Grantsville 4.5 to 5.0 nukefest

[Grant McAllister]

What a perfect day to get your short board windfix! Some, but not all of the usual suspects were there including Dimo,(newbie) Bill, Jim, Ken, Me and Rick Mcclain. Rick showed us how to pulloff some nice duck jibs! After the 1st hour the 5.0 felt like it was too much, Jim rerigged to a 4.5 but Ken hung on to his 5.6 somehow and the reaches were fast and furious. Still Blowing in the fives when I pulled out at 11:15.

[kenonstott]

With gusts into the 30’s the 5.5 was definitely a handful but I don’t have a 5.0 anymore. I also didn’t bring the little HiTech gorge board which would have settled things down. But the little 85L Sonic race board absorbed the gusts and turned them into some spectacular speed runs. Dimo doesn’t have a 5.0 either as he found himself swimming in a big hole in his. Turning in the SE corner was a trial and I saw lots of wild crashes in that area. The wind has a vertical vector in that area, especially when the lake is low. I got knocked senseless when I spun out in a jibe in the corner and had the whole rig come down on top of me. It is quite a sport when you come out of a crash, gently twist your sore neck around to make sure the crunching you heard was the Styrofoam in the helmet, then go right back to sailing. Call me geeky but I love my helmet. It was a day for great ripping speed runs, plenty of wind to hit the full planning jibes, and some great company. But boy is it a short reach, a long walk to the launch, and the dam looks like a 100’ wall coming at you. Still, where else can you drive over in the dark, rig while you admire the moon, be on the water at 7:30 in 25-29 mph winds, and watch the sunup while screaming across the water at 35 mph. Dimo was an animal, borrowing a 5.0 from Grant and heading for Sulfur. I stayed around until 3:00 hoping it would come back in but, in spite of decent readings on the wind meter, it was a whole lot of nothing with an occasional windline.

[DimitriMilovich]

Er, well, we had a change of plans and just called it a day. The AM sesh was wild and fun and Sulfer coulda been fun, too, but driving is less appealing these days than if used to be. What a fun little pond and group we have! Thank god the fisherfolk weren't out there drifting or it would've been carnage.