Owner:
squiz
Member
Member#: 1869 Location: Registered: 01-05-2006 Diary Entries: 1
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3rd June 2022
Windsurfing: The Dip-Felixstowe Wind Direction: NE Wind Stength: 15/20 Surf / Sea State: Big Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny and warm Max Speed: 21.69 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 24.25 mile (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)
Friday 3rd June - Windsurf ***** - The Dip at Felixstowe – sunny and warm
with some top clouds.
Longboard Fin – 21.69 knot max, 19.30 knot ave., 10.98 knot hour, 17.40
knot mile, 38.92 km., 8.21 knot alpha.
Fanatic Cat with Tushingham Lightning 8.5m and 39 fin.
Might have been tempted by a session on the River Stour but my new foil has
not arrived so was able to stay local as NE works really well at The Dip in
Felixstowe, the only negative being the 2.35 high tide as there is very
little beach to launch and land. With wall-to-wall sunshine, warm too and
light winds first thing I was able to do my exercises in the back garden. I
then checked the conditions, the breeze had started to fill in and there
were some windsurfing trailers at The Dip, I love the cliff top webcam:) So
I quickly hitched the trailer dropping Mag off at Jacobs Ladder for her
second walk of the day, she had already had an early morning prom walk! I
arrived at the beach around 11.30 with Mark S, Paul S and Chris P already
there! There was a good breeze and Paul and Mark had rigged 7.3 to foil
while Chris was rigging 7.5 to fin, it looked ideal for some more longboard
cruising so quickly put the old battered Fanatic Cat on the beach and
rigged my favourite sail for longboarding the Tushingham Lightning 8.5.
Paul was first away and we were concerned he might be overpowered but he
returned with a thumbs up and then headed over to Bawdsey beach. I was away
next and beat out to the red and white bouy and up to kite beach to check
the conditions. I was a fraction under at this point but thought I had
enough to head off broad downwind and was able to get up and planning by
running down the waves. First run was 2.50 miles downwind, quickly followed
by 4 more long runs in absolute ideal conditions, with the track at the
back, the dagger board up and both feet in the straps in warm sunshine,
just brilliant, I do love longboard sailing and will have to take it out
for a spin more often! I ended up crossing the shipping channel in front of
Felixstowe docks, no problems with no ships entering or leaving port. The
large dredger THSD Rotterdam which has been working on the deep-water
channel for a while now was slowly working its way towards me. I realised I
was not going to get in front of it so had to bear off downwind of it into
the lumpy water of the Orwell river mouth! I now needed the track forward
to start the beat but it is very stiff to move now so when I went in
tacking it was a good opportunity to move the track and take a few pics as
I was well clear of the dredger. The wind had now definitely picked up a
notch, a good 20 knots and with it the sea quickly became very rough
meaning you were sailing straight into some steep waves, I cleared the
marker post at the end of Landguard and landed on the beach for a snack.
Now all I had to do was beat back in somewhat challenging conditions, I
definitely didn’t need any more sail but by sailing slowly and stuffing
it high into the wind I got back in 7 tacks by doing fairly long runs. Such
fun with both feet in the beating straps with about three quarter plate,
tacking was a challenge in the strong wind and big sea going in a few times
but was able to water start away most of the time! It is always nice to
know that the Coastwatch are keeping an eye on me from The Manor Martello
tower and I always carry spares and my radio in case something goes wrong.
I got back around high tide with very little beach but landed in the corner
by a groyne with no problem:) I had been out probably 2 and a half hour and
again broke 21 knots which is nice on an old heavy raceboard. There were
three sailors finning now Paul on 6.5, Mark Swain overpowered on 7.3 and
Mark Davis having fun on his slalom board and 5.5. Had a nice chat before
heading for home, Mag had had a good day having a nice chat with the new
neighbours.
Tomorrow is looking maybe even windier so might go down early to mack the
most of low water and hope the rain has cleared away!
Photo Album here
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