March 14, 2014 Ice!

We have 3 feet of ice on White Lake right now and huge mountains of ice on Lake Michigan.  It will be a long time before I can get on the water this year.  2 years ago at this time I was streetsailing and it was in the 80’s already!  I have several feet on snow and ice in the front yard.  The driveway is still covered with 6 to 8 inches of ice.  My boys and I skied across White Lake last weekend.  We also saw many pickup trucks out on Muskegon Lake last weekend after we went skiing at The Muskegon Winter Sports complex.

August 25, 2013 White Lake

Sailed White Lake at the end of our road.  Launched on east launch.  NNW wind.  I sailed 8.0 and Bic with vegetable fin.  I sail through thick weed beds here.  The fin cuts through it like a knife.  I have yet to have a problem sailing here and the weeds are so thick you could lay on top of them in some spots.  True Ames weed fins are amazing!  Had great session blasting into the sun crystals to the SW.  Great high speed jibes.  I sailed for about and hour.  No max speed recorded.  Messed up data for this session.

July 23, 2013 Silver Lake State Park

NNW wind.  18-30 and building.  Nuking!  Started on 6.0 and Bic with no weed fin.  Fully powered.  Hit new best on Bic 293.  28.7 mph.  Started to build.  Rigged my 5.0 and put it on the Bic.  Wind 20-25 mph so I switched to the JP x-cite ride 135 with 5.0.  Tailwalking and too fast for the jibes.  Building more.  Rigged my 4.4 on the JP.  Still overpowered.  My guess 25-30 mph wind.  Crazy wind!  Sailed a long time overall.  Wore my wetsuit because the air was a little chilly.

July 18, 2013 Cottage Sail

The wind was south and shifting to the SE with warm water and air.  A liter was out having trouble.  45 minutes of solid blasting 8.0 and Bic.  Blasted past Jim and Mary as they came in on the Hobe.

I tried the 6.0 first, but it was too light.  Went to 8.0 and was perfect.  The wind shifted off land and got gusty and stronger.  My last run on my 8.0 to the beach was an overpowered gust ride and I hit 27.8 mph.  My best 8.0 on Bic 293 speed.

Tried 6.0 again and had several good runs then quit.  Too tired and sore to continue.

Time: 1 hr. 36 min.

Dist.: 15.22 miles

Ave. 9.4 mph

Max: 27.8  mph New Bic personal best!

July 16, 2013 Second sail of the XS Speed Surfcat

The wind was out of the SW at 5-15 mph.  I sailed the XS Speed Surfcat for the second time.  The first outing was with my 8.0 sail and it proved to be way too big for the board.  You would think that the Surfcat with all the extra volume would handle a big sail.  I was planning on sailing it on the light wind days with a big sail and it would slice through the water like a Hobiecat.  I was wrong.  It would round up and I could not get it to bare off the wind.  It was totally different than a windsurfer.  The foot steering and sail steering were all foreign to me.  I was very let down.  I spent a lot of time fixing this thing up and was hoping it would sail well and it didn’t.

I tried again with a 5.0 and it sailed much better.  I don’t know if it was the smaller sail or the fact that my small sail is from 1992 so the design my match better with the older board.  It ran really well with all the extra width and volume.

I took out my Bic 293D and it did everything better in the same amount of wind except running.

Stats are messed up

Lap 1 distance is 6.72 mi

Ave. 10.2 mph

Lap 2 Distance 6.78 mi

Ave. 7.8 mph

June 26, 2013 Light Wind Session

Light SW wind.  Pivot jibe practice.  No planing.

Time = 19 min.

Distance = 1.36 miles

Ave. Speed = 4.3 mph

June 25, 2013 First Sail of the Season

SSW at 5-15 mph with ice cold water.  Sailed with new boots because the water was so cold.  Got 30 min of planing time on 8.0 and the Bic

Time = 56 min.

Distance = 5.13 miles

Ave. Speed = 6.8 mph

Max. Speed = lost

September 12, 2012 Maple Grove Park Session in Montague

Wind was SSW at 10 to 20 mph so I decided to try out Maple Grove Park for the first time.  It always seems really windy from the south.  It is weedy and shallow at the launch, but deepens in the channel.  Shallow and weedy with sand bar on opposite side.

Used 8.0 and weed fin on Bic.  Great sail!  Speed across the channel and carve jibes in flat water on the east side just to the north of the shallows.  Rip back across and jibe in the weeds on the other side.  Once again no weed problems at all.

Time = 1:29

Distance = 14.7 miles

Ave. speed = 9.9 mph

Max speed = 23.1 mph

4:28 pm until sunset

September 8, 2012 White Lake at boat launch

I decided to try the boat launch at the end of White Lake Drive.  I have weed fin now.  The weed fin worked great!  The wind was NW at 15-18 mph.  I sailed through thick weed beds and didn’t even know they were there.  Never had to clean the fin once!  Great runs from NE to SW down the south shoreline.

No GPS

August 30, 2012 Silver Lake Session

Time = 1 hour and 10 min.

Distance = 10.43 miles

Max Speed = 27.7 mph