decided to have another run as Rob headed out and soon found out he could have used a smaller sail! I then decided to head ashore and chance down to my 6m, I have never used a smaller sail than Rob before! Rob is flying well now diagonally across the bay but using the small sail it takes me awhile to get going but when I hit the strong wing the 6m is much better. If anything, the wind has swung a little more north perhaps ENE, pretty offshore form the launch but because of the strength you could still fly well. I had one nice run from well down the river to Levington creek. With my hands now suffering in the cold I decided an hour was enough so headed back which meant several short tacks to get back but no problem on a big foil board. So an interesting session in winds much stronger than expected so after three sessions in a row I will probably give tomorrow a miss as it will be another cold day! So after packing up it was good to warm up in the super-hot showers before heading for home for some yummy homemade spicy parsnip soup:)

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