Session Report: April 25, 2006 "Steamy Session"
Today the lake was steaming. It was eerie to be sailing out in that thick white fog. Once I got out into the lake I couldn’t see the shore. The warm misty fog felt good on my face and hands. I was very warm out there, but I spent more time in the water (rather than on) than everyone else.
I was mostly overpowered on my 5.7. I should have rigged a 5.0. I managed with the extra power, but a smaller sail would have been more fun. Since I really couldn’t see where I was going, I just tried to stay upwind as much as possible. Being overpowered made it hard to get upwind. The tail of the board kept breaking loose and sliding out from under me. I had to foot steer the board back downwind to get the fin back in control again. Heading out from the marina, this really wasn’t a problem, but coming back in I was more out of control since I seemed to be hitting all the chop head on.
I completed one jibe during the few minutes when the wind let up and I was no longer overpowered. I need to do some flat water jibe practice. Our Hatteras trip is just around the corner and I’d like to have it down before then.
The freakiest part of the day was when I heard the rumble of a power boat pulling out of the Marina. I was hoping the guy had enough sense (unlike us) to not go beyond idle speed in this fog. He slowly disappeared into the white, never going beyond idle.
Session Report: April 22, 2006
Saturday was a perfect day to take the family to the lake for windsurfing. Michael had a great time with his new sail. I rigged Jen a 5.0 but the wind picked up quite a bit by the time she got on the water. It was too much power for her first time out this year. I sailed with a 7.5 on the Kombat and on the Nova. Reid came out to hang with us. He took the pictures you see below. Michael says that windsurfing is more fun than video games. I hope it stays that way. The wind kicked in later than NOAA had forecasted. The wind was at its best from 2pm-6pm. I was way overpowered with the 7.5 later in the afternoon. I looked at the wind history and it was blowing 20mph during this time. Around 5pm we packed up the windsurfing gear. All of us went for an evening sail on the cabin boat to the Boondocks Restaurant for dinner. After dinner we sailed into the night all the way to the dam. Reid took the helm as I went down to fix some lighting issues. He skippered the rest of the evening. We got back to the Marina around 9pm.
Session Report: April 12, 2006
Arrived at the Marina at 8:00 am. Measured windspeed at the point was a steady 18mph. I rigged a 5.7 on the Kombat. Reid showed up just as I was done rigging. I took the Nova out for a spin while Reid was rigging to scope out the wind. I wanted to know where not to go with the Kombat once I got out there. I can cruise out of a wind shadow on the Nova much easier than the Kombat. I plotted my course and came back to shore to get the Kombat. Reid was just about done rigging, so I grabbed the Kombat to get a head start. It took a few minutes to get up to the main pool, but it was worth it.
Once we got into the main pool, we were welcomed with the steadiest wind I’ve windsurfed at Clinton Lake. The reaches were long and the waves were perfect. On port tack I’d hit every wave face while blasting across the lake. On starboard tack I’d ride the tops of the waves and then carve downwind into the trough and then back on top of the wave again. The Kombat let me do whatever I wanted. It responded instantly to my every command. I’m loving this board.
My jibing didn’t improve much this session. I only completed one jibe. I did watch Reid do a few duck jibes that were impressive. His turning radius was small and the duck was snappy. The energy of the jibe looked explosive, but oh so clean.
After 1:00 the wind started to die on us. I waited a few minutes to make sure it was the end of the good stuff. I was awarded with another ride out and back and then the wind machine turned off. It took a while to get back to the marina, but I was in no hurry. This day ranks #1 in my book for the year so far.