Merry Christmas!

One of Santa's senior elves was spotted at the causeway enjoying some R&R. Come to think of it he is always on R&R, maybe this is where elves retire.

2011_12_18

We have had some pretty decent wind lately. It started on Sunday and it is forecasted to fade out today. I sailed Sunday on the north side of the island, Monday and Wednesday on the south side. I rigged a 7.0 on the bic 118L on those days and had a good ride.

Great sailing on Tuesday and Wednesday

After four days of rain Tuesday turned out to be a mostly sunny day with a nice wind blowing out of the east. I was able to sail at lunch time on my 118L bic and a 7.0. You could make some long runs on the north side of the island and sail bridge to bridge. I spent some time in that cove north of Joes point and then came blasting down the east side of the river in flat water. When I returned to the island Dino, Canadian Dave, Joel and a few others were out. Ron, Brandon and a few others were on the island.
Wednesday I was able to do it all over again on the same rig but on the south side of the island. I chose a longer fin because the wind appeared lighter and I didn't want to waste to much time getting out to the "House". Once out there I was really well powered and wished I had my shorter fin. Art, Dorian, Jon and Canadian Dave were out there and I dragged raced with Jon a bit. When I got back Dino and Ron were rigging. Over on the west island I spotted Jerry sporting that ORANGE sail. When I was leaving Dorian rated the conditions a "10" and compared it to Aruba!

I had a decent day windsurfing on Saturday. I arrived at 8:30am and rigged a 5.2 on the bic. Wind was out of the east and there was a big wind shadow south of the causeway. It was hard getting out but once I was in the windline I was overpowered. I made some runs near the "House" and then headed back. I tried going out later on a 92L wave board but the wind dropped slightly. So I ended up rigging a 6.0 on the bic. By this time quite a few sailors had shown up and we were making runs up and down the channel. Alex was between the spoil islands doing his freestyle thing and at times all of us were in the same area. It was pretty wild. Later some of us joined up with Art and sailed near the "House". It was a great day to be on the water.

Ron enjoying a late day sail

For Thanksgiving we were in Ft Myers and I was able to sail the Sanibel causeway. I rigged a 7.0 and used a big fin because the wind was kind of light. I sailed out and around the light house where the kite boarders were, then the wind backed down a lot so I headed back. There was about a half dozen kite boarders out and when I returned to the causeway the same number of windsurfers were waiting for the wind to pick up.
When we returned on Sunday I went down to the Stuart causeway around 2:30. Art and Dino were on the water and Ron showed up shortly after I did. Canadian Dave, Charles and a few others were at the causeway as well. I rigged the same as I did on Sanibel and joined up with Art and Dino out at the "House". I was a bit leary of following Art out in the shallows with a 52cm fin but we had a fun time. I sailed a few hours and then went back out with Ron and pretty much sailed till sunset.