Thursday 20th June – windsurf *** River Orwell-Levington – sunny periods.

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

Foil – 17.41 knot max., 14.85 knot ave., 2.49 knot hour, 0.00 knot mile, 13.26 km., 9.83 knot alpha.

As you are probably aware I have been having some problems foiling, first I didn’t get on with the NP pink foil so when Andy Mexome got a Slingshot and was up and flying like a pro in a few sessions I sold the NP and bought a Slingshot with it’s large front wing for easy flying, after doing some research they sound really good with a wind range of 8 to 20 knots with a top speed of 25 knots and the chance to buy a smaller front wing for speed in the future if I get the hang of it and feel the need to go faster, so it sounded perfect. Then after trying the new foil with the 61cm mast which came with it (I am sorting a 90cm mast but there are none in the country at the moment) which is good for learning especially in the shallow water at Levington and Wrabness. Then to be honest the new foil didn’t seem to make any difference :( so then you start to blame my old Starboard Formula board! I even started looking into foil boards, I love the look of the Slingshot Wizzard 150 (2018) which you can get for the bargain price of £1200!!! Burt considering my foil is the most expensive single item of windsurfing equipment I have ever bought so I don’t the little pension can run to that at the moment especially as the board doesn’t even come with foot straps or a board bag! Then after a phone call to Jamie Dodds at Wet n dry where the Slingshots come from trying to sort out the longer masts and I explained my problems about getting the board to fly and he said I had my mast in the wrong setting!!! The Slingshot fuselage comes with a several setting for various sports, wakeboarding, SUP, surfing Kiting etc and I had used setting ‘A’ which is right at the front, actually in the front wing. Jamie suggested I use ‘B’ one place back and is apparently the windsurfing setting, who knew???? So, with marginal w to wnw winds this morning I was keen to try out the new mast position as I headed over to Levington marina. This is my last chance to get out on the water as we are off to Surrey to see the lovely Grandson for a week tomorrow but what a month June has been with 12 session now covering 462 km:) Top foiler Michael Galbraith was already there rigging his 7.5 but the slightly off wind did look particularly patchy but the sun was out and there was loads of water in the river so I rigged big as Monday and headed out the marina entrance. Well the difference was amazing as the board just felt that it wanted to fly with the front wing now a few inches further forward and I was flying straight away! Sadly, the wind was very up and down with only the odd gust which made it a bit frustrating as I was itching to get the board into the air. It is still challenging to sustain flight but at least the board wants to fly now and the old Starboard seems to work OK. I was trying back foot in the strap, out of the strap, in the harness out of the harness, with more decent gusts I might have progressed even more. My biggest problem now is luffing up which is too much back foot pressure, I know the problem I just have to get it into my head to move weight forward but keep the board flying also the longer mast will help as the short one does keep coming out of the water especially as it was pretty choppy out there today! So defiantly a step in the right direction and can’t wait to get out again in some steadier 12 knot winds!

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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