Sunday, June 30, 2013

Lexington Scores

Lexington Scores

Day 17 for the 2013 season - Lexington, 6-30-2013 Sunday.

The text lines was humming with activity, promises of wind, clean water, waves and sunshine coming to  Lexington Harbor.
So I drove the 65 miles to Lexington only to find lite wind conditions at 3:30. With a few windsurfers out on 6.5 and bigger.
I rigged big 6.0 and took out the 100 liter board with the big fin. On the water by 4:00 only to
find at best marginal conditions - working the waves to stay on a plane.
Then about 4:30 someone turned on the switch and the wind picked up to an slightly overpowering 6.0 conditions. Held on and had a few perfect jibes outside and inside in the 2-4 foot waves that were starting to form.
Eventually at 5:30 came in to rig the 5.5 and back on the water by 5:45 to find out it was 5.0 conditions after and hour of play time came in and rigged the 5.0 along with the 85 liter board.
Back on the water by 6:45 and enjoyed 45 minutes of riding the waves when the wind started to die off.
At 7:30 came in and called it a day a good day that is. Cocktails courtesy of Craig.

 
Sail Time: 3.0 hours from 4:00 - 7:30
Gear: 6.0, 5.5, 5.0 with 100 and 85 liter board
Conditions: Nice swell, but lite winds on the inside
Weather: Sunny Air 70s water 70s.
Wind:  NE to 25+ mph

Schooled: Wave riding as good as it gets in Michigan
Image: Gear used, Port Sanilac wind data



Saturday, June 29, 2013

Milner Beach Surprise

Milner Beach Surprise

Day 16 for the 2013 season - Milner Beach 6-29-2013 Saturday.

A somewhat of a surprise evening session - forecast called for winds to pickup from the NE although to lite to even consider windsurfing. As I monitored the winds at 4 pm it was 10-12 mph, by 4:30 it was 15+ and white capping out of the NE.
Quickly decided to rig the 6.0 with the 100 liter board and by the time I got on the water it picked up a notch so the 6.0 was perfect. A quick 2 hour session with steady 15-20 mph winds from the N-ENE, seemed to swapping around a bit. (Actually the 5.5 would have been perfect since it is a lighter more maneuverable sail).
Good fun Larry joined in the raucous a short time later.
These Milner Beach surprises happen often, luckily for me and other SCS sailors we are nearby so we could rig and sail in a moments notice



Sail Time: 2.0 hours from 5:15 - 7:15
Gear: 6.0 with 100 liter board
Conditions: Fairly flat conditions inside with small swell outside
Weather: Sunny Air 70s water 70s.
Wind:  NE to 25+ mph

Schooled: Blasting, duck jibes
Image: Larry, mid-jibe, SCS Harbor data, flag blowing in the wind.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Cancel Lexington, Hello Blue Lagoon

Cancel Lexington, Hello Blue Lagoon

Day 15 for the 2013 season - Blue Lagoon 6-13-2013 Sunday.

All reports pointed to a Lexington day but messages coming back from Lexington said wind was offshore so stayed in town and went to Blue Lagoon.
When I first arrived the wind was lite so I rigged the 6.0 and sailed it from noon - 2:00.
Intermittent planning puffs turned into steady NNW winds and eventually higher steadier NNW to the point where I had to rigged down to the 5.0. Back on the water by 2:30 with the 5.0 but it wasn't quite enough, wind speed dropped slightly so came back in and rigged the 5.5 sail and back on the water by 3:30. Sailed till 5:00 when wind became holy so came in and called it a day.

Sail Time: 4.0 hours from 12:00 - 5:00
Gear: 6.0, 5.0, 5.5 with 100 liter board
Conditions: Fairly flat conditions
Weather: Sunny Air 70s water 60s.
Wind:  NNW to 30 mph

Schooled: Downwind 360s
Image: Selfridge wind data



Sunday, June 2, 2013

"Up with the Sun and Gone with the Wind"





Day 14 for the 2013 season - Metro Beach 6-2-2013 Sunday.

Not quite dawn patrol but nevertheless an early morning session got me what I wanted.
Steady pre-frontal winds from the WSW estimated from 15-30 made for another perfect 5.5 day.
During the 15 mph lulls you could easily catch a down slope of a wave and keep the planning going.
Non-stop action from 9:30 - 12:00.
Easy to get on a plane and stay planning due to the nice organized swell.
Sail sizes for the day were 7.0 down to 5.5.


Sail Time: 2.5 hours non-stop from 9:30-12:00
Gear: 5.5 with 100 liter board
Conditions: Well organized swell to keep the planning going
Weather: Sunny Air 70s water 70s.
Wind:  SW-W to 30 mph pre-frontal winds.
Schooled: Jibing off the wave faces and riding the swell in.
Image: SCS wind data