Montana Northeast Session 6.10.18

[windydoug]

It had been nearly a month since the wind and my schedule lined up to get me on the water.  I have to give props to Eric. M (out of B’lo) for tuning me in to the forecast.  RWS Groupme seems to be working to keep all in the loop too.  I also appreciated some post session feedback from Isaac B. about where teh wind was and wasn’t.

Classic NE wind thermal conditions appear to have helped out make this session a reality.  I love coming down the hill past Seabreeze and seeing all the kites over the trees…it’s reassuring after a drive to the beach when you are uncertain if the wind will be there when you arrive.  The three kites out when I arrived were all on directional or TT boards, and a couple foils hit the water during the session.  The beach seemed pretty organized with regards to the kite crew but beachgoers and onlookers could have also created hazards.

I rigged up my 6.5 Sail and 116L board along side Gary going 6.2, and Joe and Ted with 5.8’s each.  I hate the thought of being under-powered!  The wind seemed light when I got on the water so I stuck to the advice I got from Joe and Isaac and stayed near the source of the thermal….The IBay outlet are.  Gary hit the water right behind me and appeared to have enough power as well.  Working my way upwind (and East) my brain got to thinking about H2O Rick and his private Webster side IBay launch, and the handful of times I saw him ride a NE on that side of the pier.  I went for it!

Lucky me, as I made my first run upwind of the pier my 6.5 became a handful.  I was blazing!  26.9 mph blazing at one point, to be exact.  How did I know?  The Water Speed app on my Apple Watch.  Brilliant sun and blazing reaches in front of waterside drinkers at the bar on the Webster side had me smiling ear to ear.  All told, I did 14 miles of sailing in 46 minutes with an average speed of 16.8 mph.  As the wind lulled I headed in.  A couple times during the session Joe got close to making the upwind run to the Webster side, but the iffyness of the wind prevailed.

I did take a good hooked in wipe out when getting my back foot in the strap, and I was glad to be wearing my helmet.  It was the only crash I had all day, but when I hit the water after getting thrown forward, I knocked the side of my head on the mast.  I have had a mild dull headache since an hour after the session.  Can’t imagine what may have happened had I not been wearing my helmet.

I had to have a short day as plans took me elsewhere, but Scott was riiging a 7.5 and sleek new board when I left, and Gary was rigging up as well.  Two hours after that, Scotty posted “still blowing” on the Groupme, so I guess he scored.

Look for another post/review about my watch.  It was my first session using it.

Wd

• This topic was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by windydoug.

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