It was Saturday. The forecast was calling for SW wind early, then veering WNW by late afternoon. We showed up at a typical WSW location on Lake Erie near the city of Buffalo around 11am and saw many of the usual suspects already in attendance. Lisa and I loaded up the beach carts with a few sails and two 85 liter boards. Ten minutes later I was rigged with a 4.2m sail and on the water. Out and back, out and back, out and back. It was just TOO much power. Ten minutes of fun, but I simply wasn't strong enough to hold down the sail. A quick re-rig to 3.7m while Lisa rigged 3.3m, and this time we were both on the water. There was an ominous dark cloud on the horizon. "It will probably go the other way," I thought. Nope! Out and back, out and back, out and back. Another ten minutes of GREAT fun. But the ominous dark cloud on the horizon had plans to ruin our fun. Lisa and I zipped in just before the sky emptied. The small storm cell quickly passed. However, the wind direction turned directly on shore. Damn! It seemed as though this was the leading edge of the cold front. Lake Erie is no fun to sail when the wind is dead on shore. Wind magnitude is light near the shore line and explosive on the outside. Waves are close together and crash hard on the inside. But we carefully selected this location so that we were only a short drive to Lake Ontario where wind direction would be more side shore in the afternoon in case wind direction at Lake Erie turned on shore.
A quick pack-up, and we were on our way. We arrived at Lake Ontario after a short drive, and the sun was glistening through the clouds as whitecaps beamed across the water all the way to Toronto which you could clearly see in the distance. The trees rustled in the wind where they lined the shore. It was so beautiful. The closest wind meter said 25mph. I was fatigued from the first session, so I helped LIsa rig and let her go first this time. One reach out on the 4.2m sail and she was back in. WAY TOO MUCH! You could tell it was ramping up. I got excited by the big wind, so we both re-rigged. Winds increased and then leveled off at about 40mph for our session. I was lit on 2.9m while Lisa held down 2.7m. Both of us on 85 liter boards. SCREAMING back and forth, back and forth. The most amazing thing was that there was no shore break even with 40mph winds. I told Lisa, and John who arrived to observe, that we could easily have gotten foil boards in the water. That's how little shore break was forming. And sure enough, Casey showed up to prove that it was easy to get a windsurfing foil kit in the water. By that time, the wind had settled down to about 30mph+, and we then enjoyed watching him ride perfect swell from shore. The waves and swell were not as big as those on Lake Erie, but it was comforting to have no shore break with 40mph winds as we were a little tired from the morning session. This is the third session this August with wind well over 35mph. Not bad for August. And that is our Tale of Two Great Lakes.
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