Crazy warm for Canadian Thanksgiving. And windy too!
I got out Saturday at noon and carried my favourite windsurfing board, the Skate 108 out to the point. The warm south wind was reading 15-25 knots so rigged up the 5.4 Duke on my new carbon skinny mast. The water was 17, the air 18 and I was wearing a 3/2 wet suit. While it was overcast with a bit of rain now and then, I don't think I've ever seen a Thanksgiving this warm.
I got a few runs but the sail felt heavy. So I stopped and added more downhaul. That made it much more comfortable to sail and then go fast. 47 km/h was my top speed, not bad for a freestyle board. I headed out farther into the bay but then realized I was windsurfing over shallow spots that used to be shoals. Without sun and polarized sunglasses it was hard to see the shallow spots. I got a solid hour of sailing before the wind started dying.
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| Some great runs on the 5.4 in the early afternoon |
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| You can see the shoals I cruised over on the left (west) |
So I parked the gear on the point and headed to the shed and worked on closing down the place and began draining the plumbing. I also started packing up some of the gear I am planning on taking to Hatteras this fall.
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| The gear sitting on the rocks between sessions |
For the 2nd session I tightened the battens which made a big difference. I could now feel the 5.4m North Duke sail become pumpable in the wind. I got 8 good runs with a duck gybe and a few upwind 360s.
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| My 2nd session, a few runs as the sun was setting |
In total 1.5 hours of sailing with a smaller sail than I normally use. The wind should hold overnight but will be dying down in the morning...
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| Packing up after the last session of the year? |
Oh, here is my new favourite wind site.
Windy.com
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