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OK I had to update this. If you want the lame
morning session just scroll to the end.
Tent was rattling in the afternoon so I drove
out to the levee to see what was up. The sun
had finally come out and so had the wind. So
what if it was flooding 1 knot downwind. 30
knots of wind kind of makes that less of a worry.
So a fully fully powered session on the 4.5. I
was trying hard to stay upwind and made it to the
next launch up above the sign. I didn't realize
it wasn't the same place I had launched from, so
took a bit of a rest and decided to see how long
it would take me to get downwind again if I
didn't try hard. Well, only two reaches really.
The flood was really starting to peak. Some
barreling waves (!) at the launch pitched
my fin onto a rock and knocked it out of the A-box.
Nothing broken but the bolt (which was probably
loose anyway). Had a spare, and the vent still hisses
so good to go for tomorrow. Locals say this was
the windiest they'd seen in a while. :-)
Lame morning session
Axis of Evil this time.
Hemmed and hawed about going out at all. It was
blowing pretty good in the morning but backed off
and the overcast skies didn't seem too promising.
Was about to leave for McD's, but then one guy
actually was getting some good runs in and two
folks were rigging in the RVWA lot, so I gave in,
even though I had to leave in 2 hours.
Rigged up the 6.5 again since everything was already
set from last session. I was going to take out the
Veloce when local guy appeared out of nowhere and
said he was going out on a 5.0. Arggg... peer
pressure. Switch to the wave board. The
two other guys rigged *really* small stuff and we
all headed out.
I got a pretty good planning run across the river,
and was feeling like things might actually work
after all. Luckily I made a conscious effort to
head downwind, because when I reached the other
side the wind died.... I mean for everybody. On
a few gusts I could get the submarine going, but
most of the time I was down in the water flying
the sail and swimming. Managed to get back to
the Axis despite the current (I was really
downwind). The two other guys wound up at the
next launch. Local guy eventually made it to
shore, not sure where. Victory?
Veloce would have kept me from swimming but no way
to plane then and there. Folks were hoping for
the wind to come back since there was still two
hours left on the ebb, but I had to go. Maybe
next time.
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