DC Fri 5/26

[JimSouthwick]

Arrived about 11 to find George Ward hard at work setting up his 7.2, which seemed about right, so that's what I rigged too. Judy Collins was more optimistic and rigged a 5.7, which she used to excellent effect in the gusts. Paul and Angie arrived next, and went out on a 6.6 (Angie) and a 7.6 (Paul). By the time Carl arrived at about 3, the wind appeared to be lulling out - WRONG! Just as he finished rigging his beautiful new 11.7(!) a series of board-flipping gusts started coming through. By the time he hit the water, the rest of us were all safely on shore and the wind was gusting to 30. The amazing sight of Carl sailing a huge sail in big gusts was, alas, terminated far too quickly by gear failure, a broken mast.

And the wind just kept building: it blew all night, with a peak gust of 44 MPH at about 5 AM Saturday morning:

http://web.mac.com/jsouthwick/iWeb/Site/WindCharts.html

[Carl Christensen]

Wasn't my first swim; unfortunately probably won't be my last. I guess that was just an average to testy kinda day if you were on the Formula Tour. Living here in Zion it's hard to know what the big dogs could or would rig. Thanks for keeping an eye out and thanks for the sympathy Jim. I appreciate it. Some sessions just don't work out. There will be others.