Deer Creek Sailboat Beach

[Grant McAllister]

Classic Deer Creek conditions, big sails and shooting the puffs. My dad and I arrived at sailboat beach around 12:15. Except for a few fishermen we had the place to ourselves. The wind was just starting to come over the dam and we rigged our 7,7 and 7,5. By 12:30 the winds reached the beach and whitecaps were making their way down the reservoir. By 12:45 I was rigged and ready to go, dad is a little slower these days. I used my 7,7 and my dad's Sumo 125. It was perfect for the first hour with steady enough gusts to ride across and back before falling off of a plane. At times I was overpowered and narrowly averted getting slammed twice, which convinced me I needed more downhaul. After cranking the downhaul the sail performed beautifully, but the wind also slowly weakened. We sailed for 2 hours before the gusts started to get lighter and lighter and fewer and fewer. We pulled out, changed out of our wetsuits, and opened a few beers, which obviously was the wrong move because it started howling again. Unfortunately we had to get back to SLC and couldn't head back out. Overall, a great Deer Creek day. First time sailing with my new Garmin watch (father's day gift). Just what we need: more metrics! We sailed for 2 hours and 20 miles.