Saturday 31st August– Windsurf **** - Levington – sunny.

Foil – 18.62 knot max., 16.41 knot ave., 4.33 knot hour, 9.45 knot mile, 14.60 km., 10.39 knot alpha.

Starboard Formula and Slingshgot Hover Glide F/Wind with Tushingham Lightning 8.5

We are going away next week to look after Grandson Arlo for a few days before going exploring somewhere for a few weeks in September so was keen to make the most of the wind today. It was a bit of an iffy forecast with marginal wind but switching direction, my original hope was a trip to Point Clear but the wind had not filled in by the time we had to leave, some were going to the River Stour but not an ideal direction. In the end I decided on a trip to the River Orwell at Levington with the breeze just filling. I have been having a bit of a mare with my foiling, in fact have been going backwards just lately. With the Slingshot foil you can set the mast in three positions and I have been trying ‘C’ which pushes the front wing forward for easy lift but makes it very hard to control in the air so have returned to the recommended ‘B’ and was keen to try some rig positions and stance. Arrived at the Marina at 11.30 with loads of water and no body else there. The onshore SW was its usual patchy self but the sun was out so I set up the foil and rigged my 8.5 hoping it didn’t pick up too much! It was another sunny day in Suffolk as I set off towards Levington Bay where the wind looked the strongest, sadly the wind was incredibly up and down from 5 to 15 knots which is hard for learning. The new mast position makes a huge difference and I was getting some nice long flights mostly in both straps and in the harness. One run I felt like a pro sailing in a fairly straight line keeping the board a foot out of the water and the next I was three feet up and being thrown off but nowhere near as much as my last few sessions! I nearly made it as far as Pin Mill just wobbling along but then making the most of the gusts, I was even trying to sail upwind and down, if the wind had been more constant you could really improve especially with the water being nice and flat. Things were going too well and things then took a real turn for the worse when I hit the bottom really hard and badly hitting my leg on the board:( I thought I had broken it but I had just skinned my chin but it was very painful! I had a few more runs before calling it a day just after the tide turned. So despite the leg injury it was a good day for me with some nice runs feeling actually in control so getting there slowly, so do I need to splash the pension on a foil board, love the look of the Slingshot Wizzard 150 but the JP’s also look good but not many in the second-hand market at the moment:(

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 http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms/

 https://wetndryboardsports.com/windsurf/windsurf-foils/slingshot-hover-glide-fwind-windsurf-foil-2019.html?SID=810929ee0d3d94236235c95d49103b2f