I got home late after being at a reunion in the eastern part of the state. Looks like I missed most of the wind, but...
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Paula caught on so quickly!
2019-05-22 Paula Sailing from whvdb on Vimeo.
It was a seriously windy day, with whitecaps and rolling chop all over the lake. At one point I tried my 7.0 m^2 sail, but it was way too big. I planed clear across the lake hanging on for dear life and heading upwind to try to keep the speed down. A 6.2 was more appropriate, although I didn't get much planing. The wind was SOOO gusty.
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I missed what I think was planable wind earlier in the day, but it was great to finally get out on the water again and just sail around.
I traveled with all my gear down to Hatteras for BABA's semiannual windsurfing sojourn. Although it was October, the air and water temperature was summer-like.
We've had a LOT of rain (the lake had risen to 18 feet above normal summer level) and not much wind, so now the water is back down, it's warm, and there were tornado watches. It thought it was breezy, but the wind was actually very light. Still, every day o' sailin' is a great day.
There was a fairly strong breeze, but it was coming right over Bald Eagle Ridge to the south of the lake, a somewhat unusual direction. As a consequence, there were many gusts strong enough for me to get my front foot in the strap but which didn't last long enough for me to also get my back foot in. The video below doesn't really show that; it just gives an intimate view of the board on the water during a sub-planing tack. (The GoPro got aimed low in one of the many times I crashed in the water as a consequence of sudden loss of wind.)
The last couple of times I've been out on the water I wore my shorty wetsuit, but not today! It was HOT. Had a nice, very consistent light breeze from the southwest. No planing, but hey, every day o' sailing is a great day.  |
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AuthorThis is Bill vdB, sharing little vignettes of windsurfing on Sayers Lake, in Howard PA. and sometimes elsewhere. |
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