Randy, Gene, Marcelle and I sailed at Van Pugh from 12-3PM. Despite an airport wind report of 8-12mph, conditions were excellent for a big sail. The wind was very steady and strong enough for whitecaps. I sailed an 8.3m and stayed on a plane 90+ percent of the time. Randy sailed a 7.4m. With full sun, it was reasonalbly warm for winter.
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In case there are any doubters out there, check out Randy’s Gybe.
http://gmathis.photosite.com/Randy/
Click view slideshow .
Is Randy really that good or could it be his Brand New Neil Pryde Excess Sail (from WindSense)?
Gene
Gene Mathis
Nice jibe, Randy. Cool sail, Windsense. When I saw Sunday's forecast last night (15-25), I thought I should head that way for a Sunday freshwater session. Now it's backed off to 10-20, so I'll stay home and sail the sound. NW at 15 with opposing current.
Hey Barrett - I thought about you yesterday. I got out about 3 pm - big board and 7.4 sail - just about the time the wind backed off to about 12 and the tide started to run out. Not a great situation for white-knuckle ripping. but the wind shifted more westerly and I drug out the wide barge and just goofed around. I spotted some dolphins feeding in some shoals up the sound and sailed in to see if they would come visit. Sometimes they just ignore me and other times they come have a look. Yesterday I had an entire pod swimming all around me for about an hour. They were swimming as close as 10 feet and turned everytime I did. What an awesome sea mamal. Definitely made up for the lack of planing.
tc / thin'air
Tim, thanks for the report from Hilton Head. Sounds like a wonderful experience sailing with the dolphins.
Barrett
Barrett
Barrett, maybe this will inspire me to finish an old project - air density calculator. With cold air, it makes a decent bit of difference in your planing ability. I forgot what numbers I once worked out with Bert Eskridge but I think it's close to the order of .5 to .75 m2 in sail size in bigger sails. Maybe after the holidays...