Saturday 19th December - Windsurf **** - River Orwell at Levington Marina – sunny and mild – top sun set:).

Foil – 18.83 knot max, 17.33 knot ave ., 10.82 knot hour , 16.44 knot mile , 48.99 km .,13.03  knot alpha.

Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning 7m.

After yesterdays mega 50-mile session plus a couple of foiling outings earlier in the week I was a bit knackered but todays forecast was too good to miss:) A few headed to The Dip first thing but the wind looked marginal and it was cloudy so with high water approaching three I decided to give Levington another try. So, after exercises trying to keep the back going and a late breakfast, I headed over to the marina around midday with the sun now coming out:) Foiling racer David Coles was already there with Andy M coming too and I quickly set up my foil board, walking it to the launch beach to check the wind. The river was still fairly low and it did look breezy so rigged my go to foiling sail, my Tushingham Lightning 7m. I was first out and with the water a fraction on the low side I beat out of the marina entrance channel. I was soon up and flying towards Pin Mill in a solid breeze. To be honest I did not feel overly comfortable for a lot of the session with the wind being particularly gusty, even for here! I was fine in the gusts but there were some big lulls and did not feel like pumping too hard, the strong incoming tide did not help as I slowly beat towards the dock. I continue to practice my gybes but were nowhere near as successful as yesterday’s fin session where I only dropped a couple all day:) Today I ended up in the water more than I wanted but I need to keep persevering and who knows it might come, just got to learn when to let go of the rig! After a frustrating beat towards the dock, I decided to head back but the wind went particularly light. As I approached the corner a ship with two tugs were heading out which I gave a wide berth. Then the three-star session suddenly improved as the wind filled in and I had several mega full-on runs towards Pin Mill in lovely flat water. I really have to get my head around going fast as we Slingshot owners struggle to get over 20 knots, perhaps it might be time to try something faster? In an ideal world you definitely need two foils, a big wing for fun and a race wing for performance but with my sails falling apart I might have to pass on that. It is not a big problem as I love my Slingshot, might just look for a 65-infinity wing for the really windy days? So, it was Andy and me out on the Orwell as the sun set just lovely. With the sun gone it was time to call it a day and by the time I had packed up and showered I had to drive home in the dark in my sunglasses!

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