Friday 21st August - Windsurf *** - River Orwell at Levington Marina – sunny periods.

F2 282 Ride with Tushingham X-15 5.2m and 30 fin.

Fin – 29.85 knot max, 26.23 knot ave., 10.72 knot hour, 20.64 knot mile, 36.70 km., 9.30 knot alpha.

With Storm Ellen hitting our shores today it was probably going to be too windy for a decent sail unless you are a wavehead or speedsailer, I am certainly not a wavehead and the tide was too early at Southend for me as I have to visit my Dad in hospital in the after! So, I erred on the side of caution and headed over to the Marina at Levington an hour or so after low water to make the most of the flatter conditions, I find the less water in the Orwell the better the sailing. I dropped Mag off half way so she could have a blustery walk home and arrived at the Marina around 9.30 to find the huge crane blocking the windsurfing parking area:( I parked as near as I could and quickly set up as there was enough water to easily launch, I used my F2 282 Ride at a 115 lt which proved ideal as the wind was very up and down and the extra volume helped me through the lulls! My one concession to speedsailing was to rig my sail for big winds the Tushingham X-15, 5.2, I have done 40 knots with this sail but not today! SW here is a good direction for doing long, over two miles runs from Levington corner down past Pin Mill but with the wind onshore and several clumps of leafy trees on the far bank it makes for gusty winds but that’s something you get used to river sailing! I started off sailing over to the far beach and then had a good run up river where the water was smoother past the marina. I did that several times but the water conditions did deteriorate as the tide came in and the wind picked up, gusting to probably nearly 40 knots at times! It is great fun blasting along just a few metres from the shore past Levington Creek to Pin Mill just a shame the wind was not more consistent, one minute you were vastly over the next slogging but still much better for me than being battered in an open sea session, much safer here to as you are often in shallow water were you can rest at the end of end run! So not a bad session making the most of the strong winds covering 23 miles in the sunshine and only just missing out on getting 30 knots! There were some lovely rolling swells on the corner which you could actually have fun with if not super windy! Then with the wind increasing and it getting lumpy, sailing upwind to Pin Mill straight into short chop became less enjoyable so I decided to call it a day just as Phillip Winfield arrived! Foiler Jamie who works at the marina helped as I de-rigged and I headed to the 5-star showers to end an interesting session. I might come here again tomorrow as I don’t think I can face a 80 mile round trip to a crowded Point Clear??? Then home to pick up Mag and off to hospital where my Dad was in good form despite being stuck in a single room after my sisters partner tested positive for covid:( So that terrible germ is still out there so please take care everyone!

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