October Surprise Session

Monday 10/24/2011, Blue Lagoon

Arrived at 3:30 with Larry, Harry, Steve and Jeff on the water all with 6.5s.
Steve came in and reported wind conditions on the outside were huge for his 6.5. Millard and I couldn't figure out what sail size to rig with big inside gusts and reports from the outside.
I ended up rigging the 5.0 and 5.5 went out first with the 5.5 and 100 liter RRD board figuring the inside was lite and I needed volume to get out to the wind. Millard rigged a 5.0 and easily made it work.
After an hour with steady strong winds on the outside and sailing the 5.5 I came in and exchanged my gear for the sportier smaller gear.
Sailed and played on the small well organized swell for about 1.5 hours until the wind got less consistent.
Another great October sunny bluebird 60 degree windy day, not many like this left so you got to grab these days at whatever the cost.

Session: 4:00 – 6:30
Gear: 5.5 Ezzy SE, RRD 100 liter. 5.0 Ezzy Free Wave, 84 liter JP.
Conditions: Inside, flats with fluky side shore winds. Outside, organized fun swell with winds to 30 mph.
Weather: Air 60 degrees, Bluebird sky, water 55 degrees.
Wind: NW-W up to 30 estimated.
Schooled: Slashing the swell, hero jibes on the smooth outside swell.
Move of day: Fully planning duck jibes on the outside.
Image: Gear for the day.

October at it's finest

Monday 10/17/2011, Metro Beach

About as good as Metro Beach can get.
Rigged the 4.0 and on the water by 3:00. Controllable 4.0 conditions allowing easy play on the swell without fear. Easy flats on the inside for hero jibe and crashes. Banging off the swell and hopping over the next into the trough of another - rare day for sure.
Sunny bluebird 60 degree windy October day, not many like this left so you got to grab these days at whatever the cost.
At least a dozen or more sailors throughout the time I was there.
It was good to see Brian and Dan.
At about 4:30 the wind lightened up so I put up the 5.0 with same results mostly steady planning until 5:30 when the inside shut down and outside got gusty.

Session: 3:00 – 5:30
Gear: 4.0 Ezzy SE, 5.0 Ezzy Free Wave 84 liter JP
Conditions: Inside flats filled until 5:00, outside organized fun swell, easy for playing on.
Weather: Air 60 degrees, 100% sunny, water 55 degrees.
Wind: WSW-W up to 31 mph as reported by the weathertalker
Schooled: Banging the swell, hero jibes/crashes on the inside flats.
Move of day: High wind helitacks.
Image: Heading out through the weed field. Thanks Chris

Hard Core Survivor Sailing

Saturday 10/15/2011, Metro Beach

Mostly survival sailing with overpowering WSW winds to 40 mph. Winds were more consistent with a tad of south in it which made for better conditions on the inside.
All the hard core sailors showed up rigging 3.2s to 4.0s.
I rigged my 4.0 Ezzy SE with the JP 84 liter board. Way overpowered and uncontrollable for the entire session with the exception of the inside being butter smooth in the shallow bowl area. Made for some wide drawn out jibes.
Late in the evening I ordered a new much needed 3.5 sail.

Session: 12:30 - 3:30
Gear: 4.0 Ezzy SE, 84 liter JP
Conditions: Inside flat filled in most of the time, outside organized swell for the most part but generally to windy for me to enjoy.
Weather: Air 55 degrees, partly sunny, water 55 degrees.
Wind: WSW-W up to 40 mph estimated.
Schooled: Swell riding when manageable and hero jibes/crashes on the inside flat shallow bowl area.
Moves of day: Sticking the clew end into the mud after a blown duck jibe then having the board blown over it cartwheeling 2 times before stopping.
Image: Iwindsurf LSC Buoy

Had to be patient for this session

Friday 10/14/2011, Metro Beach

Had to work very hard and be patient to get this session in. Many lulls of 0 wind with many 30+ blasts thrown in.
Forecast was on as winds from the west were gusty. Big crowd at the time I arrived with sail sizes 4.0 to 5.5.
I rigged my 5.0 Ezzy and since the wind was very fluky I took out the 101 RRD for the flotation in the lulls.
First quick runs out, the wind was way overpowering for my 5.0 so after about an hour of that I came in to rig the 4.5. Just as I did that of course the wind came back down so I stuck it out with the 5.0 and 101 liter until sunset. At times way overpowered and uncontrollable and other times barely a breeze.
MB is my my favorite venue for ducking the jibe. Two fully planning duck jibes on the inside flat water. Had to hit it just right, no weeds on the fin, wind just right and water nice and smooth.

A good productive happy hour thanks to Craig and John and then derigging in the dark, hoping nothing was left behind.

Session: 3:30 - Sunset
Gear: 5.0 Ezzy Free wave, 101 liter RRD
Conditions: Gusty, Inside flat, outside confuse swell 50% of the time.
Weather: Air 55 degrees, partly sunny, water 60 degrees.
Wind: WSW-WNW between 0-30 mph estimated
Schooled: Practice on the downwind 360s batting .333 with them. Pulled off all of my repertoire of lite wind moves during the many lulls.
Moves of day: 2 overpowered duck jibes resulting in tremendous splashdowns when the sail was yank from my control just at the right moment.
Image: Derigging after hours

Made it Work

Sunday 10/9/2011, Empire Beach

Tried hard to get a session in this weekend. With the forecast downgraded to 10-20 from the SW. Down from earlier forecasts.
Saturday was a miss as the winds were marginal and not quite enough for consistent planning.
Early Sunday it was blowing directly side shore maybe a little side off by a few degrees. I went to the beach to sip on my morning coffee when it looked windy enough with blowing sand covering any tracks in the sand. Hey this is windy enough if the sand is blowing I can sail. But there were very few whitecaps on the water, wonder why?
It was one of those mornings with a very warm wind blowing, about 72 degrees at 8:00 in the morning. This is October 9th and this isn't normal.
I had to rig my 6.0 and try it since it was a warm bluebird morning.
Put on the steamer wetsuit and headed out to a decent 2.0 hour pre-breakfast session winds were slightly side off so the further out I went the steadier it was.
Conditions were fairly flat for Lake Michigan maybe this was a localized wind coming off of the sand dunes?


Session: 8:00 - 10:00
Gear: 6.0 Ezzy, 101 liter RRD
Conditions: Inside flat, outside flat with small rollers.
Weather: Air 70 degrees, bluebird morning, water 57 degrees.
Wind: S-SSE between 10-20 mph estimated
Schooled: Fun session pulling off some downwind 360s on the inside with helitacks on both tacks.
Moves of day: 2 360 downwinders on thr inside sand bar
Image: 3 hours after the session a hike up to the top of Empire Bluff to see the venue below.

It actually happened on the weekend Part II

Sunday 10/2/2011, Blue Lagoon

It actually happened on the weekend!
For me day 2 of sub 5.0 conditions. For some day 3 of small gear conditions.
Started out with the 5.0 but after an hour the winds of change made me rig to my rarely used 4.5.
It looked like the early 1990's on the water I had to constantly watch out for other windsurfers. So many on the water at one time it reminded my of the early 90s. Through out the day I suspect at least 20 windsurfers made an appearance.
Welcome the Cass Lake speed crew, a few notched some "unthinkable" speeds on some of the voodoo chop.
Almost a "Copy and Paste" from Saturday. With the exception of more west appearing through out the day.
Another blockbuster almost epic day for the Lagoon with the steadiest 4.5 conditions I have ever had at the Lagoon. A tad lighter then Saturday still had non stop action.
Some voodoo chop with the slightly on-shore conditions but also to be found were some great little meaty swells for carving up.
Rigging was consistent for the up to 20 windsurfers 4.5s to 5.0s sail sizes.
I rigged my 5.0 then down to 4.5 with my 84 liter JP, I got to use my favorite wave fin due to the weeds "not a problem" day.
Suited up with the O'Neill "Boost" drysuit, I love this drysuit. Several catapults and head first plants and again barely a drop trickled in through the neck seal.
The sessions had non-stop action from locating tiny swell to slash and bash to heading out with a slight wind direction change to hit the chop head on resulting in some decent hops.

Session: 1:00 - 5:00
Gear: 5.0 - 4.5 Ezzys, 84 liter JP
Conditions: Inside some organized swells, outside almost the same with occasional confused swell.
Weather: Air 50-55 degrees, bluebird most of the day, water 57 degrees.
Wind: N-NNW between 20-30 mph estimate
Schooled: Slashing and bashing small thick swells.
Moves of day: 2 big time catapults, high wind helitacks.
Images: On the Inside (Photo by Ron) and Lac St Clair Buoy (Iwindsurf.com).

It actually happened on the weekend Part I

Saturday 10/1/2011, Blue Lagoon

It's been over 2 weeks since I've been out sailing. A nice sweet start in September but it ended mid-way through the month. September is normally the best month of the season for wind.
October started out like September, blockbuster almost epic day at the Lagoon with the steadiest 4.0 conditions I have ever had at the Lagoon. Some voodoo chop with the slightly on-shore conditions but also to be found were some great little meaty swells for carving up.
Rigging was consistent for the 12-15 windsurfers 3.5s to 4.5s sail sizes.
At 1:00 I rigged my 4.0 with my 84 liter JP, I got to use my favorite wave fin due to the weeds "not a problem" day.
Suited up with the O’neill "Boost" drysuit, I love this drysuit. Several head first plants and barely a drop trickled in through the neck seal.
On the first session I was on the verge of overpowerness but then I got dialed in I felt comfortable being overpowered. Making regular jibes without a problem. Normally I do the 3 stage duck jibe but today I stuck with mostly the 12 stage normal jibes.
Second session same gear with what felt like gustier conditions but nothing to keep me off a plane.
Both sessions had non-stop action from locating tiny swell to slash and bash to heading out with a slight wind direction change to hit the chop head on resulting in some decent hops.
Session: 1:30 - 5:00
Gear: 4.0 Ezzy SE, 84 liter JP
Conditions: Inside some organized swells, outside almost the same with occasional confused swell.
Weather: Air 50-55 degrees, nearly bluebird, water 60 degrees.
Wind: N-NNE up to 38 mph estimate
Schooled: Normal jibes slashing and bashing small thick swells.
Images: The gear of the day - where else can you park and rig on grass 30 feet from the launch. Larry heading to the outside. Lac St Clair Buoy.