5.5, 5.0, 4.5...

...and I should have rigged a 4.0 ("a 3.8 for me!" said the Wolf) as the winds just kept building today.

Jon Ford and the Wolf called early to say they were were in South Jamesport, it was too foggy to see and there wasn't much wind, but maybe I should come up anyway.

So I did. Just as I got there the fog started to clear, and the Wolf sampled the winds with a 5.2. He was alternately underpowered and lit, so I threw up a 5.5 and Jon a 5.8, and we were off to the gusty races.

After half an hour of this I came in for my 5.0. Got about 30 minutes on that, and was standing on the beach with the Johns considering the wind when Mr. Ford asked "was that lightning?"

Me and the Wolf: "Where?"

Thunder god: "Here!"

As some big old summer thunder boomed across the January sky, we ran back to the trucks and hid in various lees from the driving rain. Jon Ford moped about having to leave soon and took off his harness as a prelude to derigging, which was the cue for the storm to stop. So he rigged down instead.

It kept building. I was now sailing a 4.5 (my current favorite sail when it's dialed in...a Naish Force) but by the time I had it rigged up the wind had built to the point that I was still overpowered in the gusts. By and by Jon Ford did have to go, so it was just John and I. There were good ramps for jumping but the strength and unpredictability of the gusts made jumping precarious. It made jibing precarious! After a half hour of abuse on the 4.5 I was the one moping (contemplating the prospect of rigging a fourth sail,) thus taking my mind off of the sailing, and was promptly thrown off the board by a large gust mid-jibe, and my board started heading downwind.

I haven't had to sprint after gear in at least a year, but fortunately the Wolf sailed up and snagged it for me. I swam over and announced that I'd had enough for the day given the hostile conditions, and expected sage agreement from the Wolf. Instead he looked at me, his face one big question mark, and said "What?"

So I kept sailing, and remarkably for about fifteen minutes the gusts settled down and some good jumping and jibing could be had. But then the winds started to intensify further, I was overpowered worse than before, and after twenty or so minutes of this wrestling match the sky to the west turned black. As rain began to fall John checked a weather map on his cell phone, which showed the Thunder God back with much more rain than before. So we called it a day.

Comments

[bonnie]

Thunder God was speaking quite emphatically in NYC today, too.

More weird weather! I even stopped crunching numbers to go find a window.