Monday 13th – Windsurf **** - River Orwell, Levington – cloudy start then sunny :).

F2 Zantos 295 with 36 fin and Tushingham Lightning 7m.

Fin – 28.63 knot max., 26.27 knot ave., 12.46 knot hour, 23.52 knot mile, 57.70 km., 18.21 knot Alpha.

What a month January has been, another top session last Saturday 48 miles at Point Clear with more wind for Sunday but we had invited old friends the Cutts over for lunch so missed another full-on session at Levington. So, I was keen to make the most of the approaching Storm Brendon before heading off to Surrey to see the lovely Grandson Arlo:) The forecast today was wall to wall sunshine to start with, then turn cloudy and wet as the storm moved in with talk of closing the Orwell Bridge. With high water around 12.30 I was in no hurry to get to Levington the venue I probably the most this last year. So, after my exercises and breakfast I headed over to the marina at 10.40 with no particular plan, my first thought was to foil as SW is a good direction for that but only if the wind is not silly strong when I think a fin is better. With the onshore winds gusting to 24 mph and expecting to increase and with the water levels still a little low for foiling I quickly decided to set up my Zantos 293 (133 lt.) and my 6.5. Again, I had a bit of a hike to find someone to zip me up as I was here by myself but I was soon heading out onto the River Orwell. The wind was a little patchy towards Pin Mill so I turned and had loads of runs across the bay where the wind was at its strongest. It again turned into another gybe feast and I was only a fraction slower that the flat water of Point Clear:) No great speeds as a fraction under when sailing broad and the water was lumpy to but good fun none the less. Then with the wind picking up a little I started doing some two mile runs downs towards Pin Mill but there were some big holes. I then spotted another windsurf sail and had been joined by Michael Galbraith out on his foil:) With the wind increasing even more I managed to plan for the whole two miles to Pin Mill and was very pleased to get a 23.52 knot mile which is not bad for a gusty river:) I was then getting some nice 28 knot peaks so had several more runs across the bay to get past 30 nautical miles before calling it a day. So, another top session covering 35 miles with an OK average and mile being on the water 2 and a half hours. It was cooler today only getting to 8 degrees but with hat and gloves I was OK!

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