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Tuesday 17th July – windsurf **** Tanners Lane, The Solent – sunny period and warm.

F2 Ride 282 with Tushingham Lightning 6.5 m.

26.48 knot max., 25.37 knot ave., 16.05 knot hour, 21.98 knot mile, 61.30 km., 16.53 knot alpha.

So, after our epic three-hour, seven mile walk this morning and with a foiling kiter packing up when we got back to the van and the Solent covered in white water I was wondering if my 6.5, the smallest sail I have with me on this trip was going to be too big! After another top tuna salad prepared by Mag I checked the wind gauge which was a steady 20 mph gusting 26 so I decided to rig and see how I got on. I was on the water at 1.45 and things look deceptively calm with an easy launch into flat water but you soon hit the wind band and I soon hit 25 knots, so faster than yesterday already! To start it was wind with tide and stronger than yesterday so I didn’t stray far today just stayed mainly in front of the van. I was going for an hour but my harness line broke after 45 minutes so I wasted time changing that but then continued another 45 minutes. Again, going fast is a nightmare here with the sea being so choppy but it was good fun non the less. I came in for a cuppa and biscuit, helped some prat who got his BMW stuck in the shingle beach, Mag fished our traction matts out and he managed to get free, he was lucky! A couple of locals came down but didn’t stay long, then the man I spoke to yesterday arrived and I helped him rig his 5.5. He was a bit nervous about going out and in the end didn’t bother but I decided to give it another go and had the top hour in what probably were the worst sea conditions. I have really cracked my gybing here and only went in once and after an hour of being buffeted about decided to call it a day. On walking up the beach two young ladies who had been watching said I was amazing!!!! Nobodies said that to me before, must be improving after 35 years of trying! As I got out of my wetsuit and over the next hour half a dozen windsurfers turned up, rigging 5.5 sails on wave boards and probably had the best of the conditions, as the tide dropped the sea flattened off still can’t win them all! Still considering it has supposed to have been a bit of a no wind month I have so far managed 6 sessions covering 332 km, the second-best month of the year so far with today being my fastest day too:) Had Lidl paella while watching the windsurfers but now at 9 o clock we have it all to ourselves. I think that’s it for wind for at least a week so not sure what to do next, perhaps a canal cycle and head for home ????

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