8.26, Saratoga/Pelican, 9.0, 135, 44 cm

[Carl Christensen]

Good smooth Saratoga with a 9.0. most were on 7.0, 7.5. See Ben's post. 20 at SSB per Kenny? Sounds like 6.0 ish would have been the call for me. Actually looked windier at PBH per the lake cam but hard to tell. Gotta learn more.

[Mike Egan]

Great late afternoon sess. 7.5 and 117 liters may have been able to go down to 6.6. Josh made the 6.3 work.

[Sarah Ranes]

I wasn't sure there would still be any wind after work....but I think I was on the water by 5:30pm. I was happy to see Carl on the water, Mike, and Josh still there, ready to sail, Luis showed up too. Josh said to rig big, so I did. 7.2 and 136ltr worked out well, I had solid planage for just over 2 hrs. I was a little surprised that I logged 27 miles on the gps. There were a few times I was wishing I was on a 6.2, but that only lasted for a few minutes, and I just hung on in the stronger wind that came along. It was fun to go upwind and down, although I did not stray too far last night, for fear of the wind shutting down. It did shut down, just as the sun was almost setting behind the mountains. Everyone was gone, except Luis. It sure was good to get out and have a very nice session!
One thing I have noticed, and others have mentioned, in comparing Saratoga to Provo boat Harbor, and even Lincon. Is at Saratoga how tight the swell comes along. PBH especially and at Lincon, it seems that the swell tops are further apart, and setup a little nicer. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the water dept, and length of the lake that they have to bulid up.

[Kenny]

One thing I have noticed, and others have mentioned, in comparing Saratoga to Provo boat Harbor, and even Lincon. Is at Saratoga how tight the swell comes along. PBH especially and at Lincon, it seems that the swell tops are further apart, and setup a little nicer. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the water dept, and length of the lake that they have to bulid up.

I have noticed that as well. The swell at Lincoln was well-spaced last night. I think the long buildup in wind speed over the course of the afternoon, and lack of boat traffic made for some nice swell. I just wish the wind was a bit stronger as the swell was good, but not epic. The wind is also so much smoother by the time it reaches that southend of the lake.

[Ralph Morrison]

One thing I have noticed, and others have mentioned, in comparing Saratoga to Provo boat Harbor, and even Lincon. Is at Saratoga how tight the swell comes along. PBH especially and at Lincon, it seems that the swell tops are further apart, and setup a little nicer. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the water dept, and length of the lake that they have to bulid up.

Very true, it's called fetch.

From Wikipedia;

Fetch, often called the fetch length, is a term for the length of water over which a given wind has blown. It is used in geography and meteorology and is usually associated with coastal erosion. It plays a large part in longshore drift as well.

The fetch length along with the wind speed (or strength) determines the size of waves produced. The longer the fetch length and the faster the wind speed, the larger and stronger the wave will be. For example, the winds which travel from the East Coast of the United States and hit the west coast of Ireland would have an extremely large fetch and would produce very large waves if the wind speed was also high.The fetch length determines the power and energy of the wave. Additionally, if the winds are blowing in the same direction during the wave's lifetime, the wave will in turn be stronger. If a fetch is very large, then the wave will be very large. If the fetch is very small, the wave will be small. The fetch is related to the orbit of the wave.

[Carl Christensen]

Sounds like people were generally happy with 7.x at Saratoga. Only one post from PBH but similar if not incrementally stronger. My 9.0 might have unfairly given the appearance that Saratoga was not as windy as the east side but it sure felt about right to me at the time. Maybe could have sailed a bit smaller at times.

[Carl Christensen]

also note: the best readings at Provo Airport were 5-7pm. possibly a bit delayed compared to the west side. don't know when the best push came in for SSB but Jason said he didn't even get out until after 6 there with his 13 and he had a good sesh.

[jimhornbeck]

pbh from 4:00 -7:00 was solid 7.2 wind ramping up at times to be solid 6.8 for what I was on. The swell was nice for light wind.