Thursday 4th June - Windsurf *** - River Stour at Bradfield – mainly cloudy.

Starboard Formula and Slingshot Hover Glide F/Wind with Tushingham Lightning 7.

Foil – 17.20 knot max, 16.49 knot ave ., 8.09 knot hour, 13.85 knot mile, 31.40 km., 10.71 knot alpha

                A good turn out of windsurfers at Bradfield on the lovely River Stour but the days and days of sunshine have been replaced with cooler cloudy weather and with the wind from the North this is the only local venue. Mag and I were first to arrive around 8.30 with the idea of having a relaxing breakfast in our van but loads of sailors soon turned up and the was loads of water so I quickly set up my foil, now the hard bit sail choice ??? My original sail was going to be 7.8 as with the wind onshore slightly from the left so having a touch of west in it and with loads of leaves on the trees on the far bank it was always going to be gusty. Then the wind suddenly picked up and there was white water everywhere so several sailors opted for smaller rigs and I made the mistake of going for 7m. I then spent a lot of the session frustratingly underpowered:( As a heavier sailor with a old heavy formula board I defiantly need to carry more sail but you cant get it right every time and still had some nice flights in the gusts:) So by the time I had rigged and got my wetsuit on the white water had disappeared but as soon as I reached deeper water I was soon up and flying. After a couple of tacks out into deeper water my plan was to head down river to Shotley and had a good run past Wrabness but ran out of wind and the wind looked patchy ahead so I tacked and headed back. I went in and while uphauling my uphaul came untied so I had to retie it, this sadly happened 2/3 times, luckily when I got home a new Easy – uphaul had been delivered from Ebay:) I then decided to beat up river and made it to Manningtree, turning when I again lost the wind just short of the Sailing Club. I a few nice broad runs back until the wind went really patchy so time to call it a day and I headed back to van Mag in the van for a very late breakfast! Had a nice chat up with some of the sailors before packing up and then having lunch, a nice salad:)

Walk **** - short Bradfield circuit.

With everyone now gone Mag and I decided to go for a walk and started off heading towards Wrabness with the cool wind behind us, you defiantly need a big fleece or coat today. There were a couple of horse riders having fun on the beach with one going in the river really deep! Instead of continuing to Wrabness we turned right across the footpath through the wheat field full of noisy Sky Larks, under to railway line and up int Bradfield village. Taking a small detour through the flowery Churchyard, then back down the lane back to our van for a well-deserved cuppa and rock cake. Then its 23 miles back home to Felixstowe and although there is a foiling wind forecast tomorrow I will save myself for the big winds coming on Saturday when a trip to Point Clear is on the cards with fingers crossed it is not as busy as the last time we went, still I can always disappear up the River Colne again:)

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