Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

NOAA: ...southwest wind increasing to 21 to 26 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 39 mph. Patchy frost before 9am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 64.




This could be an epic all day event in the bridge pool. All the way to sunset.








We're talkin' all day!!





I'm going to F13 in the morning and rigging a 4.7. Last time out the water temp was 65 degrees in the bridge pool.

NOAA Upgrade: Wind Advisory

...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 7 PM CDT SUNDAY...

WINDS...SOUTHWEST 25 TO 30 MPH WITH FREQUENT GUSTS TO AROUND 45
MPH AND A FEW GUSTS TO 50 MPH.

Packed up and ready to go once the wind shows

the wind is coming up here in Bloomington right now just arrived. I'm going to grab some food and head out of town about 10:00-10:30.

Had a good time yesterday sailing the bridge pool. Rigged 4.7 and sailed until I was overpowered, then I rigged a 4.2 which is the smallest sail I had. I was completely overpowered at times even after giving it max downhaul and outhaul. The base wind was around 30 with gusts in the 40's. Was good to see some new people show up. Jacob from Wisconsin and Stefan (SP) from Champaign. Jacob had the right gear for the day, he was sailing a 3.7 on a 68 Ltr board I believe. He was ripping it up, I got the chance to take some pictures using Reid's bad-ass camera. I hope I got some good pictures, it's not as easy as you would think, can't wait to see them . Hopefully Jacob feels it was worth the drive. Reid, Stefan and me stopped at the Powerhouse Pub for some beers, hamburgers and a couple games of pool, I think a good time was had by all. I hope to see more people come to Clinton to sail. I'll let Jacob speak to whether or not it's worth the trip, water was around 60, air temp was in the upper 60's, and the wind was howling.

Thanks for the windy welcome and showing me around the lake. Had a good time, but overpowered on the 4.0 and 95l board.

Hope to see you out there again soon.

Cheers,
Staffan

Sorry I got your name wrong Staffan, at least I was close, I'm really bad with names. See ya!

Never a tender moment. Got out there around 11:00. It was brutal out there. 4.7 worked for a short while. A lot of wind. We all rigged down to 4.2-4.0s even 3.7(Jake) and it didn't do shit - still hammered! It felt like we rigged up a size. I had several seshes and picture taking. Chris shot some good pics too. I went out for a long last lonely sesh. Got off the water around 6:30 still lit on my 4.2. I couldn't figure out why everyone was all packed up. This morning I found out why.


Bloomington



Champaign



Decatur




16 of today's 58 photos. Link for more of today's pics at the bottom of post.

F13. From your car to the launch F13 is totally wind protected.



F13



Out in the lake it's totally different



Clinton Lake baptism. I baptize thee in the name of the Base, the Gust and the Holy Stoke.



Staffan



Staffan (make a nice avatar, I can fire it up for ya)



Jake



Jake, 3.7 sail, 68L board, still can't keep it in the water. Welcome to Clinton Lake!



Jake



Chris



Chris



Jake and me (Photo by Chris)



Staffan



I haven't been on a 4.2 this late in the day in a while.



It's fun to come blazing into the top of the F13 cove for a jibe.



End of sesh. Come in with enough speed and make it around the fallen tree to the beach. (Photo by Chris)




More Of Today's Photos Here

Great pictures! Surely got baptized with that catapult.

Wow! What a fun day! Clinton Lake totally delivered on Sunday. This was my first time sailing there and it was a blast. After getting my arms ripped out on a 4.2, I went 3.7, which worked well, but I was still getting killed in the gusts. I don't know how the other guys were making it work on 4.2's...

The swell was nice, but the wind was so unstable that I was having a little trouble hitting ramps. I'm almost tempted to risk offending the wind gods by saying that "slightly" less wind might have been okay---Nah, was just fine the way it was!

Thanks to Reid and Chris for showing me around and it was great to meet you, Staffan.

7.5 hours of driving; 5-6 hours on the water: totally worth it!

(Nice pics, BTW!)

I drink to that! Cheers!