Post by waterauthorityrick on Oct 31, 2009 22:08:41 GMT -5
Since I already had a late afternoon 3.8m session on Friday at Seneca and my schedule had my Saturday morning overbooked I chose to make the drive to Lake Erie.
Upon pulling into the parking lot at Hamburg it looked like a "GHOST" town' there was not a single car there just me. I phoned Miller who was in his car on the way to Hatteras to tell him I was the only one there it was "SCARY"and it was blowing hard. A very short time later Craig from Buffalo pulled in and I felt better knowing that there would be someone there to dial 911 should something happen.
I made short work of rigging my 3.8m sail since it was only 20 hours prior to that I had it all together on Seneca. Making it to the water I also made short work of falling in on the first shore break. I got washed around a bit but fortunately sailed back in prior to ending up on the rock pile. Round two was successful and I was out in the water through the shore break.
Wow what wind I was fully sheeted out much of the time and the gusts made it very difficult to enjoy huge waves begging me to jibe on them. The gusts were getting bigger and bigger I managed to get five wave turns on the same wave but it must have been super human strength cause just sheeting in was becoming more and more difficult. I sailed back into shore to consider the whole thing over again guessing the wind was 45mph or so, I told Craig that I wouldn't go out there if I were him but he wanted nothing to do with my knowledge on the situation. The others on shore watched as Craig got worked in the spin cycle and spit back out down the beach they all considered it funny but I was the one with the rubber on so I would have to be the one to rescue him. I didn't need to rescue him he after all cause he is an expert regarding the spin cycle.
We all stood in the parking lot watching the wind swept waves I made a few phone calls back home to get the actual wind speeds from the net but my wife wasn't home. After waiting for the wind to back off slightly I went back for one more try and it was this try that I was a little more successful.
I stayed on the water for one and a half hours still over powered but stayed with it; I watched as Craig tried and tried and was unsuccessful. Soon I could see the parking lot empty so I knew I was on my own out there and that was "SCARY".
Making it back to my desk at home I checked the wind history and was correct with my 45mph estimate and not that shocked at the few over 50mph readings. It's amazing that our gear can stay together with all the forces acting on it.
H2O Rick
Upon pulling into the parking lot at Hamburg it looked like a "GHOST" town' there was not a single car there just me. I phoned Miller who was in his car on the way to Hatteras to tell him I was the only one there it was "SCARY"and it was blowing hard. A very short time later Craig from Buffalo pulled in and I felt better knowing that there would be someone there to dial 911 should something happen.
I made short work of rigging my 3.8m sail since it was only 20 hours prior to that I had it all together on Seneca. Making it to the water I also made short work of falling in on the first shore break. I got washed around a bit but fortunately sailed back in prior to ending up on the rock pile. Round two was successful and I was out in the water through the shore break.
Wow what wind I was fully sheeted out much of the time and the gusts made it very difficult to enjoy huge waves begging me to jibe on them. The gusts were getting bigger and bigger I managed to get five wave turns on the same wave but it must have been super human strength cause just sheeting in was becoming more and more difficult. I sailed back into shore to consider the whole thing over again guessing the wind was 45mph or so, I told Craig that I wouldn't go out there if I were him but he wanted nothing to do with my knowledge on the situation. The others on shore watched as Craig got worked in the spin cycle and spit back out down the beach they all considered it funny but I was the one with the rubber on so I would have to be the one to rescue him. I didn't need to rescue him he after all cause he is an expert regarding the spin cycle.
We all stood in the parking lot watching the wind swept waves I made a few phone calls back home to get the actual wind speeds from the net but my wife wasn't home. After waiting for the wind to back off slightly I went back for one more try and it was this try that I was a little more successful.
I stayed on the water for one and a half hours still over powered but stayed with it; I watched as Craig tried and tried and was unsuccessful. Soon I could see the parking lot empty so I knew I was on my own out there and that was "SCARY".
Making it back to my desk at home I checked the wind history and was correct with my 45mph estimate and not that shocked at the few over 50mph readings. It's amazing that our gear can stay together with all the forces acting on it.
H2O Rick
