Saturday 29th August - Windsurf ***** - River Stour at Bradfield – mainly cloudy.
Foil – 18.97 knot max, 17.48 knot ave (year PB) ., 9.85 knot hour, 14.87 knot mile , 46.46 km., 11.50 knot alpha.
Exocet RF 91 AST with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning 6.5m.
Fin – 23.75 knot max, 20.25 knot ave ., 0.00 knot hour, 14.00 knot mile , 7.41 km., 12.84 knot alpha.
F2 Zantos 295 with 38 fin and Tushingham Lightning 6.5m.
What an adventure we had today, Mag and I up at 6 o clock to head over to the River Stour at Bradfield to make the most of the northerly wind and 9.40 high water. With the wind in this direction this is our only local venue and arrived by the river at 7.10 with two others already there, Michael and James. Michael was setting up his foil gear while James was ready to set off with 6.5 on his fin, sadly it was not windy enough so quickly returned home to get his new foil board! By this time several other sailors had arrived which is pretty amazing considering the early hour, good bunch too with some top banter:) If it had been really windy I would probably have taken the fin board out but with around 15 mph and onshore I set up my foil, taking a chance with 6.5 as the winds were forecast to increase. Andy headed off towards Shotley with 6.6 and I thought I might be a little under as I usually rig one size bigger than him. I didn’t even have my breakfast leaving Mag in the van I quickly waded out as the tide was now well in. I soon found there was plenty of wind as I set off after Andy and sailed over 6 miles downriver, much further than I had foiled here before. It was just great running down the swell in beautiful surroundings with some big gusts coming through which keep you on your toes:) I was out all by myself as I passed Wrabness, across Holbrook Bay to Parkstone dock where there were several large ferries and a huge platform they use to construct windfarms. It was fairly lumpy here with the tide coming in against the wind and on approaching Shotley pier Andy was coming back saying it was really lumpy and gusting 25 knots in the Orwell so we decided to head back. Andy soon left me behind but I had the most amazing beat back in some really big gusts which was such great fun, I put in a couple of tacks to avoid the moored boats at Wrabness as was not sure how deep it was and continued flying all the way back to our launching beach, there were now several out now with the majority being foilers, the gusty winds made it difficult for fin sailors! The wind went a little patchy for a while when I was way under but then returned with a bang and I had several full-on long runs into Holbrook bay. Then as the tide started to drop it really picked up so the foilers headed back and some had some runs on their fin boards. After saying a quick hello to Mag, I took my 133 lt. out for a few runs and got my fastest speed of the day, nearly 24 knots but it was hard work in the up and down winds so decided to call it a day. So back to the van for a very late breakfast, then pack up in time for soup and a sandwich as most sailors left for home! We leave for home making a small detour to see if my Dad is OK after being let out of hospital yesterday getting home around three and it looks like we will have to do it all again tomorrow:)
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.squirrell.1/media_set?set=a.10219668696160593&type=3
http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms/
https://www.77sports.co.uk/
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