Grants, Saturday 10/18 ripping winds

[kenonstott]

It was definitely a sweet day at Grantsville. I got there before the sun came up and was on the water by 8:00. The windlines stayed mid 20’s all morning only varying how close they were. That made for lots of ripping reaches. It was great to see Dimitri showing up about 10:00. He said it was blowing north at Grantsville. I figured I was done and Dimitri was cooked. But Dimitri is a great good luck charm for wind and it kept blowing right on past Noon so we both got a lot of sailing. I t is definitely easier sailing with wind that is the same direction as the wind aloft. I am still trying to figure out how we sailed on 10/9 on 5.5’s on a north at UL while there were 50mph south winds 1000 feet above the lake (that was probably why it was much funkier than normal UL). Anyway, my back was cooked by the time we quit and it was a painful ride home. But after a week spent mostly at St. Marks it was great to have a real blowout Saturday. This is the 1st year I have been able to sail Grants through the Fall. Grants has given me 10 sessions starting in August. It is still more the walk at that bothers me at Grants than the short reach. Getting the equipment back to the car is a killer on the back. If the wind is screaming, like this morning, it is easy to forget the short reach. . Screaming at the wall at 35 mph and trying to crank a jibe is still fantastic fun. Grants forces you to be a better sailor. The beach is going out about 10 yards a week, not bad. I think Dimitri is taking his fishing pole next time. A guy caught 3 great looking trout from 10:00 to 12:00 right where we were sailing. Dimitri figures we were chasing them to him. Enough for now.

[Carl Christensen]

Was it 5.5? You lucky dog. How cold is the water? Are booties needed?

[DimitriMilovich]

I was on a 6.7 and Ken was on a 7.0 although he got some 6.0 sessions before I got there and time on his small Starboard. He was talking 5.5 at UL another day I believe.

Happily I don't really know how cold the water is, since I was able to avoid total immersion by saving most of my missed jibes. I did do a boom/mast dance a la Wiley Coyote with my hands on a fallen sail, but managed to stay on the board and uphaul. (Ken said that sailing by watching me he thought, "Now there's a guy who really doesn't wanna get wet!") But it wasn't "that cold", according to Ken. I was cooked after 10 jibes from overheating in my steamer and actually considered going in but thought better of it. Anyway, booties were nice and swimming wouldn't have been heartstopping or anything. We had a fun time, although if it was a bigger sail day, the lake would just be too small now since you really had to work back upwind right after each jibe.

I had a nice big smile on my face after seeing the N at Grantsville township and then the honking south as I crossed the cattle guard just out of town. Big wind shear. I had an even bigger smile rounding the corner at the dam edge and seeing Ken in full plane. But just how does the zen master manage to sail 4 hours straight? Grasshoppers look on in amazement. I contemplated much and got myself an A&W freeze for the ride home.

[RickHeninger]

Well, up to six months ago I was in the right business for this sport... Now I'm starting to wonder!

I've be sailing vicariously for a while... I think Grantsville should be bottomed out by now shouldn't it? It really is lowering more and more each day?

To answer my own question, I called the Grantsville Irrigation company and she said that they are plugging the drain this week. She's emailing me the low watermark that they will go to. They don't allow it to go below a certain point because it's bad for the system.

A couple of interesting websites...

I don't know who measured them, but they are reporting Grantsville to be twice the area or so of Rush Lake. (the measurements we're when it was more full, or even existed for that matter). Google earth is updated... I didn't realize they had a road going right across Rush Lake's dry lake bottom!? That's not a good sign. Some 4x4 artwork to boot.

http://www.waterquality.utah.gov/waters ... ANTSVL.pdf


http://www.waterquality.utah.gov/waters ... SHLAKE.pdf