Why Windsurf?

Come experience the thrill of Windsurfing, find out why people all over the world are having sudden career changes…

Get in touch with nature and the outdoors. No noisy engines, no polluting exhausts, just you, a board and your sail, the wind, and freedom at last.

• It’s a good excuse to travel the world. There are many great destinations including Maui, Baja, Aruba, and more!
• Provides good exercise; Windsurfing is a low impact sport that works many major muscle groups. Come out and start working on that figure!
• Join some of the most enthusiastic and friendly people on earth ;)
• It’s on the water! What a great place to spend on a hot summer day. People pay millions to live by the water…
• Become one with nature. Feel the exhilaration as the coefficient of static friction goes by zero and your board achieves a plane.

-- borrowed from Boeing Employee’s Windsurfing Club

Another Sailable Day

It blew all last weekend, but every redneck in town was at the lake, so I was not.

It blew Tuesday, Wednesday, and today (Thursday). They keep forecasting hail and thunderstorms that never arrive. Not sailing TOTALLY SUCKS!



Here is my drive to the lake today. I got rained on on the way there.







A nice ominous sky going to the parking lot at Hamilton Creek.








WHTF? The lake looks dead.

Ahhh, looks a little better toward Anderson Road.








Better still.

Why didn’t I sail this??? Because it was too windy and there was not another soul on the lake.

Time         Temp     Pressure       Wind MPH  Gust

12:46 AM     62.6     29.87     SSE     5.8
12:53 AM     63.0     29.86     South   8.1
1:53 AM     62.1     29.83     Calm    Calm
2:53 AM     62.1     29.83     Calm    Calm
3:53 AM     61.0     29.83     South   4.6     -
4:53 AM     61.0     29.80     SE      4.6     -
5:53 AM     61.0     29.82     South   5.8     -
6:53 AM     62.1     29.82     South  10.4     -
7:17 AM     62.6     29.84     South  11.5     -
7:53 AM     63.0     29.82     South  10.4     -
8:46 AM     62.6     29.83     South   9.2     17.3
8:53 AM     62.1     29.81     South   9.2     -
9:00 AM     62.6     29.82     South   8.1     -
9:22 AM     62.6     29.82     South   9.2     -
9:53 AM     64.0     29.79     SSE    12.7     -
10:05 AM     66.2     29.80     SSE    16.1     20.7
10:53 AM     66.0     29.78     South   9.2     17.3
11:53 AM     69.1     29.77     South  18.4     26.5
12:22 PM     69.8     29.77     South  12.7     25.3
12:53 PM     73.0     29.74     South  15.0     21.9
1:06 PM     71.6     29.76     South  13.8     20.7
1:53 PM     73.9     29.73     SW     11.5     20.7
2:53 PM     75.9     29.72     WSW    15.0     23.0
3:53 PM     77.0     29.71     SW     17.3     28.8
4:53 PM     75.0     29.71     SW     16.1     25.3
5:53 PM     73.9     29.72     West   13.8     21.9
6:53 PM     72.0     29.74     WSW     9.2     16.1
7:53 PM     70.0     29.77     WSW    10.4     18.4
8:53 PM     66.9     29.80     WSW    10.4     16.1

Garmin Forerunner 201

I bought a 201 off eBay; I thought I got a killer deal until I realized they were gouging me on shipping.

Anyway, this thing i really cool. I took a road trip last weekend and checked out where I went in Garmin Training Center and also overlaid my route on Google Maps.

This morning my Aquapac for it arrived. I bought the smallest one they make, the Pro Mini. It’s twice as long as necessary, so I folded one end underneath and duct taped it. Perfect!

Lake Water Temperature revisited

I broke down and called the Corps of Engineers again yesterday, in spite of the fact that I have received from them 1) no reply to my March 15th email; 2) a totally bullshit reply to my question.

I spoke with the webmaster’s boss and after repeating my question 4-5 times, I determined that the date at the bottom of the page means that this is the date for the most recent information. In other words, NO info is newer than that, even if the date is four days ago. So much for them updating the water temp every morning as they previously claimed.

Top Ten Reasons Why Women Should Hang Out With Windsurfer Guys

Top Ten Reasons Why Women Should Hang Out With Windsurfer Guys
Friday, April 6th, 2007

10. The ratio of men to women is 4 to 1 in your favor
9. They can talk about something besides football
8. They don’t smell too bad because it’s a good bet they’ve gotten wet recently
7. They have another interest besides sex
6. You know they’re rich enough to afford the equipment
5. You always get the latest weather report, several times a day, whether you want it or not
4. They are capable of commitment, at least to their sport
3. They have an excuse to wear rubber
2. You always know where they are, at least when it’s windy
1. Windsurfers are generally fit, tanned, and have cute butts.

Windsurfing Glossary

BEAR OFF/BEAR AWAY
To turn the board away from the direction the wind is coming from. Same as head down, fall off, bear off.

BEACH START
A method of mounting the board in knee-deep water with the sail flying.

BEAT
To zigzag your path of travel against the wind to reach a point upwind of you.
BOOM
The “handle” of your sail. It’s where you’ll hold on most of the time.

CENTERBOARD
Large retractable fin found on longboards and learning boards. Helps provide stability and enhances a board’s upwind capabilities.

CLEW
Back corner of the sail.

DOWNHAUL
The rope attached to the mast base that pulls the sail down onto the mast.

DOWNWIND
Direction the wind is blowing to, or a path of travel.

FIN
Attached to the bottom of the board at its tail, it provides directional stability.

FOOT STRAPS
Foot straps allow more board control and foot steering at high speeds for advanced sailors.

GRID CONSTRUCTION
A modern sail material such as X-Ply or Pentex that is reinforced for toughness.

HARNESS LINES
Lines attached to the boom used for hooking in to a harness.

HEAD UP
To turn the board toward the direction the wind is blowing from.

JIBE
To change the board’s direction 180 degrees by turning downwind.

LITERS
The unit of measurement of a board’s volume – the number of liters of water it would displace if submerged.

MAST BASE
Attaches the U-joint to the board.

MONOFILM
Clear, lightweight plastic material used in modern sails.

NOSE
The front of the board, often slightly pointier than the board’s tail.

OUTHAUL
The line that connects the back corner of the sail (the clew) to the boom.

PLANE
In windsurfing, it’s when the board gains enough forward speed to break free of the water and skim the surface, reducing drag and allowing the fastest speeds.

Other good stuff to know

PORT
To the left of the forward motion. Sailing on port tack is sailing left hand forward. Port tack yields right of way to starboard tack.

RIG (noun)
The combination of sail, mast, mast base and boom after it is assembled; (verb) to assemble these components.

STARBOARD
To the right of the forward motion. Sailing on starboard tack is sailing right hand forward. Starboard tack has right of way over port tack.

TAIL
The back end of the board, usually the squarer end. This is the end with the fin.

TACK ( verb)
To turn the board upwind, through the direction the wind is coming from, so you can start sailing in a new direction. Opposite of the jibe, and useful for gaining upwind ground.

UNIVERSAL JOINT (U- joint)
Component that connects the sail to the board that allows it to move in any direction.

UPHAUL
A rope attached to the rig that is used to pull the sail up and out of the water.

UPWIND
Toward the direction the wind is coming from.

VOLUME
A measurement of a board’s displacement, which correlates directly with its flotation. The more volume, the more float.

WATER START
A technique used by intermediate or advanced sailors in which the sail lifts them from the water onto the board. A necessary skill for sailing smaller boards that don’t provide enough float to stand on and uphaul the sail.

Day #5 on the lake

Max Temperature 84 °F / 28 °C
Wind Speed 8 mph / 13 km/h (SSW)
Max Wind Speed 28 mph / 45 km/h
Max Gust Speed 37 mph / 60 km/h

Tuesday, April 3rd was my 4th day to sail in 2007. There was a monster storm headed our way from the midwest and forecasters were a bit off in the timing. They called for it to hit between 10:00 PM and midnight on Tuesday, but we knew by noon that it was on the way and the lake would be dangerous several hours before it even got dark.

I printed out some great articles on tuning and checked them against my setup and I was right on the money except for boom-height being an inch or two low, so I put my boom up two inches. I also tuned the 9.5 for light winds.

Tim arrived around 11 and we chatted for an hour. By the time I persuaded him to rig his 7.5, my 9.5 was obviously going to be a handful, but I did not want to take the time to re-downhaul, so I just tightened the outhaul an inch.

My muscles were burning after a couple of runs across the lake and I really wanted to lower the booms, but I had tightened the inhaul, had several inches of outhaul, and was afraid I couldn’t clamp the boom shut if I tried moving it while in the middle of the lake. It took awhile to get to an island to adjust things. Just as soon as I got back onboard, I was overpowered and decided to head back in for smaller stuff. Tim followed me in and as soon as we hit the beach, the wind died. We had now been sailing for just over an hour.

I rigged a 7.5, grabbed the smaller Bee 284 and we went back out the minute the wind returned. We both had some good rides, but winds were getting quite shifty and we were watching the sky. I think we saw the same first lightning strike, because we headed for the beach at the same time.

We had time to get in before getting showered on. The showers ended fairly quickly and we broke down and quit for the day.

Surface water temperature is 68.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and 68.4 degrees at 10 feet. I baked in a full 2mm suit and switched to a 2mm shortie, which was perfect.

YouTube - Everybody

Footage from a big race in France. This is probably my favorite YouTube sailing video.

April Fool’s Day indeed (windwise)

Today’s forecast was identical to yesterday’s; yesterday afternoon the call for today was 5-15, but by the 10:00 news, it had become S 10-20.

Tim had family matters to content with, so we planned to get out around 1. No problem, it built all morning, but by 1, it was 6-10. After watching it for 1/2 an hour, we decided to blow off sailing today.

Shadow and I drove around town, visiting several parks. Finally around 5, we were at Riverfront Park and I thought we had made a bad call and should have sailed. Now I see what we missed, which was a basically very gusty and shifty day on the lake. You can’t see it in the graphs, but we watched it go from SE to NW numerous times.