Saturday 1st July - Windsurf **** River Orwell at Levington – sunny periods.

Foil – 19.56 knot max, 18.03 knot ave, 10.61 knot hour, 15.22 knot mile, 66.71 km., 14.03 knot alpha.

Starboard Freeride 150 and a Evolution Freeride foil with a Sailworks Retro 7.5.

July started well for me and I got three more covers on some local magazines including Spotlight on Felixstowe and a couple of In Touch mags. We now have a run of westerly winds so I was keen to get out on the River Orwell at Levington, sadly the Landguard weather station (HHA) is down so was not sure what the wind was doing but went anyway dropping Mag off on the way for her daily walk. Arrived at the Marina at 9.10 and the light rain had moved away but there was a stormy looking sky over Felixstowe as a huge container ship docked at the last berth and two ferries were heading out of Harwich:) With high tide at 10.38 there was plenty of water nut the wind looked fairly light so set up my foil and rigged the 7.5 which was OK, as always when river sailing the wind strength can vary a lot, today between 10 and 20 knots! The strongest wind was on the corner, over at times but heading down to Felixstowe docks the bigger sail keep me flying, although there was some slogging waiting for a gust. I am not keen on foiling with a big heady rig but I lasted over 4 hours covering 41 miles, I am now absolutely knackered! It was great fun buzzing the many yachts, there was also a couple of coasters to avoid and it was pleasant when the sun was out. Gybing with the big sail was OK and for a lot of the session the tide was going out but I had no problem getting back to the marina! With the tide dropping I decided to call it a day and landed by the marina entrance and discovered my board bag had blown away somewhere into the marina, fingers crossed Jamie will find it on Monday! Pack up, shower and home for a cuppa before we have a quick trip to Lidl. Might have another session tomorrow as we are with our Granddaughter on Monday!

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