Owner:
squiz
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Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3070
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14th October 2020
Windsurfing: Bradfield Wind Direction: NE Wind Stength: 5/15 Surf / Sea State: smooth Air Temperature: 13 Sea Temperature: Weather: Mainly cloudy Max Speed: 16.81 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 22.75 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)
Wednesday 14th October - Windsurf *** - River Stour at Bradfield – mainly
cloudy.
Foil – 16.81 knot max, 15.83 knot ave ., 8.56 knot hour, 12.88 knot mile,
36.56 km ., 11.46 knot alpha.
Exocet RF 91 AST with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning
8.5m.
A few foilers hoped to go to the River Stour at Bradfield but because of
the fairly early high water, 10.37 at Mistley we checked Landguard weather
station first and with that showing 20 knots from the East it was a green
light:) As I was already awake at 6.30 I decided to get up, have breakfast
and head off early to see if there was a nice sunrise. I had to put my
sails back into my trailer first as they had been drying in the garage but
that’s when things went a little astray! I didn’t think anything was
wrong until fellow Felixstowe foiler Ian Clarke turned up with my 6m sail,
Mag had noticed it standing by a neighbour’s wall and messaged Ian who
came round to pick it up and bring it to Essex for me. I driven off with it
on the top of my trailer, I shouldn’t be allowed out by myself and I
hadn’t even missed it! There was no sunrise at Felixstowe so carried on,
I was a little nervous of parking in the field at Bradfield after loads of
rain and planned to reserve down the lane if bad! After opening the gate to
our car park, I checked the field and it was OK to park:) but sadly the
wind was very light, still the sun was coming out and I got some nice pics
of a lovely sky. There was loads of water but I was in no hurry to set up
as hoping the wind would fill in. Then Andy, Michael, Ian and Robert
arrived and after a quick catch up we decided to rig although at the time
it did not look very promising:( I rigged my 8.5, the biggest sail I have
used for foiling with the others going from 7 to 7.8. We set off the beach
into very light winds and slowly beat out into the middle of the river, it
looked breezy on the water but not enough to pump up into the air:( It is
often windier down towards Wrabness so I headed down there, slowly and then
after at least half an hour of slogging with my hands and feet a tad
chilly, winter feels just around the corner now and it is the last outing
for my summer shoes! Then our luck changed as we started to get a few gusts
where you could pump up and fly:) The best wind seemed to be from Wrabness
to Sutton Point and you could get some nice long runs diagonally across the
river. It was a good chance for more gybe practice although that is
definitely a work in progress not really helped by the bigger sail but I
need to persevere, shame I didn’t crack it when it was warmer but never
mind. The wind was very up and down, even overpowered for short periods but
I am managing to fly for longer when the wind goes light and even better
when the sun came out. With the wind going lighter and the tide turned it
was time to head back and had a couple of nice runs back. I then hit the
bottom so headed back to the beach and had a bit of a walk back, this venue
definitely has its limitations time was especially when foiling, probably
three hours max! and when the tide turns you really have to keep an eye on
things as it drops quickly. Still in the end after a dodgy start we had an
OK hour flying most of the time and perhaps the same again tomorrow before
the wind disappears!
Photo Gallery Here
MK booms Here
77 Sports (Exocet) Here
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