Thursday, January 31, 2013

We had a cold front push through early this morning. It created some strong south winds on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday it was overcast with some showers and I wasn't able to sail but I understand that late Tuesday it got pretty good. Yesterday it was warm and sunny with a strong south wind blowing. I was on the water at 11:30 and rigged a 5.3 on the 101 futura. There was heavy chop so I made my way south near the House of Refuge to get into flat water. I sailed around some with Bill and the wind built up quite a bit. I flattened out my sail and made my way back to the causeway. Bearing off the wind was a handful, I wish I had the gps because that board was humming.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Causeway Cookout

Causeway cookout was a big success! It was sunny and warm with a slight breeze out of the north. We had plenty of food and a good time. Click here to see more photos.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Mild front pushes through

Yesterday I watched as the front progressed down the peninsula. It appeared that it would hit our area around sunset and it did. I headed down to the causeway around 5:00pm and the wind line said SW at 13mph. When I was crossing the bridge Ron, James and a few others were on the south side of the causeway but the wind had clocked around to the north west. I rigged a 7.0 on my 101L just as the wind really started to crank up. I made one run way overpowered, so I flattened out my sail and tried again. By this time Ron and James joined me on the north side. I made another run and blew a harness line. So now I had to rig a 6.0 so I could use my smaller boom. By this time it was pretty dark with a setting sun and heavy cloud cover. We could see the channel markers, white caps but not the wave shapes. Even with a 6.0 I was really powered up. So around 6:30 we called it quits. The chart above should dispel any myths that every time I show up at the causeway the wind dies!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Great SE Wind

We had some pretty decent wind last week. A high set up off our coast and created a SE wind on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday Jon and Ron got the best of it from 9 till 11am and I think they rigged 6.5 or 7.0's. I arrived at noon and the wind had backed down and ended up rigging an 8.5 on my formula board. Even then I had to hunt for gusts frequently to get on plane. Thursday was a different story. It was a bright sunny and warm day and I was well powered on a 6.0 with my 101 futura. The rig felt light and the board was fast, I had a great time. I didn't sail Friday but when I looked at the wind history it looks like another good day. There was a good turn out of sailor on the two days I was there.