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| Owner:
mas Member Member#: 564 Location: Barry, In the Vale... Registered: 26-02-2004 Diary Entries: 6 Mood: Chuffed! |
15th October 2018 Windsurfing: Felixstowe Manor Wind Direction: SSW Wind Stength: 11-17kts Surf / Sea State: Lumpy swell Air Temperature: warm Sea Temperature: warm Weather: sunny cloudy Max Speed: 22.10 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 14.3 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Had a 10 star session on Saturday at the Manor with a solid 2 hrs non stop except for a botched gybe at the amusement beach area. Still stiff on Monday! The sea was big and lumpy, so ankles took a bashing, whilst the North Shoxs were working overtime to smooth the ride. 7.8 would have been a better choice of sail – or using my 135 Bolt instead to slice the swell better, as its quite short. Luckily the direction was great, so you could sail between the swell very broad on starboard tack towards the fludge and still make it back to the Manor as the 4kt tide was taking you back to the start point The day started off badly when I arrive at the Dip around 9.30 and the carpark was full, sailors there from 7.30! The kiters were out catching the low tide very early and some windsurfers were crawling on 5-7m sails. The wind had gone and the forecast badly wrong. All packed up and I was gutted as some had 20 minutes nice sailing. Decided to check out all the venues in Felixstowe (Fluyders and Manor end) and intended to head to Bradfield for some river sailing if that was no good. One guy was out at the Manor and just planing. Took readings as the wind freshened to 15-17kts. Put the word out on whats App, but wouldn't sail on my own so waited until 3 more sailors turned up. Rigged 8.5 Goya Mk pro a nice rotational sail that I know can take 20kts and switch from 135 Bolt to 145 Patrik freeride due to wind shadow on beach. All sailors out seem to be planing, so left the beach at great speed, fully powered up and headed for the best reach of the year for me, all the way to the fludges easily a mile away. You could ride up and down the swell or go over the not ones big ones. I was over powered and luckily have an outhaul adjuster on one side and luckily it was the correct starboard side. Had to cranked this is on the move to trim the full sail, which settled the big board which was running out of control. The setup was perfect and harness lines spot. Couldn't find Squiz who had gone round the corner heading for the Deben river. At this point decided to turn back and had another fantastic reach all the way to Felixstowe dock point, absolutely brilliant, hooked fully powered up and tanking between waves. I was amazed that the GPS GT 31 only read 22.10 kts! It seemed much faster, but didn't care. The best speeds were achieved going broad towards the Fludge point, but that’s against the 4kt tide, so I supposed that took some speed of my pace. The sea was great at the Dock point due to a sand bar creating large separate swells that you could weave in and out of. Saw Paul here going well and Squiz miles out coming back. Had to loan Doc Al a 6.7 sail that put him on the water, and he had a good sail. The wind started easing and on my 4th run towards the fludge, it eased and swung a bit so I crashed out on a gybe off the beach near the amusement, nearly wrecking my kit on the onshore swell, at highish tide, whilst also nearly taking out a couple of fishermen who were swearing at me! Water starting took ages as the wind took a while to fill in on the beach. Think my time was up so headed back to the Manor carpark as Squiz came crawling back as well. Doc had packed up - but Paul tried one last run in no wind and was lucky to make it back. Think all had a reasonable time and I like 20kt winds, so perfect for me. So solid nice 2 hr sail, watch burning 1365 calories and heart rate peaking at 197! clearing got excited! Happy I didn't break any kit either in the dodgy swell. Chilled out another 2 hrs at the steam and sauna, as still having left elbow swelling issues with shin splints as well. Think I will be dropping my search for a 90cm wide floaty lightwind board for the 10-12kts wind like the JP super light wind monster, because today, I would not want to be on one in the very lumpy sea. The 145 Patrik is around 75cm x 240 which does need 12kts in salt water and a bit more in rivers - but it stays out in the rough water at Felixstowe and was well behaved. It’s a really nice board - if not the quickest! |
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