Sailing with the Big Dogs (power boats)

Sunday the wind was out of the SW and it was better than forecasted. I rigged a 7.0 on my 118L bic and headed out to the channel. Dino and Ron joined me and we raced up and down the west side of the channel. Occasionaly the wind and boats would sync and you could run right beside them. There were some lulls but not enough to dampen the fun and with the 7.0 I was well powered. Art, Andrea, David, Dorian, Tom, Tan Tom and a few other sailors were on the water as well.

TS Isaac

We had a pretty good time on the water. The Jensen wind history shows it blew 25 - 35 ESE for most of the day. We sailed on the west island, south side on an incoming tide. It was heavily overcast with bands of rain coming through. At times it was hard to see with the rain pelting against your face. My first session was on a 6.0 with my 92L wave board and then later on I put the same sail on my 88L slalom board. We pretty much sailed south of the island. Way down at the south end it was fairly flat with solid wind and made for some fast jibing. I did sail the channel twice down past the spoil island, the channel would have been awesome if the tide was low. I should have rigged a 5.2 later in the day, but it was good.  Ron, Dorian, Art, David, Dino, Mat, Dennis and a friend of Dennis sailed.

Surprisingly good afternoon sail.

The wind these past three weeks has been lacking, to say the least. When SUP starts looking like an exciting sport you know the wind has been light for too long. Today was forecast to be the same but for some reason around 3:00 the wind switched from a light west wind to south at 18 to 23 mph and stayed up for almost 4 hours. Dino. Ron and Dick were on the water when I arrived at 5:00. I rigged a 7.0 on the Bic and was nicely powered, it was a fun afternoon.

TS Debbie

TS Debbie brought some pretty decent wind to our area starting Sunday 7/24 and blowing on through Wednesday. Sunday it blew out of the south with a heavy overcast sky. I rigged a 7.0 on my bic and was having a decent time and then it kept building and building. I put on a smaller fin and later gave my sail a ton of downhaul and stuck it on my 88L board. It got to the point where I really needed a 6.0, by then I was done. It was a pretty exciting session, blinding rain squals, heavy chop near the channel and I spotted a black tip shark.
I went out again on Tuesday 7/26, the wind was out of the SSW and the river was covered in white caps when I arrived. Ron said he was overpowered on a 5.2 and tail walked from the causeway to Dick's house. I rigged a 4.2 on the axxis 285 and was fairly well powered. It was a good session with a mostly sunny sky.

Good Time at the causeway

Early this morning the Jensen site wind history showed 23 - 27  mph out of the SE. I planned to sail around 11:00 and the wind died accordingly as a big rain cell developed. I talked to Ron and he made it out early on a 90L with a 6.5 sail, he said at times he was overpowered.

Yesterday I sailed at noon, wind was out of the ESE, very sunny and it looked dead at the causeway. I could see white caps way south and a kite was up. So I rigged a 7.0 with a huge fin on my 118L bic to get me out there. I caught several gusts and made it to the wind line. Dorian told me their were a lot of weeds out there, and their was. I had to head back and put on a weed fin. It performed great, I was able to motor through big mats of sargaso weeds with no problem and sail over some thin water as well. No wonder Art uses this setup.

I sailed again after work from the west island, by this time it was heavily overcast and the wind was building. Brandon and Mitch were there. I rigged my 7.0 again on the same board. There weren't any weeds on the west side and the channel was fairly clear. The best time was blasting up and down the channel and between the spoil islands.

Saturday the wind was ENE and mostly sunny. Ron and I rigged 9.0 and 8.5 on formula boards. We were well powered and cruising from bridge to bridge. With the big sails you could sail close on the east side in flat water, it was great. When I got back to the causeway Andria, Tom and young Dave were rigging. I went out a second time sailed south under the bridge and cruised the flat water in the channel and between the spoil islands.

Sunday the wind was out of the SE with a mostly sunny sky. Ron and I rigged 10.0 and 10.5 on formula boards. It was pretty good sailing. The only down side was weeds and chop from boats and jet skies. Canadian Dave and Dorian were finishing up when we headed out. Art was at the House of Refuge the whole time on a 7.5. I can't say I was sailing any better than Art but why did I require 3 more square meters of sail? Maybe because I was raking weeds with a 58cm fin.