DCSBB Sunday 8/13

[JimSouthwick]

Duane and Grant noticed that Arrowhead was building (where have you gone Tim Pine?) and passed the info on to John Dubock, who in turn clued me in. As of the time he called, my weather station was showing a feeble (3-4 MPH) breeze out of the North. He called again at about 12:30 to report that whitcaps were starting to appear at Sailboat Beach; the breeze in Charleston had shifted to the SW, but was still barely detectable. Nor was there any wind at Island Beach or much to speak of at Rainbow Bay, and the big flag at the entrance to Round Valley (Wallsburg) was hanging straight down. The flag at the State Park booth was flapping, weakly. But there were, indeed, whitecaps! Not totally convinced, John and I rigged big (8.3 and 8.5) which actually worked out quite well initially, but ended up being a bit of a handful as the afternoon wore on. Next to arrive was Dimitri, followed (I think) by Grant and Duane. (Combined age of the group >250, combined windsurfing experience >a century!) About 4 hours of big-gear planing conditions with frequent white-knuckle gusts. We all left happy and tired!

[DimitriMilovich]

Any wind graphs? Just wondering what the peaks were during my getting-slammed sessions.

[JimSouthwick]

I have got the data; I just don't believe it. At least I don't believe that the windspeeds recorded at my house (about 5 miles from the spillway) accurately reflect what we were experiencing at Sailboat Beach; for a years I doubted the conventional wisdom that the wind is stronger at the dam than at Island Beach. Not anymore.

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