Sail size




Sail size




Board size






Peak base wind forecasts vs. actual peak base wind - Base wind is 1min avg.
NOAA
NAM Model
Actual peak base wind avg.(Bloomington + Champaign + Decatur / 3)






Peak gust forecasts vs. actual peak gust - Gust is highest wind during 1min.
NOAA
NAM Model
Actual peak gust avg.(Bloomington + Champaign + Decatur / 3)





Most forecast models UNDER forecast the wind the majority of the time for what actual happens in central IL.

I can clearly see the need here for a 125/8.0 light wind machine
Or at least 115 , that 6.9 feels as lost on your 108 as my 5.7 on the 94. IMO

Actually quite the opposite. The 6.9 and 108 is hell of a combo.

How easily you forget...

Reid Fillman wrote: I do indeed, but I still remember some things.

This fall it got even worse for ya...

You on a plane with 7.5 and "Green Turtle" and me on a plane with the 5.8, a 5.8! So when you have a hard time getting your 7.5 on plane that's my new signal to rig the 6.9.

Got it, still not cracking. I’ll try again next year...as usual. With that climate change thing going on we may be shopping for longboards by the end of the next decade
Not releasing my statistics yet, I may be able to squeeze in a session or two by the end of the year, who knows.

2019: 28 total seshes - 6.9 days: 2
2018: 25 total seshes - 6.9 days: 8
2017: 32 total seshes - 6.9 days: 10


Last winter was cold. 7th highest Great Lakes ice coverage since 1973. And the winter before that was also cold - above average ice coverage. We still remember being able to sail starting in mid February 5 years in a row - 1998 to 2002. Racked up a ton of days in that streak. Air temp would hit 60 F in Feb and we were off and running with a full head of steam going into March(huge month for wind historically). And then sail well into late November. If we get that set up we'll rack up some big days.

36 sessions for me this past year. Included a week in Hatteras for OBX-Wind, but also includes all many days that I could have sailed had a made a different choice or had the forecast held up but ended up skunked and not sailing. Kansas is MUCH windier than Illinois though, and our season is longer, so I'm supposed to have more days. Hoping for even more in 2020! Could have sailed yesterday, but I didn't have a car (got totaled in a blizzard on Dec 15th).