Empire Beach Almost Classic - Day 28 of 2013 season

Day 28 of 2013 season, Empire Beach, Empire Michigan


This is the forecast as of Saturday 8/24/13 at 2:30 same forecast for 3 days in a row so the outlook for Sunday looks promising. We'll see come Sunday.













This is the actual Empire wind data that occurred on Sunday 8/25/13.













Got to the beach by 10:00 and rigged the 5.0 with 85 liter board and got on the water by 10:30.
Some crazy swell with some voodoo chop thrown in the mix. Winds felt more side shore then normal that would be from the south instead of the ideal southwest. It was fun session with somewhat disorganized swell with a lot of south in the swell, needed more of a southwest swell for optimal conditions.
With the air temperatures in the mid-80s and the water in the mid-60s this is as warm as it gets in the summer.
The unusual conditions made sailing a lot more strenuous then normal making me dead tired by 2:30.
Took a lunch break thinking I could be re-energized and get back out for a few more hours. It didn't work that way. Just to tired and weak to head back out with wind speeds picking up and swell getting gnarlier.  Felt bad wasting winds like that. If I went back out I could have used the 4.5 or 4,0, but I was even to tired to re-rig. It blew 20-30 all afternoon...


Sail Time: 3.0 hours from 10:30-2:30
Gear: 5.0, 85 liter board
Conditions:  Swell, voodoo chop
Weather:  Sunny, Air 80s water 60s
Wind: SSW 15- 35 mph 
Schooled:  Wave riding
Image:   I was impressed by the GoPro resolution of a fram grab, (sand grains caught flying by). Mid-flight of a jump and Impressive shadow jump caught by helmet cam.

Day 27 of the 2013 season
Little Glen Lake 8/21/2013 Wednesday

I knew the forecast was to be good with SW winds forecasted to be 15-25, temperatures mid- 80s and sunny skies.
Left St Clair Shores at 10 am and headed straight to Empire arriving at the beach by 2:30.
Found it to be hot, sunny and lite south winds. Unable to find a parking spot and since the winds were lite I headed over to Little Glen Lake. Once there I found Mike and Amy resting from an all day long session and Tim Byrd rigging his Ezzy. Looked to 5.5, so by 3:30 I was on the water with the 100 liter board and 5.5 Ezzy.
Very gusty conditions estimated at 10-30 mpg winds from mainly south. Warm, sunny and ripping flat water speed runs with hero jibes. Some scary overpowered gusts lasting quite awhile.
Great meeting Tim and sailing with Mike and Tim. Those guys were ripping it up.


Sail Time: 3.0 hours from 3:30 - 6:30
Gear: 5.5, 100 liter board
Conditions:  Flat water, small chop
Weather:  Sunny, Air 80s water 70s, shorty for me
Wind: NW 15- 35 mph
Schooled:  Flat water recorded breaking speed runs
Image:  Little Glen launch and wind data from Empire

This is Windsurfing - Day 26 of the 2013 season

Day 26 of the 2013 season
Kettle Pointe (KP) 8/13/2013 Tuesday

After 220 miles of driving from St Clair Shores to Lexington and then back south to cross the bridge in Port Huron and then on over to Kettle Point.  A miscalculation and general distrust in the forecast lords sent me scrambling but it all paid off with a genuine windsurf session.
Let's see, it cost me $4.00 for every 25 miles travel, fuel and wear and tear so that is approximately $36.00 in cost.  Not an issue.... as wind addicts know these kind of sessions are PRICELESS!

Rigged and on the water at KP with the 5.0 and 85 liter board by 3:30 so that's 3.5 hours of drive time for 3 hours of near epic wave conditions. It would have been epic day for me if it was a steadier wind.
NW winds from 15-30 drove in some 8-10 footers with smooth troughs made for easy pleasy conditions.
This is by far the best wave site that I know of in the Great Lakes area.
Great sailing with the masters John Z and "The Fox", Craig.
A special thanks to Craig for talking me into KP.

Sail Time: 3.0 hours from 3:30 - 7:00
Gear: 5.0, 85 liter board
Conditions:  Wavy - yahoos 8-10 foot smooth waves
Weather:  Mostly cloudy, Air 60s water 60s
Wind: NW 15- 30 mph
Schooled: Wave riding extraordinaire
Image:  Grand Bend wind data and general vista of Kettle Point beach. Craig in the background.

 

Metro Beach goes off unexpectly

Day 25 of the 2013 season
Metro Beach 8/2/2013 Friday

Started out the day with some kite practice at 11:00 rigged, launched and practiced until 2:00.
Got some decent rides although short due to wind direction and my need to stay in the shallows for the time being.

Real fun began at 3:00 rigged the 5.5 only to have the wind pick up, by 4:00 I was on the 5.0.
Good steady 5.0 conditions, very flat jibeatorim on the inside and small chop on outside made it easy to sail with the 100 liter board.



Sail Time: 3.0 hours from 3:00 - 6:00
Gear: 5.5, 5.0 100 liter board
Conditions:  Easy sailing conditions with a few big time gusts outside with flats on the inside.
Weather:  Mostly cloudy, Air 70s water 60s
Wind: SW to WSW 18- 33 mph reported by the MB Weathertalker.
Schooled: Hero jibes, 360s, heli-tacks, the full bag of tricks
Image:  LSC Buoy Data for Aug 2. 2013 and MB Weathertalker data