2/4-6, Lake Mohave. 5/6/7M, 100/125L

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2/4-6, Lake Mohave. 5/6/7M, 100/125L

Postby vernv » Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:40 am

Second try at Lake Mohave for me was more successful than the first. What a treat to be ripping along on clear, blue water and sunshine in the middle of winter. Water temp was in the low 50s and I wore a 4/3 with a hood, booties and gloves. Air temps were low 50s in the morning and low 70s in the afternoon.

This time I camped at Katherine's Landing. It was ~1/2 full and costs $20/night (cash only!). The site was nice, but hard to sleep in a tent when the wind starts cranking in the middle of the night. The upside is at least I could lay awake thinking about windsurfing... I happened to be camped right near a few other wind addicts who were fun to socialize (distantly) with. The crew at Cabin Site was also very welcoming. It was great to share so much stoke with people from all over the US and one from France. Quite a few were there from the gorge, camping for the season.

The NOAA prediction for Feb 4th was 25mph, gusting to 38mph. I had brought my new big wind gear and was excited to give it a test. There were plenty of whitecaps at 10am, but it looked more like 20mph to me. I went out on a 5M and 98L board and sailed mostly powered up for an hour. The wind was not building so I switched to a 6M and 125L board and this worked great for ~2 hours. Not a bad session at all, but disappointed not to get more experience on smaller gear.

Feb 5th was also lighter than predicted (14mph). I had a few planing runs with a 7M, but mostly slogging. At least the conversation on the beach was entertaining and it was neat to watch the wing foilers.

The NOAA prediction for Feb 6th was 20-21 mph gusting to 28mph. Again, wind was lighter than that (18mph?), but absolutely perfect for the 7M and 125L. I was well overpowered some of the time, but could bear off and stay on plane through the lulls. The waves in the middle were nicely formed and I got the fin well out of the water a few times. It was so fun to be flying on the fin at top speed on the reaches, navigating through the swells, bearing off into a jibe just skipping over the chop. I'm still struggling with the sail flip under power though. Most all the jibes ended with a clumsy sail flip after falling off plane. I sailed until I was spent, which coincided with the wind dropping off a bit.

All things considered this was a successful trip, although I'm now tempering my expectations of consistent, nuking north winds. I think they've seen very few (2?) days above 15mph in the last two weeks. Still, what a great place to sail in the middle of Utah winter.
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