Weekend Windsurfing Report

I know. It's only Sunday and a bit premature for the weekend windsurfing report. But as the spouse is gallivanting about with a wedding party, I pulled kid duty for the day. Also, the flood is on for most of the afternoon, and there is nary a draft of air wafting past the house today. So, it looks like it's going to be a late day, if at all.

Even so, I got two days on the water because the spouse made it home from work early on Friday (this is a switch given the long hours worked as of late).

Friday, I caught the first hour of the ebb round about 4:30 PM and rigged my 4.7 meter sail. I should have rigged the 5.4, but I bagged the 4.7 out so it worked like a 5.0. The sails these days are so versatile, you can get away with a larger gap between sizes. The wind was good for about an hour and then started to fall apart. Waves were nice, but flattened out toward the end of the session.

Yesterday, most folks were standing around on the beach with their thumbs up their noses trying to decide if it was good enough to rig. I got to the launch early and just went with my gut selecting the 5.4 meter sail, and swapping out my small for the large fin (25 cm). This was the right call, again, I rigged the 5.4 tight rather than loose - like a 5.0 and the extra canvas gave me the umph to get upwind to the bridge fairly well - albeit taking about 45 mins to make it up wind on the flood tide. I was the only sailor up that far and had the whole vista to myself, minus a few big sailboats and a small tourist boats out and about. It was a crystal clear day and the views from the middle of the bay are, well, stunning. Makes me glad I am not a tourist as I get this view on a regular basis.

After about an hour on the water, the wind shifted direction a bit and started to produce some holes...this is a good indication that one should head back in as the wind becomes not so trustworthy and it is a long swim should you need to do it. So, I started to head back. As I made it back to the beach the wind really began to get flukie and the folks who were still just standing around were very jealous - knowing that they were about to get skunked waiting for more wind when they could have had the same amount of time on the water that I got.

As of right now, I am not optimistic about getting back on the water today. That said, the sun is shining, the air is clean, and once the little guy wakes up from his AM nap, the boys and I will no doubt head outside for some good fun. La vie clair!