Wednesday 8/19/09. Dino in front of IRP Marina.

TS Ana

Wednesday the remnants of tropical storm Ana blew into our area. I rigged a 7.0 on my 118L board and went out for two hours. The wind was out of the SE and I was well powered the whole time. Dino and I pretty much had the river to ourselves.
Saturday the wind was light all day and started to build around 3:00. There was big surf out in the atlantic from Hurricane Bill. I rigged a 10.5 on the formula board and was on the water at 4:30. The wind was out of the SE and I was underpowered at first. Then it got to the point I should have been on an 8.5 so I called it quits after an hour.

Austin and Ron T from 8/1

Chasing the wind

Sunday I was on the water at 2:00. I rigged an 8.5 on the formula board. Dino, Ron T and I ended up at the sandbar between the two spoil island. Wind was SE and fading but we made a few runs in the flat water. I quit at 4:00 Dino and Ron stayed till 6:00 and the wind did build back up. Chris was at the causeway when I came in, he was out on a 9.0.
Monday I saw a fair amount of white caps with gusts coming through so I rigged a 7.0 on the 118L board. By the time I got to the wind line the wind had backed down some, so I came in and put on a bigger fin and the wind faded more! After an hour it looked like it would take a 10.5 to get going. Chris tried his 8.0 with no luck and Dick stopped by and surveyed the situation.
Hey Art that sailboat is still stuck in the mud!

Smooth Sailing

Sunday I arrived at the causeway at 5:45, wind was light out of the east. Looking south the wind shadow extended almost to the pink house so I launched on the north side. While rigging a 10.5 on the formula board the wind was so light it seemed pointless. Within 20 yards of shore I caught a gust and cruised up to Joes point. When heading back to the causeway I noticed the wind had shifted more south. I passed under the bridge and headed down the channel and made some runs along the sandbar between the spoil islands. The runs were kind of short for flipping a 10.5 so I headed north. By this time (7:00) the boat traffic was so light I started making runs in the channel from the bridge to the spoil island. The water was flat, the sun was setting and it was a great way to end the week.

You Should Have Been Here Yesterday...

...is what I would have told anyone sailing today had I actually sailed yesterday. From all our weather indicators, web sites, charts and our keen sense for wind, it was obvious that Monday was the better of two days to sail. However, there is something to say for having a quiet, (relatively speaking of course), day at the causeway sailing with your son. Austin and I showed up around 3pm and from the light chop in the distance it seemed like we would have a decent sail. There was almost no boats or jet skis on the water which is always a plus. I rigged my now all too common 8.4 m sail/Formula board/58-cm fin combo, which is probably good for 90% of the sailable wind during the summer. Austin sailed his summer favorite NP Excess 7.4 m sail/North Shore Maui board w/52-cm fin. The flat water made it easy to plane and we both enjoyed it until the winds backed off due to most likely a storm cell hanging off to our north and one to our west.

From River to the Ocean

Today started out very promising. Jensen Beach Web Page wind history chart was showing the winds heading up from 7:30am until it peaked at 1:30pm registering 18-22mph. Austin, I and Ron showed up and rigged accordingly. Everything was going great until a storm cell threatened to bring heavy rain and lightning on us. For about 45 minutes I sailed a 7.2m sail, Austin was on 5.8m, and Ron on 7.5. The storm came close and briefly shifted the winds from the W/SW allowing us to cruise on in. While it never truly materialized into much above the causeway, it shut the winds off until about 6pm. Optimistically we waited for about an hour, then decided to try our luck at the Juno Beach Reef Club where there was still some wind. Austin rigged a 7.4m sail, while Ron opted for the 9.0m/Formula board. Both did well in the ocean even though the wind was dropping there as well. Ron is already a pro at sailing the ocean, while Austin was learning how to master the ocean swells for the first time.

Austin video

Austin is cruising of the formula board!

Sailing or weightlifting?

I arrived at the causeway around 2:00 and Dino and Austin were rigging sails, Ron T showed up shortly after. I rigged a 10.5 on the formula board and was under powered heading out. It felt more like weight lifting than sailing. Once I got closer to the House of Refuge the wind filled in and the rig got a whole lot lighter. We had a good time out there, water was flat and the wind was steady. There is a sailboat that has run aground just east of the spoil island and has been there over a week. We were making some runs just south of it, and the sandbar cut all the waves down. It was cool buzzing across the corduroy chop. I was dreading rigging a 10.5 but it was good!

Austin enjoying the afternoon breeze

Dino and Ron rigging sails