Saturday 23rd March – windsurf *** Wrabness – cloudy start then sunny:)

Starboard 155 with Neil Pryde RS: Flight AL 85 with Tushingham Lightning 7.8.

18.38 knot max, 16.92 knot ave ., 8.41 knot hour, 13.58  knot mile, 18.90 km., 8.38 knot alpha.

After finally saucing long imperial bolts for my Neil Pryde RS: Flight AL 85 and fitting a safety leash yesterday it was time to actually take it all to the water today. It has been a long time coming with a lot of hard thinking about whether I wanted to foil and, in the end, managed to get a board and foil for £550, probably not as good as top of the range foil boards and carbon foils but hopefully plenty good enough to get me started. It is never easy learning something new especially at 65 and you can bet that it will not be as easy as it looks! Maggie is concerned that I will hurt myself so I was pleased she came along to Wrabness on the River Stour to keep an eye on me, she is a star and we had a really good day:) The forecast looked perfect for my first foiling outing, NE wind 12/15 with a high tide 1.41 and we arrived at Wrabness at 10.30 with plenty of water but only 7/8 mph of breeze but I started to set-up.It was then things went wrong, I realized I had left my black extension somewhere and I couldn’t find three of my foil bolts!!! I managed to find the foil bolts so panic over, it is quick and easy to assemble and fit the foil to the board and it was soon on the beach. Next problem was rig choice, after some advice from WhatsApp I rigged my 7.8, bigger than I wanted to rig for my first outing but the wind was very light. On the water at 11.30, you didn’t have to walk too far out to get deep water and the bottom is solid so problem. The only trouble was the NE was far to light and I struggled to get 3/4  knots of board speed nowhere near enough, not even enough for my 9.4 on my longboard. I had a few runs to get the feel of the new board bearing in mind I am no lover of really wide boards but it is nice to have a big stable platform under you! With no sign of any improvement in the wind strength I decided to join Maggie on the seawall steps for lunch as the wind all but disappeared but on the plus side the clouds started to clear and the sun came out. After lunch with the tide now very high, the wind looked to be filling in so with Mag returning to the van for a cuppa I headed out again. After a few more floundering runs the wind swung to the East and picked up and I was soon up to 12/14 knots across the water which was more than enough to get up on the foil but it steadfastly refused to lift??? I tied pumping, bearing off but nothing seemed to work, then I did get the board out but it pops up very quickly and heads into wind making it difficult to stay on the board. I was moving nicely over the water with very little board in the water but not flying but so close and when it did lift it is pretty cool when everything goes quiet:) The river here is over mile wide making it a perfect foiling venue but I have definitely got something set wrong??? There is a spacing washer for the rear foil which I didn’t use today thinking it would be best to start with a neutral setting. So, I will need some advice as to my next steps, I have Facebook friend with exactly the same set-up as me so will ask him. It was still good fun and although I didn’t do much flying to was an OK start even if a bit on the chilly side and I think I will need more wind and bigger sails than I first though. Returning to Mag on the beach who was chatting to some walkers who know Ray Tatum it was time to pack up with the tide disappearing fast. Tomorrow is looking light but Monday might be worth another trip to Wrabness when the wind will be in the north sadly a bit cooler than toad and the tide later too, will have to see?

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