Friday 18th December - Windsurf ***** - River Orwell at Levington Marina – cloudy and mild.

Fin – 27.33 knot max, 25.45 knot ave ., 16.10 knot hour (spot PB) , 23.27 knot mile , 79.46 km .,17.69  knot alpha.

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

The River Orwell at Levington my go to winter venue just keeps giving with my third 5 Star session in December:) I was hoping it was going to be windy enough to get out on the fin today as I don’t seem to use it much these days and with high water at 14.07 which means it was a little late for foiling and you can fin with the wind in the SSW much earlier. I woke with my back playing up which did not bode well for a windy windsurfing session but I took some pain killers and did my back exercises before struggling into my wetsuit, never easy early in the morning, getting old has few advantages! With foiler Michael G arriving at midday I went much earlier and after dropping Mag off at the end of the prom for a blustery walk home I arrived at the marina at 10.20 with the water still very low. This gave me time to sort out some kit, I took both my 133 and 115lt boards with 7 and 6m sails. With winds gusting to 25 knots I rigged the 7 for the bigger board which is better at sailing through the lulls you get from river sailing! I wanted to get some faster speeds to post on the gps site especially hour, km and alpha. With the wind SSW when I launched this meant I had to wade out along edge of the marina entrance channel 150m to find deeper water. The wind didn’t seem overly windy as I was heading out but I need not have worried because after a floundering run up river I gybed and soon found the wind down on the corner. The session then turned into a gybe feast doing half mile runs across the corner gradually beating down river and turning in the smoother water both sides, nothing overly fast just none stop action:) It was not windy enough for mega fast speeds with the water state a bit lumpy getting 26 knot max at this point but was pleased to get a 16.10 knot hour, a spot PB and not bad for a gusty river venue! I had the river all to myself apart from hundreds of Dunlins for the best part of two hours, the only downside being it was glummy, some sun would have been nice but I did not get cold and in the end was out for three hours! I was then joined by Michael G out with 5m on his foil but the wind was going patchy and I had covered over 30 miles and was thinking of calling it a day. I did some broad reaches back towards the marina as the wind swung SW and I managed a few full-on planing runs towards Pin Mill getting a 23.27 mile which I was very pleased with:) With nearly 50 miles covered and the wind easing I decided to call it a day. Only two of us out one fin, one foil we both had another top session with perhaps some more tomorrow? Pack up, another 5 star shower before heading home for some more kitten action:)

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