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squiz
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Member#: 1800 Location: Birmingham Registered: 28-03-2006 Diary Entries: 2
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29th August 2020
Windsurfing: Bradfield Wind Direction: NW Wind Stength: 10/25 Surf / Sea State: river chop and smooth Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: Mainly cloudy Max Speed: 23.75 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 35 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)
Saturday 29th August - Windsurf ***** - River Stour at Bradfield – mainly
cloudy.
Foil – 18.97 knot max, 17.48 knot ave (year PB) ., 9.85 knot hour, 14.87
knot mile , 46.46 km., 11.50 knot alpha.
Exocet RF 91 AST with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning
6.5m.
Fin – 23.75 knot max, 20.25 knot ave ., 0.00 knot hour, 14.00 knot mile ,
7.41 km., 12.84 knot alpha.
F2 Zantos 295 with 38 fin and Tushingham Lightning 6.5m.
What an adventure we had today, Mag and I up at 6 o clock to head over to
the River Stour at Bradfield to make the most of the northerly wind and
9.40 high water. With the wind in this direction this is our only local
venue and arrived by the river at 7.10 with two others already there,
Michael and James. Michael was setting up his foil gear while James was
ready to set off with 6.5 on his fin, sadly it was not windy enough so
quickly returned home to get his new foil board! By this time several other
sailors had arrived which is pretty amazing considering the early hour,
good bunch too with some top banter:) If it had been really windy I would
probably have taken the fin board out but with around 15 mph and onshore I
set up my foil, taking a chance with 6.5 as the winds were forecast to
increase. Andy headed off towards Shotley with 6.6 and I thought I might be
a little under as I usually rig one size bigger than him. I didn’t even
have my breakfast leaving Mag in the van I quickly waded out as the tide
was now well in. I soon found there was plenty of wind as I set off after
Andy and sailed over 6 miles downriver, much further than I had foiled here
before. It was just great running down the swell in beautiful surroundings
with some big gusts coming through which keep you on your toes:) I was out
all by myself as I passed Wrabness, across Holbrook Bay to Parkstone dock
where there were several large ferries and a huge platform they use to
construct windfarms. It was fairly lumpy here with the tide coming in
against the wind and on approaching Shotley pier Andy was coming back
saying it was really lumpy and gusting 25 knots in the Orwell so we decided
to head back. Andy soon left me behind but I had the most amazing beat back
in some really big gusts which was such great fun, I put in a couple of
tacks to avoid the moored boats at Wrabness as was not sure how deep it was
and continued flying all the way back to our launching beach, there were
now several out now with the majority being foilers, the gusty winds made
it difficult for fin sailors! The wind went a little patchy for a while
when I was way under but then returned with a bang and I had several
full-on long runs into Holbrook bay. Then as the tide started to drop it
really picked up so the foilers headed back and some had some runs on their
fin boards. After saying a quick hello to Mag, I took my 133 lt. out for a
few runs and got my fastest speed of the day, nearly 24 knots but it was
hard work in the up and down winds so decided to call it a day. So back to
the van for a very late breakfast, then pack up in time for soup and a
sandwich as most sailors left for home! We leave for home making a small
detour to see if my Dad is OK after being let out of hospital yesterday
getting home around three and it looks like we will have to do it all again
tomorrow:)
Photo Gallery Here
MK booms Here
77 Sports (Exocet) Here
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