Friday 16th April - Windsurf **** - River Stour at Bradfield – sunny but a bit chilly.

Foil – 18.02 knot max, 17.34 knot ave., 12.33 knot hour, 15.78 knot mile, 59.30 km.,12.98 knot alpha.

Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lighting 8.5.

Mag and I had a wonderful day yesterday driving into Kent to meet up with our son Rob and Grandson Arlo for the first time since last November and missed what looked like the best day of wind this week. So even with the forecast looking marginal we had wall to wall sunshine and high water on the Stour just past three I decided to take a chance and hope that the wind would build like it did yesterday. Left home around midday and was second to arrive at the parking field at Bradfield with Neil Hurrell enjoying his lunch in the sun with the tide already fairly high. I haven’t seen Neil since last year, in fact he said he had not seen the sea for five months, the longest spell in his whole life! Had a quick catch, I took some pics of some geese after setting up my foil board. The wind did look fairly light but there were some gusts going through so we rigged big, 8.5 for me and 8m for Neil during which time two more foilers arrived, David and Rob while I saw local James who launched from Wrabness later! I was just first to wade out to find deep water and was quickly up and flying but ran out of wind in the middle of the river. I then had a frustrating spell in light and gusty winds where I really struggled to fly and getting upwind was next to impossible for me, Neil was fairing much better getting flying with his smaller sail. I do dislike light/marginal conditions which involve vigorous pumping as my old hands just don’t like it, I much prefer windier conditions! I did have a few flying runs but then had to wobble about waiting for a gust. Luckily the wind did fill in to probably 20 knots at times and I was soon speeding upwind, much more fun being powered up:) The best conditions were once again past Wrabness sailing over the huge bay towards the impressive Holbrook School in a lovely smooth swell and wall to wall sunshine too even if a tad chilly still on your hands, am looking forward to it warming up a few degrees! I did try for some mile runs but did not want to push it too hard as I wanted to stay out of the water which I did most of the time, I also tried lots of gybes, still a work in progress but getting closer just needs to be warmer! I landed in front of the school to take some pics before having some great broad runs back. I soon passed the launch beach but did not sail too far towards Mistley today as the tide had turned and I was getting knackered having sailed my longest distance today, over 35 miles it was time to call it a day. So, a good session on the lovely Stour in the sun only sharing it with 5 others. There might be a chance for another afternoon session tomorrow but again it is looking marginal so will make a decision tomorrow, there were times I wish I was on my F2 Xantos 310 as it was windy enough at times and Wrabness is probably a better launch spot with the wind in this direction but parking can be a problem there!

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