Friday  26th January  – Windsurf *****  River Orwell at Levington Marina  –  sunny and mild.
 
Foil – 20.88 knot max, 18.99 knot ave, 12.35 knot hour, 15.85 knot mile, 40.51 km., 15.80 knot alpha. 

Starboard Freeride 150 and a Naish Nalu 4.75.

I was keen to get out again today as wall to wall sunshine was forecast with a good breeze but we were woken in the night by winds gusting over 40 knots and heavy rain, I was hoping things calmed down! It had eased a little, now gusting to around 30 knots from the wnw bit the sun had arrived and it was 8 degrees so I headed over to Levington after breakfast with Mag taking the bus to Trimley churches and then walking down to the marina with lunch:) My first sight of the Orwell as I turned into the marina road did not look too promising with a mass of white water rolling down the river!  I stopped to take a pic of a swan sheltering from the strong wind and then was able to park once again near the marina entrance close to the small launch beach. It looked pretty wild out in the middle of the Orwell with a big swell running, it was difficult to judge the true wind strength as this direction is a tad off but I got a 34 mph gust so was in no hurry to set up especially as the wind was against the tide making it rougher! After half an hour of waiting I decided to man-up and give it a go, foil board was quickly set-up and I went for my 4.75 again although I could have easily sailed with my 4.25 but I like the longer boom on the slightly bigger sail and to be fair the 4.75 was OK even in the 30 knot gusts! I launched around 11.30 and enjoyed a pretty full-on session lasting two hours and sailing 25 miles. I stayed in front of the launch beach for several runs getting the feel of the wind and the big river state but I was going OK, nothing fast as too rough but was getting some nice gybes in with the small sail being great to turn in the slightly smoother water each side of the river, just me and loads of birds, mainly geese and dunlins, I did around 50 gybes in the end with some top alpha’s only going in on one turn when I fell off the back and had to frantically swimm after my board which lucky for me I caught up! I then enjoyed some nice runs to towards the docks where I was joined by a racing yacht which even put a sail up! It was supposed to be a tad cooler today but I think it made it to 10 degrees in the end so it was fine especially with the sun out and not a cloud in the sky! Getting knackered now I slowly started to beat back not helped by the wind going a little patchy. I did a few runs in front of the van as I noticed Mag had arrived and was taking a few pics, then it was time to end another top session on the very breezy Orwell. Quick chat with Mag before heading to the shower and back to the van for lunch, Mag had already had hers as she was hungry after walking 4 miles to get here! We love our little van as we enjoyed the lovely scenery before packing up and heading for home, what a top day and so pleased Mag came to join me, she is a star:) 

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