A WSW Jibeathon

The wind yesterday north of Greensboro started SSW and was predicted to go NW by afternoon.  Luckily it clocked WSW and locked in for the duration!  For Belews lake this means a hike south in front of the plant to get out of the wind shadow of the 2 islands.  I took the hike and sailed 4 hours straight on the 106L/5.8 with a 32cm freewave fin (loose).  It was lake wind- gusty, some long lulls and squirrely at times but a fine time was had.  There was about a half hour, I'd estimate around 3 or so, where the wind picked up and filled in the entire span of the opening in front of the plant.  I made figure 8s with chop hops along the way with my heart rate pegging pretty high.  I wish we could get some of that on a weekend too.

Zoom in and you can see the white caps left and right of the island.

The Raleigh crew has their own forecaster so maybe their wind predictions and wind meters are solid.  The wind meters in the vicinity of Belews are not matching the lake much nowadays.  I know the leaves are still on the trees and that may be most of the issue but the low readings may be keeping folks away and missing some fun sailing.  The following are from Summerfield, Walnut Cove, Reidsville and the gso airport, resp.  It seems the airport matched the best yesterday.  Bottom line is DON'T MISS OUT! 

At Old Lighthouse Beach and The Hole

I started yesterday morning early at the Hole with Dale Bendula.  Stayed on the 5.8/106 all day.  Wind was NNE and a little up & down but fun as always.  It was a great oportunity to dial in my jibes on the 106 in chop and fluky wind.  My hand is healing well and no major sail handling problems!  Dale took a break to cut the grass and Ken from Wind NC drove up.  He was on Andy's 5.2/twin freestyle.  The wind filled in nicely a little and we had a ball when Ken was planing easily.  We also traded rigs since I had a 5.8- wow was there a big difference between the old Ezzy wave and the new Gaastra IQ.  The Gaastra was flatter when not powered and much more crisp.  The old wave sail has much more low end grunt but not nearly as smooth in transitions.  Not as easy to clear the clew either.  

I got the message too late but Keith M and Olaf scored a fun sesh at the lighthouse.  I stopped by to wach for about 45 min and it looked big and fairly easy.  I was zapped and cramping already so I didn't rig.  Maybe today!  Keith has the blue sail.  Wish I had a better camera.

Last night Andy at Wind NC put on a sail clinic for the Raleigh crew.  They have over 20 new members this year and tons of stoke!  It is awesome to see all the excitement from new and senior members.  Great group.  Andy does a great job with these clinics and there's great info for new and experienced sailors.  Good times.

Oct 1 NNE at Canadian Hole, OBX NC

The last time I was on my 85L exo wave was the end of July at the Basin.  That was 2 straight days of SW with the 5.2/85L combo.  Yesterday evening I sailed the same kit on the 85L stick with Dale Bendula.  Dale was on a 95L slalom board with 5.5 and passing me on each run.  We worked it out so that when he jibed I would too from a distance behind, he would catch up midway, pass then repeat jibe so it was great sailing with a buddy for a change!  He covered more ground but I could out jump him, at least yesterday :]

The Raleigh crew (Triangle Windsurfing Club) is sailing up at Salvo this weekend too.  I'm looking forward to putting faces to names!  Sounds like a lot of excitement for the sport with those folks.

The wind forecast has changed for the next few days.  Looks a little lighter with NE switching to NW towards Monday.  The surf has been massive but should be dropping to a more manageable level starting today.  Hopefully we'll be wave sailing and SUP surfing soon too.  More updates to come.

The 9' Mana is at Wind NC.  Wow.