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 Friday 28th June – windsurf *** The Dip - Felixstowe – sunny periods.

F2 Zantos 310 with Tushingham Lightning 8.5 and 44 fin.

Fin – 23.61 knot max., 21.93 knot ave., 11.27 knot hour, 20.35 knot mile, 64.30 km., 12.47 knot alpha.

After a top 6 nights away in our little VW campervan and missing a good windsurfing session at The Dip yesterday when 6.5 and 115 lt boards were the order of the day, I was looking forward to a similar windsurf today. To be far the forecast was slightly less today and the small windsurfing carpark was soon full and there were at least half a dozen trailers near the slipway but the wind looked very light and after a chat we set about rigging sails in excess of 8m with me going for my 8.5 and big Zantos 310 which although a nice board to sail in a straight line it is a pig to gybe especially in the sea, it might be time to bite the bullet and upgrade it to a newer wide style 135 lt. lightwind board that is foil ready so I can get rid of my Starboard Formula and 310, poor old pension is set for another hammering! The wall to wall sunshine had not arrived as I was the first to leave the beach in what turned out to be fairly marginal winds. The ENE winds had chopped up the sea especially out past the red and white bouy and as I find this board difficult to turn I was doing my usual long runs out to sea, over two miles:) We wind against tide and dropping too I decided to beat up to the River Deben to see if there was any flat water. There was a small section by the red entrance bouy but sadly the wind was even lighter closer in so I continued on into Bawdsey bay where the sea state was better. After a couple of OK runs, I headed into the River Deben near Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club where I had to walk over a shallow shingle bank! I then sailed out of the River in mirror flat water but sadly very little wind, shame this section of river doesn’t work for windsurfing anymore as I have had some good sessions here in the past but at least the sun had come out now:) After a few runs into the flatwater of the river entrance and a broad but bumpy mile run I headed back for a quick snack after covering 25n/miles and being out on the water for 2.50 hours:) I then decided to head out again for another hour which was a big mistake as the wind had gone particularly patchy now not helped by the tide turning so I called it a day. Shame the last hour really took the shine off an OK session. Still been my best month of the year so far with 13 sessions now covering 527Km. and some marginal winds forecast for the next three days but the tides are not favourable for a lot of venues:(

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