Thanks T. S. Bonnie

Thursday I talked with Art as he was packing up. He said Dino and Ron were on 8.4's and it appeared they had sailed down towards the inlet. I was not thrilled with rigging an 8.5 but Art said he was well powered on his 7.5 and indicated I might make out alright on a 7.0. Shortly after Art left Ron and Dino came blasting up the channel and under the bridge (see photos below). Dino came in and said I should do OK on the 7.0. So I rigged and went out on the north side and after some pumping got going and had 45 minutes of some decent sailing.
All day Friday I checked the weather links and saw the average wind speed hit 36mph and could only hope it would be that way when I arrived. When I got to the causeway Bill was out on a 94L board and a 5.8 sail. I rigged a 6.0 and went out on an axxis 258. The current was strong and I couldn't get up wind and was happy just to make it back to the east island. This rig didn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the box. I put the 6.0 on the 118L bic and I was able to cruise way down the channel. After a few tacks I was between the spoil islands and it was unbeliveable. Strong wind blowing through and the sandbar cutting down all the chop. When you sailed north along the edge of the bar you could really get powered up and make some nice jibes in fairly flat water. There was some big rafts of seaweed coming up the channel and from a distance it looked like a sandbar. Occasionaly I would go between the spoil islands and head towards Indian River Plantation but it was to choppy for that board (see track above). Dino made his way down and we sailed around for awhile. I was out over two hours and had a great time.
Saturday at 6:30 am the wind was still blowing SE 18-23, so I was at the causeway at 8:00. The wind seemed light but wind line indicated 17-21. I rigged a 7.0 and schlogged for an hour and a half. I couldn't get up to the House of Refuge because of the current. I was derigging and the wind came up some so I went out on an 8.5 on the formula board. I had a good half hour sail and the seaweed was almost completely gone. Then the wind came up even more, I was overpowered and fatigued so I called it quits.