Wednesday 1st February - Windsurf ** River Orwell at Levington – sunny start then cloudy. 

Plus – windsurfing stats from 2022 :)

Fin – 27.31 knot max, 25.34 knot ave., 7.21 knot hour, 19.06 knot mile, 16.53 km., 12.54 knot alpha. 

F2 Zantos 295 with 36 fin and Tushingham Thunderbird 6.5m.

Was keen to get out today being the first of a new month and I haven’t been out since the 11th January due to a spell of cold weather but we have been out cycling and walking a lot:) Things were not ideal today with high water being at 8.15 with the tide going out all session and forecast to be breezy but the sun was out so I headed over arriving at 10.30 with Mag biking over with lunch at one. I had planned to foil after picking up my new fuselage from Colchester yesterday, with over 20 knots of wind blowing I was going to rig my 5.2 but I discovered I had lost a fin insert in my foil mast so had to fin instead. I took a chance with my 6.5 as my 6m is dead, I am looking for an old Tushingham 5.7 to replace it if anyone can help please get in touch? I think at this point the wind was WSW a bad direction here making it gusty and the river lumpy:( as it was wind with tide, I did a few short runs across the river landing most of the time as I ran out of wind on the far side! The wind increased and I landed below the marina entrance so went for a few runs down the river including one long run towards the docks but it was not much fun in the lumpy water. I came ashore at the far end of the marina and decided against trying to sail back in winds gusting to 30 knots so walked back. Mag arrived as I was putting my foil board in the trailer, not a great bike ride into a strong head wind most of the way! I then used her bike to go to the shower before returning to the van for lunch while watching a few waders fly in. Home then before a trip to Lidl for a big shop before ordering some Starboard fin inserts so I will have some spares:) I will have a day off tomorrow with a dodgy knee and we have the lovely new Granddaughter over:)

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Stats windsurfing 2022 :)

Last years trend continued with foiling being now taking over with 75 sessions compared to 29 on the fin! I will start with the highlight; I try for a fast hour at the start of each session and ended up top in the UK on the GPSspeedsurfing site on the elevated hour section having posted every month of the year. Not bad for a 69-year-old who has not broken 30 knots since 21str May 2021! Again, I was let down by my Slingshot foil which broke for the third time on 22nd May, while waiting for my new Starboard Freeride board and foil to arrive, I had 15 sessions on my much-loved Fanatic Cat, you forget how much fun longboard sailing can be fast too, regularly getting over 20 knots with my 8.5 lightning being my favourite sail with a top speed of 23.66 knots:) I had a lovely cruise over to Dovercourt and up the River Deben to Woodbridge as well as sessions on the Orwell and Stour.
 My new Starboard Freeride 150 with a Freeride foil arrived in July and I absolutely love it and my foiling has improved, not hugely faster but my gybing is coming along nicely now especially when it is nice and breezy with smaller sails making things a lot easier.
With the price of diesel going up I am content to stay fairly local these days having many hours of foiling fun especially at Levington my most used venue but I did head over to Point Clear a couple of times for the first time in ages and had some fun up the River Colne mainly! 

Venues sailed this year.

Levington Marina (River Orwell) - 49 times.
Bradfield (River Stour) 1 times.
Wrabness (River Stour) 9 times.
Felixstowe.
The Manor – 19 times.
The Dip – 25 times.
Point Clear – 2 times.

Equipment used this year.

Boards.

Fanatic Mega Cat – 15 times.
Exocet RF 91 foil – 27 times.
Starboard Freeride 150 foil – 47 times.
F2 Xantos 295 – 10 times.
F2 Ride 282 – 20 times.

Sails.

Tushingham Lightning 9.4m – 2 times.
Tushingham Lightning 8.5m – 18 times.
Tushingham Lightning 7.8m – 2 times.
Tushingham Thunderbird lll 6.5m – 50 times.
Tushingham Vulcan 6.0m – 14 times.
Tushingham Storm 5.2m – 10 times.
Tushingham X – 15 – 5.8m – 2 time.
Naish Nalu – 4.75m – 1 time.
Sailworks Retro 7.5m – 16 times.

Speed/Distance for 2020.

In my 101 sessions I sailed for 2740 miles with my best day at The Manor where I sailed for 57.50 miles. 

Fin.                                                                      Foil.

Max speed – 28.98 knots.                              22.16 knots.
Average – 26.39 knots                                     19.87 knots.
N/mile – 22.36 knots                                        17.91 knots.
1 hour – 17.85 knots.                                        14.47 knots.
Alpha – 18.20 knots.                                          16.83 knots.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy new year with loads of lovely mild weather, a good breeze and sunshine:)