Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Hurricane Earl provides another great day of sailing


Another day on a 7.0, how sweet is that? I stopped at the west island and Brandon, Connelly and David D were finishing up. Brandon was out on a 7.5 and he said it was good. On the east island Ron and Larry were derigging and Alex was taking a break. Eduardo was rigging when I got there. I headed down the channel and made it past the first spoil island fairly easily. Earlier in the day Dino mentioned sailing to the inlet so thats were I headed. Boat traffic was light, the wind seemed steady and the tide had just started going out. The closer I got to the inlet the heavy wind seemed to favor the south side and I was really starting to see the current pick up so I headed back. Ran the channel a few times and then went out to the House. It was a great sail, I posted the track above.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Hurricane Earl takes over

I guess the weather today and the next few days are under the influence of hurricane Earl. Click on the weather link for magic seaweed and it shows the forecasted track of Earl, looks pretty cool. After work I stopped at the west island and spoke to Dick. He was out on a 7.5 and said it was nice sailing unlike the ups and downs of yesterday. Ron T was out on the water and he was sailing his 7.5. I headed over to the east island and was going to rig an 8.5 because 2/3rds of the way out to the House of Refuge there were no white caps. The wind was blowing E and to the W it was raining and the wind seemed to be backing down. At the last minute I decided to rig the 7.0 and I am sure glad I did. I was suprised how fast I was able to get out to the wind line by the frequent gusts coming threw. I sailed out at the House for an hour and then I had to flatten out my sail. By this time Dino had shown up and I sailed another hour. I wished I had sailed the channel but was to tired to do anything about it. It was a great evening sail.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Ron take's a break
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David D calls it a day.
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A lot of gear for 5 people
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Hurricane Daniel

The effects of Hurricane Daniel were just starting to be felt on the Treasure Coast today. At 12:30 I rigged a 7.0 0n my 118L Bic and was surprised when I was overpowered when I got up near the House of Refuge. At the causeway David D was reading 14mph on his wind meter but the wind line was saying 30! When I got out to the House it was blowing at least 21. A light stinging drizzle was coming down under a heavily overcast sky and the wind was out of the east. It blew pretty hard for 30 minutes and then backed down. When I got back Ron, Dino and Austin were rigging. At 2:00 the cycle started again, very dark clouds were coming on shore and the wind picked up. David D was on his futura with a 7.5 and he started moving. The wind had shifted some to the SE and the rain came in again. I was nicely powered for 40 minutes and then it started to back down. On the way back Dino was on a 10.5, Ron on his 9.0 and Austin on a 7.2. Tuesday and Wednesday show more wind as the hurricane passes to our east
The last time I sailed was last Sunday and Rick was out on formula gear when I arrived. Dino was rigging and it seemed like we could get away with 7.2, 7.0's, so that's what we rigged. We should have rigged 8.5's because we did a lot of schlogging.
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Friday, August 20, 2010

Fall slalom event???

Geez its been its been almost a week and a half since I have been on the water. On the 10th a tropical depression was forming 100 miles west of Key West and it was creating some wind. When I arrived at the causeway there was a fair amount of whitecaps and the railings were buzzing now and then. After rigging a 7.0 a heavy rain storm passed through and shut the wind down. I waited 2 1/2 hours and it finally came back up. I was out for a half hour and then it started to fade.

Here's something to look forward to. Rick has a post on the forum concerning a fall slalom event. Check out his post and respond accordingly.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Saturday I arrived at the causeway around 3:00. Art had been on the water for a couple of hours. I rigged an 8.5 and sailed out north of the House of refuge. I was fairly well powered and stayed out an hour. Wind was SE and the water was kind of choppy from the boat traffic. Dino and Austin saw art Art and I from the dock at the House of Refuge and said it looked like we were flying across the water.