Friday 2nd September - Windsurf * - River Orwell – Levington Marina – cloudy and wet:(.

Fin – 16.77 knot max, 15.34 knot ave ., 2.08 knot hour, 0.00 knot mile, 5.90 km ., 0.00 knot alpha.

F2 Zantos 295 with 36 fin and Tushingham X -15 – 5.8 and 7m 6.5m.

On a day that promised more it in fact delivered sweet FA :( let down by Storm Alex! With strong winds from the east and a midday high making Felixstowe pretty much unassailable due to a large shore break and no beach there were actually not that many options and with it supposed to rain all day I did not want to drive far so quickly ruled Bradfield out and instead drove the 6 miles to Levington Marina with fingers crossed the wind had sone south in it as SE is a really good direction here! I was expecting winds gusting 30/40 knots but when I got to my parking spot by the marina entrance it was hard to judge with next to no wind as in the shadow of the cliffs/tree across Levington bay! So, sail choice was always going to be a lottery so I erred on the side of caution and rigged 5.8 but on my big 133 lt. board as the wind line was at least half way across the river but it did look promising down towards Felixstowe docks, lots of wind and flat water. I was keen to give it a go as pretty of water but difficult to get set off and had to uphaul in the end as no wind on the launch beach. It didn’t take long to realise that the wind was no where near as strong as I expected and was way under, which was odd as there looked loads of wind on the water when you reached the middle! After a couple of wobbly runs, I gave up on that and went and rigged my 7m which was no better with the wind dropping even more and the rain started too. So, with the wind gusty and light with rain it didn’t take me too long to make the decision to pack up and head for the great showers here at the marina, the highlight of the session, that and seeing two Harwich Haven Pilot boats leave the marina:)  At least I got home nice and early and surprised Mag:)

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