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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Candace, who had been wanting for years to try windsurfing, and her husband Randall came up from Gettysburg for a lesson. They had a great time and now are looking into buying their own gear. Apologies: 1) the only photography was by my GoPro, mounted on Candy's clew, so Randy is imaged here only incidentally. 2) I carelessly let Candy use a poorly rigged sail with the boom a bit too high. But it didn't seem to impair her in the least. A couple of weeks later they bought a Bic Techno 240 board and a 5.0 square meter rig to use on a lake near where they live.
The day had dawned downright chilly, and it didn't warm up enough to dissuade me from wearing my shorty wetsuit, which turned out to be only a little too warm. There was a pleasant (but not planable) breeze, and coming from the north-northeast, so I decided to sail "upstream" (i.e., southwest) and check out the old railroad bed. See video.
Then Susan and her husband Chris showed up, which is always nice. Susan had windsurfed for years while on vacation at non-windsurfing resorts. Then she took her first ever lesson from me and soon she had bought her own gear. Now she is my most frequent windsurfing buddy. Company on the Lake from whvdb on Vimeo.
I got to the lake a bit after the best wind, got to sail a little before the major thunderstorm and rain hit. Very close to shore I encountered a sudden wind shift which led to my 270-degree turn.
Sudden Wind Shift from whvdb on Vimeo.
These high school students from State College came out for an introduction to windsurfing. At first there was a lot of falling in the water, but by the end of the afternoon they were able to sail around , in control. The still photos were taken by Sarah's mother -- thanks! The fee went to Meals on Wheels.
Sayers Lake exists for flood control as well as for recreation, so when it rains a LOT the Corps of Engineers uses it to store excess water. On August 5 the lake level peaked at about 9.5 feet above normal summer level, with quite a lot of floating debris in it. On August 7 most of the debris had blown off the water and a light breeze came up, so I went for a sail -- while it was still 7.5 feet up. It was interesting to sail OVER the Howard Boat Club jetty, and to look DOWN on the sign that says "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES ALLOWED IN PARK".
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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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