Monday 26th September - Windsurf *** - River Stour at Wrabness – sunny periods.

Foil – 22.16 knot max, (PB) 19.87 knot ave .,(PB) 11.57 knot hour, 16.42 knot mile, 53.02 km ., 16.63 knot alpha. (PB)

Starboard Freeride 150 and an Evolution Freeride foil with a Tushingham Thunderbird 6.5.

The NW wind returns and with high water at Mistley at 1.14 mag and I had another trip over the border to Wrabness in Essex. The early morning rain soon cleared with good spells of sunshine forecast so we took he bike and wee glad we did as she had an amazing adventure:) We arrived just before ten with the sun now out on the Stour so I took my foil board to the small beach to set up, I then had a problem when the head from one of my mast to board bolt sheared off, lucky for me I had a spare fin bolt which needed several washes to fit but it worked fine:) Sail choice was my next problem, with an onshore wind gusting to 20 knots I took a chance with my 6.5 which was OK, a faction too big in the gusts and well under in the lulls, to be honest no sail was right today as it was horrendously gusty, as bad as it gets on the Stour. This is definitely not the best direction here but it started so well, launching at 10.30, as Saturday about 100m to reach deep wate and I was quickly up and foiling for the next hour I had the most constant wind of the whole session, quickly breaking 20 knots, in fact I broke it at least 10 times breaking 22 knots for the first time on the foil and only just missing out on a 20 knot average despite it being vey lumpy! I was getting some nice gybes in too, getting a PB alpha as I inch close to 17 knots! I beat up river and was having some nice runs at Bradfield as several sailor’s set off from there just in time for the wind to go really patchy, there was still some good gusts but also lots of slogging:( It was getting a little busy for me so I beat up to Mistley Quay to take a few pics before a couple of nice board reaches back to Wrabness. I had a couple of runs across Holbrook bay but the river was lumpy so decided to call it a day and headed back, as I approached the beach I got a little nervous as the tide was pretty high and I was worried I had lost my spare sail, mast and board bag but Mag had moved them to the top of the sea wall, she is a star:). Wet suit off to dry on the gate I joined Mag to hear about her day and enjoy a delicious sandwich too:)

Mags near 20-mile bike ride *****

Mag took some pics of me launching before returning to the van for breakfast and then setting off on her bike at 11.  She followed Wall Lane and made her way up and through Wrabness village, passing the church with its bell in a wooden structure in the graveyard and seeing Grayson Perry’s brightly coloured house in the distance.  She also found the lane down to the house itself and went to have a closer look.  She passed the Stour Nature Reserve woodland and went through Ramsey before getting to a roundabout where she realised she had made a mistake by heading towards Harwich along the main road instead of a back road.  Anyway she carried on and made it safely to Harwich seeing all the Ships in the docks over the river in Felixstowe and making her way along the prom from Harwich to Dovercourt.  She loved it and took a few photos of the lighthouses on her phone.  The phone then ran out of battery!  She retraced her route back to Wall Lane getting back around 1.  So a two hour adventure which she thoroughly enjoyed :)  She came to see if she could see me on the water (which she couldn’t) and saw that my board bag was just about to be lapped by the tide so she dragged that up the sea wall before returning to the van for her lunch.  When we had packed up we retraced her bike route in the van and had a cracking end to the day having a drive round Harwich and Dovercourt - made especially sweeter because it meant we missed the blocked A14 which had been queued up for over an hour but was clear when we passed through. 

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