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squiz
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Member#: 7560 Location: Registered: 16-05-2008 Diary Entries: 1
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8th April 2021
Windsurfing: Levington Wind Direction: WSW Wind Stength: 10/20 Surf / Sea State: river chop Air Temperature: 6 Sea Temperature: 6 Weather: cloudy and cold Max Speed: 17.76 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 25 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)
Thursday 8th April - Windsurf *** - River Orwell at Levington Marina –
cloudy and cold.
Foil – 17.76 knot max, 16.52 knot ave., 9.78 knot hour, 13.90 knot mile,
40.32 km.,13.39 knot alpha.
Exocet RF AST 91 with Slingshot Hover Glide 76 with Tushingham Lightning
8.5.
With our van booked in for two new tyres this afternoon my only option was
the River Orwell at Levington but with high water at 10.13 I had to get
there fairly early. So, I checked Landguard weather station around eight
and although the wind looked marginal and the temperature was low, the sun
was out so I decided to take a chance. I dropped Mag off in Trimley for her
walk and arrived at the marina around 8.30 and parked right at the end just
past the big crane. There was loads of water but the cross on wind probably
WSW at this point was marginal so I set up my foil board by which time the
breeze had filled, sail choice is always a little hit and miss on the river
as the wind can be up and down but I decided to rig 8.5, go big or go home!
Wrapped up with hat and gloves I set off and to be honest my hands suffered
during this two-hour session as it was chilly probably only 6 degrees at
this point but the nice thing about foiling is you can keep out of the
water. In fact, I did not fall in once, speeds were not big but it was too
cold to push things too hard! I had some nice runs across the corner
managing to beat up to Nacton Shore where the wind went patchy but had a
nice broad run back playing with the swell. The two aluminium boats that
are usually on trailers in the marina headed out to sea, I think these are
the boats that pick up the army parachuters that drop into the sea off
Bawdsey beach! There was some interesting gusts approaching 20 knots but
the 8.5 handles them fine:) Despite the cloudy cloud session it is always
nice to be out on the Orwell with squadrons of geese and waders flying over
head plus a few yachts and also several kids on the toppers out. The tide
had turned which chopped the river up a little but after two hours my hands
had had enough so I decided to call it a day. When disconnecting my rig
from my board my hands dripped in the icy water, I then had to sit for five
minutes in the van to feel the feeling back! After packing up I soon warmed
up in the 5-star showers making it home by midday:)
Walk – Around Felixstowe.
Mag had to go to Lidl but forgot her mobile so I biked down to give it to
her and came back along the very busy prom, could not believe the length of
the que for fish and chips. I then spotted the two planes circling low at
Bawdsey after having made the parachute drop. After lunch Mag and I drive
to the cliff top car park but the planes had gone, a few kites were making
the most of the flat water in the Deben entrance. We then dropped the van
off and had an hour to waste so headed down to the prom. Turning left so we
had the wind on our back we headed to Jacobs Ladder where we stopped to
take in the nice view of the Martello tower and Bawdsey manor. It was very
pleasant now with the sun out and the temperature a few degrees warmer than
this morning. With a few windsurfers heading to The Manor for a 2.30 start
I was expecting to see some foilers. We continued along the beach
collecting a little coal as Andy Mexome foiled past followed by David
Coles. Then up the cliff walking back through the sheltered town to pick up
the van and pay £270 still we are not using the van much these days so the
new tyres should last years now! There is two days of wind for the weekend
with some good tides for the Stour but it is going to be pretty cold so I
might have to give that a miss:(
Photo Gallery Here
MK booms here
77 Sports (Exocet) Here
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