October and November are known for bringing good wind to the GLR, but some years September can be fickle. This year, however, September delivered the goods. There were 22 days of wind over 15mph this September that offered an average windsurfing sail size of 5.0m. This equates to over 5 days per week on a 5.0m sail. That's pretty good! I personally was only able to score 10 of those 22 sessions, but I was pleased to be able to use an average sail size of 4.1m. I'll take that any month of the year. Temperatures have been pretty nice. According to the National Weather Service website Lake Erie sits at 67 degrees today which is just one degree lower than the highest all-time record temperature for the last day of September. This should at least give us fairly warm water through mid-October or later. It looks like tomorrow will bring air temps in the low 80's, so I wouldn't expect Lake Erie to cool off much in the next few days. As we get into bigger wind and more days of consecutive riding don't forget to pay close attention to proper nutrition and recovery techniques that I have talked about in my videos. This can really help to keep you on the water as much as possible without injury. I am posting links to those 2 videos below for ease of access. Get It Good!!! Recovery Techniques for Windsports https://www.ericthebige.net/recovery-techniques-for-windsports.html Basic Nutrition for Recovery in Windsports https://www.ericthebige.net/basic-nutrition-for-recovery-in-windsports.html It was Friday, and Lisa was able to exit her place of employment at 3pm. We were planning to go to Canada for south wind on Lake Erie, but the forecast just didn't look right to me for that location. Seneca Lake had been blowing since 12noon and the forecast looked epic for the evening, but it is an hour and forty-five minute drive. Hmmm...what to do? It really was an easy decision. Wind rules! We got in the van at 3:35pm and arrived at Seneca by 5:30pm. Sunset was 7:28pm, so no time to mess around. We immediately rigged 3.3m for me and 2.9m for Lisa. The sails were way too big, but we don't own anything smaller. If I took the 2.9m then Lisa doesn't get to ride, so we downhauled the crap out of them both and away we went. It was blowing 40-45mph. After two reaches I dropped in the water to add more outhaul to my sail as I was so over-powered that I could barely ride. The wind was so strong that I could barely get into the harness because the harness lines were blowing away from me. As I floated in the water adjusting my outhaul I could see Issac screaming toward me. I figured he was probably checking to make sure I was ok, so I gave him the 'thumbs up' indicating that I was fine. He beared off wind about 10 feet away from me on my downwind side, and as he was directly in front of me a ramp popped up in front of him which he hit at FULL speed. I looked up into the sky on my downwind side as I floated in the water, and all I saw was the bottom of Issac's board and the sky. UP, UP, and AWAY! It was an amazing view of him soaring through the sky. I have not been able to get the image out of my head....board, sail, sailor, and sky! As it turned out, Issac was a little over-powered also, and he blew out nearly an entire window on his sail shortly after his epic flight. It was probably for the best since he now had a sail about one meter smaller that was more suited to the conditions....LOL. An incredible session with perfect conditions! Really could not have been any better. Just awesome! Sometimes the stars align and everything comes together. Today was that day! By 6:30am I was rigged and in the water on eastern Lake Erie. The sun was just rising. Visibility was ok, but it was not totally light yet. I did my best to hold down the over-powered 4.7m sail that I had rigged on my 85 liter board. The waves were really good near shore. The wind started out south. Within 10 minutes is shifted to WSW, then W. And another 10 minutes it was WNW. I managed to hold down the sail for about 40 minutes and then the wind totally dropped. A great session, with a short swim back to shore. Back to the van for a look at the phone and forecast. Lake Erie did not look all that great for the rest of the day, but Ontario had potential. A quick breakdown of gear, and I was on the road headed north. As I arrived in Wilson tons of whitecaps appeared through the trees. Looks like 4.2m I thought. Rigged and grabbed a smaller 76 liter board. One run out and back....TOO MUCH power again. Not gonna make that mistake twice in the same day. A quick re-rig to 3.7m and.....PERFECTION! The sun came out brilliantly, the waves set up on the inside good enough to hit some frontside turns, and the next 90 minutes were amazing. Of all the days I have sailed Lake Ontario this was probably the best. The wind was so steady and so smooth. This was the first time I had ever ridden 76 liters on Lake Ontario. The park was empty. Just the wind, waves, birds and me. A great day! |
AuthorEric L. Mihelbergel is an intermediate/advanced windsurfer, kiteboarder, and foiler living in the Great Lakes Region of New York State who enjoys sharing about windsports and fitness. Archives
August 2024
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