8/6 Saturday Little Dell 6.5, 12'3" course board, 24' shell

[DimitriMilovich]

Thought I'd try a double header at Little Dell - bringing a silly surplus of gear for both no wind and windy conditions. Got in the gate at 8:00 and went rowing for an hour and 1/2. Got it all back on the car at 11:00 or so, had some early lunch at the picnic table and watched the wind line come in from the west, which turned pretty brisk as scattered whitecaps started to appear. Rigged up my old course board, which I haven't sailed in probably 10-12 years, daggerboard and all, and a 6.5, and headed out from the same spot on the east end we row from. Had forgotten how much fun these course boards are to sail! (and what a pain kicking daggers up and down is) But not more than 30 minutes of upwinding it and the looming thunderhead coming up the canyon shut down the wind and started making everything squirrely. Oh well, kept light wind sailing in west winds, south winds, east winds, may a northwest as well, can't remember, with some sitting on the shore waiting for it to straighten out. Pretty fun. Ended up leaving the water about 3:00 or so. 7 hours of "messing about in boats" at LD. Not bad for a Saturday 25-min drive from home.

Oh, yes, boys and girls, remember to wear your dry suits (steamer or or old style) since it's a watershed. And speaking of which, I had a nice conversation last week with Patrick Nelson, the manager of the LD watershed, who confirmed that the policy of allowing windsurfers at LD (with above drysuits) was still in place and that they had no intention of changing it. I told him the UWA was fully supportive of LD and that even though we were infrequent users, we would continue to observe the rules and enjoy the resource. (also added that we often cleaned up the litter as well). [The occasion of my call was to investigate a rumor I'd heard from someone (proven baseless) that windsurfers were banned.]