Early September @ Seneca

[Geoff]

Well, September is off to a funky start. After the skunk-job of the decade on Labor Day, when it was blowing S at 35 when the first of us arrived, and it proceeded to just plain shut off in the time of about 5 minutes (I was wicked powered up on a 4.2 when I headed out across the lake, made it to my jibe, and then was forced to schlog back across the lake as the wind dropped down to 8-9 according to the meters). I’ve seen it shut off like that a few times, but always with a very sudden change in something – wind shift, temperature drop, etc., and usually a big wall of rain. But on Labor Day, it just plain shut off without warning.

But yesterday and today provided some bit of compensation. Today, only Brad got on the water before the rain came, but even Brad was just barely out before the light rains came. Mostly light rain, the squalls made the wind weird, of course, but it had blown all night and (more below) all day yesterday, so the swells were up. I had a good session on my 5.0. Not sure where everyone was, only a handful of us were out.

Wind forecasts for Saturday were for about 15 mph, so I was quite surprised when I drove up to see the lake in full capping mode. Stopping at the north wall, my anemometer was showing 25 and gusts into the 30s. Hmmm. I brought the iSonic (mainly for a 7.5) and the MegaCat longboard, which I hadn’t ridden this year. Wrong choice…

So I rigged the smallest sail that reasonably fits on the iSonic, and ventured out, almost instantly getting to lightspeed. It was everything I could do to keep the board from heading to Watkins Glen, and I made a shot at a jibe on the other side by the HWS boat house, but missed. Since I was in the water, I stopped to add a couple of notches of outhaul. Still lots of spinning out, and the best I could do to go downwind put me at the yacht club, above the canal. But from there I was able to do some zig-zag downwind to get to the launch site.

Faced with a warm, really windy day begging to have a windsurfer out there, it seemed to me the only option was…the MegaCat. I was pretty sure the 6.7 would handle OK with the massive board under it, and was rewarded for the decision. Took me some runs to get the boom height and mast track settings where I was balanced up, but then it was Rip City – centerboard up, in the back straps, beam reaching like it was shortboard but bounding along like an old Caddy with bad suspension on a dirt road! And the amazing thing about those old high=performance longboards is that, despite 2′ swells and some chop, they carve a jibe as nice as any board and it’s surprisingly easy. They’re narrow but have so much length that they just glide through the exit, with all that volume making it easy to do your footwork, so you end up with LOTS of time to flip and get control of the sail – especially a Freak that luffs so easily and predictably. I even got the MegaCat fully airborne twice, but crashed both times, once out the back and once over the front as the wind caught the nose and started me on a forward loop. My shoulder has a bit of a bruise from that one! Far from Robby looping an Equipe, but it was a hoot! So for me, it was a day of old windsurfing lore – rig what you brought and figure out how to ride it.

Hopefully, September will keep producing without more days like Labor Day!

[mihelbergel]

Good story and write-up. Thanks for sharing. I was wondering how Seneca was yesterday. Lots of people on Lake Erie today.

[Mark]

Geoff, sounds like a fun time! I was out hiking with the family (Green Lake this time) on Saturday, and saw the trees swaying around on the drive home and hoped some of you were tearing about!

 

I managed to get out to the north end of Canandaigua this afternoon just as the 15+ turned into 5-10 but sill had a good time tooling about with the GPS with just barely enough wind to make it worthwhile! Two others were sailing about at the same time and it felt a bit like a game of cat and mouse, except I consistently ended up in the water on every turn!

[Geoff]

Glad you got out with the GPS, Mark! Sounds like you got it to work. It’s really a powerful sail for its size.

GEM

[windydoug]

Hi Guys,

 

WHen I read through this before I didn’t realize the “GPS” was an HSM sail you were talking about.  Glad it found a new owner locally, and glad Mark found this site.  New to the group Mark?  I’m Doug Willard and I admin.  Maybe we’ve met?

Anyhow, looking forward to a game of cat and mouse.

Windydoug

[Geoff]

So now I’m PO’ed at you Doug.

I have noted that I can’t make new posts, and now when I try to text you I’ve got an old number or something, and I’m trying to get more activity on the site.

My recent attempts to make posts come back with a message “This thread is being moderated”.

Don’t know how to get a message through to you other than post a reply, which seems to work.

Getting very annoyed.

GEM

[Robby Naish]

Hi Geoff, and Aloha!

I am helping my friend Doug figure out what may be the problem with the Forum page.  Your voice is really important.

Also, this isn’t really Robby Naish, but Windydoug with a humorous user name.  It’d be pretty cool if Robby were a member of the forum.  Tom Hammerton is actually a member though it has been at least three years since he posted anything.

“Robby Naish” has all the same permissions on the forum that you do so if this reply makes it through so should yours.  I’ve been trying to figure this out for you (Doug has, that is).

Great to sail with you on Seneca on Sept. 27.

Robby (aka Doug W.)

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