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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3091 |
9th January 2020 Windsurfing: Levington Wind Direction: SW Wind Stength: 15/30 Surf / Sea State: river chop Air Temperature: 13 Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: 19.34 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 13.86 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Thursday 9th – Windsurf **** - River Orwell, Levington – sunny. Starboard Formula and Slingshot Hover Glide F/Wind with Tushingham Lightning 6.5 Foil – 19.34 knot max., 17.04 knot ave., 8.79 knot hour, 14.05 knot mile, 25.70 km., 7.34 knot Alpha. Agreed to meet Michael Galbraith at Levington at 9 this morning to make to most of the 10.30 high with the hope of some foiling but with talk of closing the Orwell Bridge this morning due to high winds it looked like it was going to be a fin day? On arriving there was already plenty of water a bit of a novelty for me as I have sailed here a lot around low water, also this was my first session of the year with company which made getting my wet suit done up easy:) The Orwell was lovely and flat with the wind only gusting to around 20 mph so it was looking perfect for some foiling especially with the wind due to drop. So, we set up our foul boards giving the wind a little longer to settle as it was still early, in the end seasoned foiler Michael rigged 5.5 while I went for 6.5, the smallest sail I have ever used for foiling. Once wet suited up the wind had picked up so Michael switched to his fin board but I decided to give the foil a try, they say do something that scares you everyday and I certainly did that today:) After getting clear of the shallow water close in headed towards the bay and soon hit winds gusting over 25 knots and was soon up and flying my favourite direction, broad! It had chopped up as usual on the corner so I tacked and headed up river where the water conditions are much smoother but the gusts were just as big. I took it easy going upwind and did a lot of sailing with the board very close to the water still with only the front foot in the strap! After one run, I nearly came in to swap for a fin board but decided to persevere with the foil and had an interesting but challenging session especially with the wind strength increasing to over 30 knots. By now I had at least a metre too much sail but you don’t have to sheet it in especially going broad, today's problems where that it is difficult to sail a constant height in strong gusty winds and trying to sail fast was a none starter because if something goes wrong you end up very quickly in the drink, in fact I had a couple of spectator wipe-outs with the board coming completely out of the water! Luckily no damage was done and you didn’t get cold as the temperature was 13 degrees:) I had a couple of particularly nice runs across the large bay in front of Pin Mill but was a little nervous of the depth because it is shallow up there, luckily I didn’t hit bottom once:) I cant wait to do some long distance foiling with the Orwell Bridge one of my first goals perhaps with a little less wind! It would have been interesting to see how I would have got on with a 5.5? I had one nice beat where I managed to get in both straps and actually flying. I had covered 15 miles and was absolutely knackered and with the wind showing no signs of abating I decided to call it a day and had a slow run back as the tide was now dropping. Michael had had a top hour on the fin so win win all round having survived 30 knots, the most wind I have ever been out on foil kit! So tomorrow is looking sunny with light winds but Saturday is looking for a session across the border at Point Clear with perhaps a foiling back at Levington on Sunday, if I can get my wet suit dry! Photo Gallery Here |
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