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Another top day here in Felixstowe and my 4^th day in a row out on the water :) The plan today was for several of us to be at The Dip at 9ish and sail off for a short distance with around the UK windsurfer Jono Dunnett. Our aim was to get to  Dovercourt where Jono was stopping to meet up with his brother. Sadly we woke to low cloud and rain with the S wind anything from 10 to 20 kts !!!

 I was rigging the longboard by 9:30 in the rain with, Mark Smalling, Mark and Nick Swain, Andy Marshall and Ian Clarke, we were then joined by Jono who carried his kit from Swainy’s house where he stayed the night. The tide was high and the sea was looking very bumpy with a bit of a dump so we had to talk Mark Smalling into rigging, then at 10 we all got off the beach with no mishaps and started off on the 7 mile beat down the coast in a big sea with 13 kts of wind making the beat just right, railed up on the plate – classic longboard sailing :) With Swainy and Ian on shorter boards they couldn’t make it too far, Swainy’s son Nick did well to make it to near The fludgers, while I think Andy made it to about the pier well underpowdered :( leaving just Jono, Mark Smalling and me all trying to stay close together. Jono would suddenly stop to take pics as we sailed past! Mark was nervous of sailing across the shipping channel so was going to turn at Landguard beach, he went close inshore to tack and a big wave took him out and he broke several batterns in his sail but made it back to The Dip safely :) That just left Jono and me, the channel was it’s usual bumpy self but there were no large ships coming so we were able to cross OK. Half way across the channel Jono stops to get the camera out to take a shot of me – I think he was just showing off - LOL!!! It was then a mile reach to a lovely beach hut owned by Jono’s family near the long break water at Dovercourt where we were met by Jono’s brother and a friend up from Bournemouth who were going to sail to Clacton Pier with him and finish of this epic adventure! After a cuppa and a top bacon roll I headed back, again no ships in the channel so I made it safely to Felixstowe seafront just as the sun broke through, it was stunning and I had a great reach back ending up 2 miles off The Dip as the wind filled in a little and I was able to pull the track back and go for it making nearly 22 kts :) I had a few runs trying for a 20 average but just failed in the large sea slightly underpowered. I then had to pack up and head home as we had to load the van ready for our next 5week trip to France! Simom Scammell had brought my new 5.8 he had repaired so I was all set for La Franqui. Hectic afternoon, home, shower, load windsurfers, bikes, cases etc etc into the van, the top box was its usual pain to close but we were sorted by 4:30 and three hours later we were in the forest in Surrey to spend the night with our son Rob and his girlfriend Hannah.  We had a lovely shepherd’s pie and saw some pics of their last adventure to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands where they saw the most amazing wildlife!!!

PS – saw on Facebook that Jono made it safely to the finish line at Clacton pier:) well done on your epic journey – life might be a bit dull now! Looking forward to seeing a book of the adventure:)

http://www.windsurfroundbritain.co.uk/windsurfing-around-britain

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first outing on the 9.5..silly session and should of been on 7.5 as i was beyond stacked on the 9.5 and wasnt quick, most on 5.8-7, wanted to thrash it so i could get the settings dialled, quite suprised along with others that i could hold it in those winds (debateable at times), when finally decided to go 7.5 best wind had passed but hey warm and fun!

mistral 137 / koncept 9.5 '12 / aquaris pwa4 46