Yeah, Ady , I think you're right. I was hoping to get everybody in the main pool for an epic sesh. It looks like the bulk of the high wind will be NW and not WNW. So it does look like The Road.

See that red "hot spot" in Iowa? You better have a 4.2 in the car. This is typical for north-westerlies. Watch it come right at us...




Tomorrow watch the Galesburg meter, then Peoria, then wham!




Around 4:00 it could go what's known on the wind scale as Ape Shit.



NOAA: Sunny, with a high near 55. Breezy, with a west wind 7 to 12 mph increasing to 19 to 24 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 38 mph.



It's when the second front comes through.



Clinton Lake, NAM Model



Some time after 1:00pm all the way to 5:00pm the models are in agreement on the direction being down the pipe NW for The Road. Note the European model thinking gusts near 50 mph. Folks might get their sails wrenched from their once nicotine stained hands.




The West Side water temp has now fallen from the mid 70s all the way down to 61 F. The Road should be 70+ F. Nice to fill your suit with before a reach. The Road also makes it easier to rig down. See you guys out there. Bring your coffee. I'm also watching for updates.






Packed up and ready to go

A place where nobody knows

High on a hillside, the trucks are loading,
Everything's ready to roll

This ain't no party
This ain't no disco
This ain't no fooling around

My smallest sail is 4.7....
is it still do-able for me?

As Ady said, might not be ideal to try the jibe, but I was hoping for one last fun day before hibernation....

Sylvain, you will be fine.

Chris wrote: Now I think Chris might be right! Maybe it’s better to be overpowered when practicing those things exactly, because you’ll be forced to look for ways to depower the sail in the jibe. Things like sliding your back hand way back on the boom and looking back for leverage and correct stance, or even laying the rig down as a last resort.
Btw if it makes you feel better, you won’t be the only one crashing it-I suck terribly with the 4s for a lack of practice

Upgrade: For 1:00 pm CT. Red on red.

1:00 pm CT

Curious to see the pics of the epic battle!

Epic fail for me.
I’ll blame it 25% on not having a small enough sail
And 75% on not having enough skill
I had to give it a shot though and it was fun to watch the other guys doing so good

Sylvain wrote:
That’s absolutely not true! You did what you could amid the circumstances. A 136L board and a 4.7 sail are something only Rich ...or Antoine Albeau could have handled yesterday. I tried my 4.6 initially and could have destroyed it . Luckily it survived my jump straight in the middle of it after crashing the first jibe. The conditions were extreme more or less with some sensors readings over 50 mph. Settled on 4.2/94 with a little bit of my 86 thrown in the mix. The the high chop and swell made it very difficult to sail the 86 in the sudden lulls and on top of that the 22 cm wave fin I used spun out frequently . The 94 with a 26 cm freewave fin was the right platform for me for the day and my -ones in a year- 4.2 Revo did the job well, although I wish I had a softer mast. The 400 Sumo felt very stiff and unforgiving in the crazy gusts. I was mostly in survival state of mind and except a few shaky jibes, tacks and chop hops I did nothing to be proud of. Just glad nobody got hurt or broke anything.
Reid figured out my GoPro twisted footage issue caused by the camera shooting in portrait mode, so I got a few proper looking clips . Unfortunately there is nothing in them worth watching, it’s just me hanging in there with a sail wide open to spill as much power as possible and not getting smacked. Good experience though, I expected to fare much worse then I actually did.

I rigged my 4.7 when I arrived to find that I was completely overpowered in the gusts, so I came in and tuned my sail and went back out. I was getting good rides but way over powered at times, The port ramps were great, I got what I believe to be one of my best jumps of the year. Didn't take long before I just couldn't hold on to the 4.7 sail so I rigged down to 4.2. I had some fun rides on it as well but it was just so gusty it made jumping challenging, I got my sail ripped from my hands got flipped around and body slammed face down as my gear flew down wind. I was stunned for a minute it felt like someone hit me in the face with a 2 X 4 and my forearm muscle was tweaked. After swimming to get my gear I sailed for a little longer but was very fatigued so got off the water for the day. Watched Reid and Ady getting some blazing rides in the midst of liquid smoke. The conditions were very challenging, out of control gusty and shifty near the road shore.

Sylvain, just making it out and back on a day like yesterday is a WIN! If you don't go for it then you will never learn how to sail in it. You got GO-FOR-IT points for sure!

Ady,
You captured the spirit of the day perfectly. Mother Nature playing with us like a cat with wool

I was happy I came, I agree Chris, I came to gain more experience. I definitely consolidated on these waterstart skills.

By the way, my kids were disappointed I did not have any good footages of the day. Is any one of you posting their videos on YouTube or something?

Crazy, but great day overall. Total survival mode out there with my cheap-o 5.0. The gusts made the sail feel like a sheet of plywood (wind shifting fore and aft along the sail). I did pretty well with the 130 Volar and the extra weight of the board helped keep it on the water. Awesome seeing everyone out there holding their own against some pretty extreme conditions!!

Some pics from my phone so not the best.