Sunday afternoon was better than expected!! I planned to meet Sarah and Frank at the west island so they could continue honing there windsurfing skills. I arrived around 2:00 and the river was covered in white caps and the railings on the bridge were buzzing. Windline said 26 out of the south. I was figuring 10 - 15 and didn't have my 88L board, so the learning session was scrubed. I rigged a 6.0 on my 118L board and pounded my way out to the House of Refuge. Art was already there and we were soon joined by Dino, Austin, Dr Connelly, and Andrea. The water was flat near the spoil island and when you cleared the sandbar heading west you could almost point south because of the wind shift. As you started your jibe occasionaly you could catch huge wind coming down the channel. Heading east it got choppy halfway to the House and flattened out near the east side. We had a great time!

After a great weekend of wind its still blowing

After work I went down to the causeway and rigged a 7.0 on my 118L board and headed out to the channel. The wind was out of the east and the tide was out. So the west side of the channel is fairly flat and heading north you could really fly. I was soon joined by Austin, Dino, Ron T. and eventually Brandon came out. Then we headed further south to a sandbar that lines up north and south and the water was super flat...it was unbelievable! You could sail within feet of the sandbar and make these beautiful jibes. The good news is the wind is forecasted to blow again tomorrow!

Sunday turned out to be another great day on the water. I was a bit stiff from Saturday and only planned to spend a few hours on the water to stretch out some muscles (we come up with the weirdest rationales to justify time on the water). I arrived at 10:30 and the wind was really filled in and I was kicking myself for leaving the 88L board at home. So I rigged a 6.0 on my 118L board and headed out. I was making my way swiftly up to the House of Refuge and the wind backed down. In fact we had a hole that lasted at least 20 minutes, so I headed back to rig a bigger sail. I went back out on a 7.0 and made my way out to the House and met up with Art. I sailed with him a short while and decided to head in. About this time Dino and Austin show up and Dino is encouraging me to go back out. So after a short break I sail over to the West side of the river and make quite a few runs with Andrea. Then Dino shows up and talks me into a race. So after beating me 4 times he talks a bunch of people (James, Austin, Andrea, Ron L, Todd, Eugene and me) into racing. After beating all of us soundly he sails off. What was the cause of all this......I believe the photo above!

Saturday I arrived at the west island in the late afternoon and rigged an 8.5 on my 118L board. I saw Ron T, Eugene, Larry, Dino, Brandon and a few others on the water. Wind was out of the SE and it was mostly sunny. I hadn't sailed the west island in a long time and it was good. I made my way out to the channel and some runs down to the spoil island and back. Then I switched over to the formula board and did the same thing. I didn't get out Sunday but from what Dino said the wind was better.

1/1/09

Great day windsurfing to start the new year! I arrived at the causeway around 10:00 and Jenny and her dad were rigging. She took off on a 6.0 with an 88L board and was nicely powered so I rigged the same. I made a few runs south of the island and then headed out to the channel and worked my way over to the House of Refuge. I was out there for almost two hours when Art and James showed up. James and I raced around for a short time and then I headed back to the island. Once I got over to the west side of the channel I realized I would not be able to get back out to the House with this rig because the wind had faded some. The island was really crowded with windsurfers, it was quite a sight! I ate some food and couldn't decide if I wanted to go out again. Finally I grabbed my 118L board and went out for another hour. The wind was lined up so you could run up and down the channel and I was able to get behind this big cabin cruiser that was throwing out a huge wake and was able to surf it for quite a ways.

11/12/08

Jerrys heading in, wind wasn't quite filled in enough.

11/12/08

Ingrid dances around the mast.

11/12/08

Rick is giving David some assistance as the "Master Rigger" looks on.

10/14/8 We could have stayed out a few more hours, moon was bright and the wind was still up. Photo by Eugene

Tuesday I was on the water at 5:00 Tom, Craig and Eugene were there. I rigged a 6.0 on my 88L board and headed out to the House of Refuge. The first 45 minutes were great, flat water and some nice gusts coming through. I was able to make some nice jibes and then the wind seemed to back off. I headed back and switched to my 118L. I buzzed up and down the channel a few times and then went under the bridge and headed for the Jensen causeway. The wind came back up and I had plenty of power and speed. I jibed at the causeway and headed south as the sun was setting. What a great way to end the day. When I got back to the island Eugene was there and we de-rigged as the moon was coming up.

10/14/8 Workin' Dave

Monday proved to be a good day on the water. I rigged a 5.0 and went out during lunch. Tide was high and I was able to buz all over. I headed out to the House of Refuge and saw Art but couldn't spend much time since I had to get back to work. It was nice to be out with such a small rig. There was a lot of sailors on the water that day.

10/12/8 Ron's on the move.

10/12/8 Andrea's Enjoying the afternoon.

Sunday was a great day on the water. I arrived at 2:00 and found quite a few sailors on the water. I rigged a 5.5 on the formula board for Sarah and she went out and stretched her windsurfing abilities as well as her arms. Some clouds and drizzle came through and the wind shut down but shortly after the skies cleared and the wind filled in. I was on a 7.0 and went over to the east side and buzzed the channel a few times. Looks like the wind will be up through Wednesday possibly Thursday.

10/12/8 Paula and Sarah

Hurricane Ike

I was out on the water yesterday. Wind was ENE @ 23 gusting to 28. Rigged a 6.0 on an 88L board and was nicely powered. I sailed out to the house, up and down the channel and on the west side of the river. Logged 40 miles on the gps and had the best time. Bill, Dino, Austin, Brandon, David, Ron, Todd, Craig and a few others were out. I met Dr Connelly (Tom) for the first time. I told him I had heard the slip/slop/slap commercial and he asked if it was to long. I replied, “Just a little. Alls we want is the wind speed”. He said he would have them shorten it.
Pretty much did the same thing today but wasn’t out near as long. I rigged the same but really had to flatten out the sail. Mitchel, Dino, David, Charles (welcome back!) and I believe Richard were on the water. Hurricane Ike has created all this wind much like Gustav did. It’s amazing that a hurricane at the west side of Cuba can affect our weather.

TS Fay

8/19/8 I shot this video when one of the gusts came through on tuesday.

TS Fay