Saturday 6th April  – Windsurf *** River Orwell at Levington  –   Mainly cloudy with some rain.

Foil – 18.86 knot max ,17.67 knot ave, 10.50  knot hour, 15.29 knot mile, 31.00 km., 15.26 knot alpha.

Starboard Freeride 150 and a Evolution Freeride foil with a Tushingham Bolt 5.5.

With Storm Kathern supposed to bring strong winds this afternoon and very mild, maybe 20 degrees I decided to head over to Levington for a foil on the Orwell to try out my replacement Starboard Freeride foil, a big thank you to neil H for sorting me out, also I donn’t think my dodgy left elbow is up to a bumpy open sea fin session! I headed down to the small wood at the end of our road first to take some weather pics, sadly none were chosen for the TV, Mag then continued onto Lidl. I arrived at the marina around 10 just as David C was heading out onn his race foil gear with 8m. The tide was nice and high with a good breeze from the SSW/SW so with the foil board set up and winds gusting to 20 knnots I took a chance with my 5.5 even though it has become a real pain to rig as the mast get caught near the top and I have to play about with a sail battern to get it too the top! By the time I had my wetsuit on the wind had eased, David was flying well with big kit but to start with I struggled and it took my several runs for the wind to build enough to get going and then I didn’t need anymore sail than 5.5 especially as the river chopped up as I beat down towards the docks getting some OK gybes, nothing fast just pleasant sailing. As it was lumpy I decided to try the flatter water towards PIN Mill but the wind was very patchy so decided to call it a day. My sail was not set great so I tightened the battern tension and was sorting out the harness lines when I nnoticed the rope had broken and I was sailing on the webbing so put on a new set. Then pack up shower and home to find Mag having a major spring clean and with a glimpse of sun through the clouds I decided to do my exercises in the back garden while the cats charged around!

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