With the current at over 4 knots, you look out at the river, and think it is blowing 3.5, when in fact it might not be blowing at all. How the heck do you pick your sail size. And if your wrong, you are either blown off the water, or sucked down river at running speed by the current.....
The river is fickle - and the wind was up and down. Some had a great day, while others struggled - the difference may have only been a sail size, although the lighter guy's have an advantage in the lulls.....
We have a new guy, this year, Handre. Apparently about two weeks ago, Big Jim had parked his Toaster Coaster (Honda Element) in a parking lot in Lac La Biche. The Toaster has a big Sailworks sticker on the side. I guess there aren't many sailors in Lac La Biche, because Handre, (a GP in the community), waited for Big Jim to come back to his Toaster, and started swapping lies about their sailing skills. Big Jim invited him to join the group, and he took on the challenge.
Sail Sizes were generally about 5m. When Harold is on a 5.2 with a hundred litre board, and Kent is on a 5.4 you know things must be interesting.
There were a few adventures. We lost Handrea for awhile - he was sailing on the far side and didn't come back until the end of the day - just as the wind died.
I thought the wind would build and fill in, so spent a lot of the day taking photos - then got involved in a couple of rescues - some our group- some strangers. Finally rigged, got my wetsuit on and carried everything down to the beach - just as the wind died... Oh well, I was still hurting from yesterday anyway.
Andreas had a great day, right up until his kite lines broke. Hard to control a kite when all the lines are connected. Andreas drifted past us (at 4.5 knots...) with a kite that looked like a big marshmallwo in the water beside him. We thought we would have to pick him up at Bob's Beach - but a fellow kiter hauled him in to the beach. Unfortunately, the kite sustained some damage on the rocks when he was pulling it out...
Most of the guys went for a bike ride after sailing, while Andreas and Ross cooked a steak dinner for us. Lots of fellowship, red meat and wine! Wonderful Dinner.
Looking forward to more wind tomorrow......
Ted
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| Brad was wired! |
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| Andreas needs a hair cut! |
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| Handre heads out! |
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| Big Air Jim, said he had a bad day, but he looks great here! |
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| Big Air Jim's best reach! |
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| Cam's aggressive Jibe! - nice form! |
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| Ross with his Cool shorts -trying to look like a teenager! |
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| Big Jim! |
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| Cam - taking some Air! |
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| Brad - clue first ! |
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| Cam - Looking forward to some great runs! |
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| Ross - having fun. |
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| Brad working the chop/waves/current. |
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| Blaine - total control! |
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| Big Jim - Rigging his 5.6 Hucker! |
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| Kent - looks a little out of control! |
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