A mild front pushed through late yesterday evening. Today they forecast NW mind 14 - 21 with clear skies and temps in the low to mid 70's.

Yesterday the wind was out of the SW with mostly overcast skies. I arrived at the causeway around 10:30, the river had a far amount of whitecaps and Art was heading out. Initially I was going to rig a 7.0 but with typical west wind it had backed down some before I could get my gear out of the trailer. So I opted for the 8.5 on the isonic. That turned out to be the right choice because I was fairly well powered in the light wind and had blazing speed in the gusts. There was a period of about an hour where I could make long runs from the House of Refuge NW to the channel up near the bridge. The water was fairly flat and you could see the gusts working across the water and I had that Rolling Stones song going through my head "here it comes, here it comes". I was getting some amazing speed  and able to do some sweet jibes. Art came in shortly after I went out because the wind had backed down. He wasn't on his 7.5 so I figured he would re-rig. It was quite a while before another sail came out and it was Jeff. We sailed around some and then the wind would back off and fill in so I called it quits. Randy was on the water and Canadian Dave was rigging when I got back.

Friday I watched the wind blow all day and couldn't get down to the causeway fast enough. Dino had sent texts saying they were on 6.5 - 7.5 and Brandon confirmed it shortly after. The wind was out of the south and I was on the water by 6:00pm. The tide was coming in and running pretty hard and the wind was backing down. I rigged a 7.0 on my futura and I felt like I was clawing my way out of a hole and by the time I was 2/3 of the way to the House of Refuge the wind faded out.

Exceptional Weekend for Windsurfing

Although there was only a light breeze out of the south with sunny skies, Saturday was a beautiful day for the Causeway Cookout! We had a real nice turnout with great food and music.

Sunday the wind came in huge out of the south. I arrived around 1:00 and the causeway was crowded with windsurfers! I rigged a 6.0 on my 101L futura and had a hard time getting out to the House of Refuge. The wind gusts were narrow and chop was heavy, by they time you got on plane the gust had faded and the chop would take you off plane. Once I got up there the wind really filled in. Ron, James and I were making runs from the Refuge heading west passing south of the spoil island and out in the channel. When the gusts came in the speeds were incredible. I sailed with them for a bit and then went searching for flatter water to make some speed runs. Heading back to the causeway was dicey!!! I was way overpowered.

Cold Front Brings In Some Wind

Wednesday evening I was able to get down to the causeway just as the lead edge of the front moves through. The wind dropped as some cloud cover moved overhead but as the skies cleared the west wind filled back in. Ron let me borrow a 6.5 sail and I headed out looking for some gusts and over a period of 15 minutes it filled in real nice. James, Ron and I sailed till sunset.

Thursday the wind clocked around to the NE and I went out on a 6.0. Art was leaving and Dennis was packing up.  Ron, Dino, Connelly, James and a few others were sailing. It was a beautiful afternoon, clear skies and I think the temps were in the low 70's. I was well powered on the 101L futura and for some reason I always had huge speed heading west across the river into the sun. Heading east it was slower, but you had more control and pretty much sail down the line.

Looks like more wind today out of the east. Saturday, not so much. Sunday shows good wind out of the SE.

Saturday afternoon the wind picked up out of the NE better than forecasted. Art was out on the river and Ron showed up while I was rigging. I was well powered on an 8.5 and Ron was on a 10.0. We headed out at 5pm and it seemed to get better as we sailed. The boat traffic dwindled so the water got flatter and the wind was increasing. We sailed till sunset and were glad we made the effort to go.

Causeway Cookout

We will be having one final causeway cookout, before all the northern sailors head home, Saturday March 15 on the East island of the Stuart causeway. I will light up the grills around 2:30pm: bring your favorite cookout food, desert and appetite. See you there!