Sunday, March 28, 2010

March Madness





I've been so hoping to get conditions to use my 85L RRD FSW. That opportunity came Friday at Canadian hole. After a morning/afternoon of sailing bigger gear for the 2010 Windsurfing Magazine board test in warm light WSW the weather took quite a turn. It is amazing how weather patterns can change on the banks. The front made its way down from the north and the edge was an abrupt change from bright blue sky to swirling dark grey clouds. The NE wind came in like a fighter jet. Lucky Andy gave us the heads up in advance of the front so we derigged the bigger gear and stowed the boards. Stu actually headed out with a big board and a 7.5 as the wind began its swing- he had to body drag his way back in and even Josh had to help the rest of the way. It was a team effort to wrestle in that big kit in that kind of wind.

After a brief delay due to a water spout near Avon we all hit the water with the smallest kit we had. In my case a 3.5 and 85L board. Overpowered is not the word. I would have paid cash for a 65 or 70 liter that afternoon. Awesome. First time on my 3.5 too. I hit some but not all of my jibes on port and starboard. Big jumps with lots of spray on the lands. Good times.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

STOKEsdale Side Shore Action, 75F

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the windsurfing world lies a small unregarded little lake. Yesterday that little lake saw temps in the mid 70s and a south wind. Afternoon average was 10mph! Err, wait. Huh? Sucks right? Nope. My highest yielding investment yet is still paying dividends. My formula board and 9.5 renders light wind into pure stoke. I added Dakine core contours for the back straps this winter and am very pleased with the results. Easy access even with boots. Adjustable outhaul is sweet too. Leah rigged the 5.2 and the SUP for some fun longboard action. She can actually point higher sub-planing that I can on the FW kit. It is also a lot of fun in the swell from the boat wakes. If the companies ever come up with a SUP that surfs AND planes I'll have to invest there too. Talk about having your cake, eating it and having more cake...

We finished the day with a little paddle out to the islands and back. I grabbed an old Bic longboard out of the container and she kept the SUP. I forgot how tippy the old longboards are but boy are they fast in a straight line. We don't have any mosquitoes yet so I'm just going to have to call it perfection.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Daylight Savings & A Dome Effect?

Well Tony and I hit Belews Monday afternoon for what was forecasted to be a NNW 20mph day of madness. A north wind on Belews is a gorgeous thing. The forecast was promising enough I packed the 85L, 106L, 5.2 & 5.8 As usual Stokesdale was much cloudier and cooler than Greensboro- still the air temps were great and much appreciated. Tony rigged a 6.8 and I a 5.8 on the 106L. I waded out, perfect beach start, jumped on the plane and hooked. Aahhhhhh. After missing all of February this March sesh was so over due. Yep it was GUSTY. Yep the wind was switching 90 degrees W to N. I didn't wear gloves but did slip on the boots since my straps are still open anyway. We took what came at us and had a ball. I think next time I'll be able to go with the 4/3. Stoked.

So is it possible that there can exist a little dome effect on a lake? The air was much warmer than the water so is it possible that this causes the wind not to fill in? The tree tops pretty much stayed in motion but the wind was really streaky on the water. We'll see how SW fills in soon. I hope...