Tuesday 13th November – windsurf ** Levington– sunny.

F2 Xantos with Tushingham Lightning 8.5 and 44 fins.

26.20 knot max., 23.11 knot ave ., 9.48 knot hour, 10.37  knot mile, 35.90 km., 11.45 knot alpha.

We are off to Surrey early evening today to look after the lovely Grandson Arlo for three days so with a little WSW wind forecast today but dropping so I didn’t want to go too far. So Levington was the only option, we had found a plumber to replace our badly corroded pipe today so Mag and I rolled back the carpet and exposed to old pipe before I headed off to Levington Marina on the River Orwell. I arrived at 9.15 in bright sunshine at what must have been low water. It looked breezy enough for a big shortboard so rigged 8.5 and sailed straight out of the Marina entrance heading down the river towards Felixstowe docks. I caught a few nice gusts but it was a bit up and down. I made it all the way to the dock but struggled to plan. I then beat a little way up river to see if it was any windier there but not really. I had three small coasters two going to Ipswich which I had to give a wide berth! With the wind dropping light I headed ashore to pack up just as Tom Alexander was heading out! The wind then really picked up, gusting to 27 mph so I headed out again but it was short lived so I called it a day. The van was toasty as I had the diesel heater on. Tom had a very on/off session and soon called it a day as Chris Stephens arrived on his bike. After a chat I packed up and headed home after a gusty session but at least the weather was fantastic and the mud flats were full of birds. The plumber had completed the job and we had been lucky not to have a bad flood as the steel pipe was in very poor condition!

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