Stephen Squirrell (34966km):
2258 days ago Sunday 16th September – windsurf **** The Manor - Felixstowe – sunny period and warm.
F2 Ride 282 with Tushingham Lightning 7.0 and 36 cm fin.
F2 Xantos 295 and 38 cm fin.
26.009 knot max., 22.96 knot ave., 16.19 knot hour, 21.62 knot mile, 117 km.,( Year PB and best ever at Felixstowe) 17.10 knot alpha.
For once the forecast wind actually made it too Felixstowe well nearly, to be honest I was a fraction under most of the session and should have rigged the 7.8. I was the first at The Manor carpark and the nerve of it there was a big white campervan in my parking place! I took my gauge to the sea wall and it was gusting to 20 mph and with the tide low the sea was pretty flat so took the 282 down to the beach. Then the camper left so I moved up and then took a chance with my 7m Lightning so was using my favourite set-up:) I was on the water by 9.30 and had been out to Wadgate Post (1.5 miles out) 5 times before I was joined on the water and then several turned up with most having a good sail. My plan was to do Wadgate at least eight times giving me an hour, it was OK and it was definitely the best sea as it chops up the higher it gets! I wasn’t flat out planing and the wind eased further out too but I had some nice runs but sadly nothing fast as underpowered to go broad most of the time. With 26 n/miles under my belt I came ashore for a quick bite to eat and then decided to go for a run up the coast so took out the slightly bigger 295. After a couple runs out to Wadgate it seemed windy enough to go for a cruise so sailed broad towards the pier doing 2 mile runs. I was heading for The Dip where one kiter was out but ran out of wind at The Fludgers so turned by the bouy and sadly floundered back, lucky for me the tide was helping me back. I didn’t get planing until I was nearly back! Finishing my sandwich and with 40 n/miles done I switched back to the 115 and went for another hour to try and break the 100km. barrier! Going fast now was much harder now as the sea got bigger but I was getting some OK gybes but there were still several patches of non-planing. So although most said it was a 5 star session, I will go with 4 stars as needed a fraction more wind, in the end I was on the water 4hours 45 minutes covering a sessions best 117 Km my best ever at Felixstowe:) just imagine how far you could go with a fraction more wind. I used my lovely new MK carbon boom for the first time and was impressed with the solid feel:) Its looking windy most of the week but the tides are not right for anywhere other than Felixstowe or Southend, so perhaps it might be worth a trip to Southend for some flatwater blasting????
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http://mkwindsurfing.co.uk/booms/]MK Booms here
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