Saturday 3rd November – windsurf **** The Dip, Felixstowe – sunny.

F2 Ride 282 with Tushingham Lightning 7m and 38 fin.

27.11 knot max., 24.50 knot ave ., 12.04 knot hour, 22.04  knot mile, 38.90 km., 15.27 knot alpha.

I was hoping to have the weekend at Southend with Saturday on the Ray with South being a nice direction, not fast but good fun reaching both ways on the West course, stay the night in Essex and then have the morning windsurfing Thorpe Bay but being right on the edge of storm Callum it was always going to be marginal. In the end the forecast winds dropped to light to make the 70-mile trip to Essex worth while so I decided to stay in Felixstowe. After a few messages on WhatsApp it was agreed to meet up at The Dip as there were several sea fishermen at The Manor a problem at that end of town:( The closer you sailed to low water (1.45) the better we hoped the conditions would be! So, in no hurry to get down, did my exercises, Mag went to Lidl and then at 11 I hitched the trailer and headed down, Mag came with me so she could walk home along the prom as it was a nice sunny day, feeling mild too even though the temperature was only 12/13 degrees. Neil Hurrell was there as optimistic as ever and already had two boards on the beach and was rigging 6.9 but to be honest the sea looked less than inviting for those of us who like to go fast especially in close as it was very wavy, looking closer to Cornwall than Suffolk! David Coles and Andy Mexome arrived, we hummed and hared about sailing or not, in the end Andy went to visit his Dad, Russell who is not well while David started to rig his slalom kit with a 7m sail. So, I decided to join in and went for 7m on the 115 lt. and in the end, I was glad I did:) Although it was challenging to go fast it was an interesting sea, as I said very wavy to the red bouy then smoothing out a little as you headed across Bawdsey Bay. I started with a few runs close in over the River Deben to the shingle bar and then beat through the wild water and did broad reaches a mile up the coast which was good fun in the sunshine with the 7m and 282 being ideal. In the end there must have been half a dozen out enjoying the conditions and I was not cold at all, no gloves required but the hat keep you toasty. So, a nice couple of hours in the sun and more wind forecast for the week and getting to 15 degrees again, lets hope my elbow calms down as playing me up at the moment! Peter Cutts came and although he didn’t sail he took loads of pics which we look forward to seeing later:)

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http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms/