Friday 7/4/03 - Eagle Ocean (Jibe Marker Jill's report)
Sail size: 6.5-8.5, wind 10-25 mph, air temp 90

The wind gods delivered on the Fourth of July this year. It wasn't nukin' by any means, but it was warm and breezy enough for some solid planing with big gear, and the wind built as storms approached late in the day.

I got to Eagle Ocean around 1 p.m. Rev Mike, Jethro Matt, and Indy Car Mike were there. Mike and Matt were taking turns on Chef's new Formula Board. (Poor Chef is still recuperating from shoulder surgery, and hasn't had a chance to try is own board yet... it must be torture!). But Matt was quite impressed with it! Soon more sailors arrived, including Southern Brian, and Sumner, who was teaching his stepson to windsurf. The wind was up and down, but I was getting plenty of planing runs on my 6.5. World Wide Wayne showed up, and miraculously didn't kill the wind. And then Dr. Evil appeared on the scene, along with his kids Jordan ("Mini Me") and Betsy. We rigged up a 4.0 on Dr. Evil's GO board, and Jordan and Betsy tried their hand a windsurfing while Coach Dr. Evil paddled alongside in his kayak. They both did great and got up and sailing, although there were plenty of splashes too. Nonetheless, it's nice to have some Kid Windsurfers on Eagle Ocean.

The wind kept building, and reached a pretty solid 15-25 that made for some great sailing. Techno Matt showed up and had some runs on the Cheformula board. Soon some dark clouds appeared on the horizon, though, and everybody started making their way toward shore. Dr. Evil and Jordan were quite aways downwind, and I went down to check on 'em. The wind got really psycho, and I had a heck of a time trying to get back upwind (the Eagle Airpark wind reading at that point was variable at 7 gusting to 25). Jordan was having equal troubles padding the kayak in the psycho wind, so mighty Dr. Evil paddled the kayak and towed Jordan and the Go board back to the launch. The storm passed just north of us, but another one was right behind it and headed right towards us, and everyone got their gear packed up just as the lightning got too close for comfort and the rain started to splat down.

All in all, a pretty good day!

- Jibe Marker Jill

Sunday 6/8/03 - Eagle Ocean (Rev's report)

Sounds like Clinton as usual delivered - I'm sorry this I missed the trip (I've been to Illinois three of the past four weekends to visit family and was not up for it this past weekend) - but it could of been worse... This is because the Eagle was pretty nice Sunday, WWWayne called it the "first day of summer" as we were all in spring suits (Jill, WWWayne, Sheila Me, Old Tom, Dr. Evil, and a farmer named Jeff - in a shorty), and there was quite a bit of sunshine.

We were quite warm at the launch as you are well sheltered from the wind, which was the usual amount of gustiness from SW. I was on a fairy flat 7.0 and used Chefs new formula board. That board rocks! (Morelater on that.)

I think everybody did well, most notable was Dr. Evil - he had his Starboard up to speed and was sailing very nicely - all this in the
typical EO blasts. We did see a pair of catapults from him. And they were executed with the style and grace that you Jeff, as a habitual Land Looper, would surly approve of. Jill was up to speed and in spite of my teasing, actually did pass me on the water and seems to have found another gear. WWW set many jibes marks for me, I got four good ones on him and a fifth (the
first attempt) where I got past him but he was actually on plane at that time, so I won't count it (Wayne only counts two but he has never been very good with numbers...) Tom was on his new 9.5 Retro and liked it quite a bit - was able to handle it in some big gusts.

Now on to the board review: it is 85 cm wind by 270 long, and 155 liters of volume. It is the wood construction and is extremely light. Beveled rails that are somewhat soft (very soft for a light air board). It has a lot of vee in the back - I'm not sure about the rocker. Now the wind was the usual gusty EO stuff - the big gusts were a handful on the flat 7.0, but this board sailed it very well. In my judgment as good as any 120 liter or bigger board that I have been on. It actually felt good in big gusts!

The jibing is quite good, although I'm still working on the technique - it is so light that you can really mess things up coming around after the sail throw. But I was looking forward to all my jibes with this board! In light air it planes up very quickly - seems like you could pump it onto plane if 5 knots (but probably need a bit more). Stays on plane in huge holes - none of this is surprising as this is what light and wide boards should do. What is amazing is that it sails so well powered up - definitely the shape for Mid-west sailing and in light air at Hatteras. It is quite different from the small boards that I have been sailing the past few years - you really need to be out on the rail to hold down the big fin. And when powered it responds differently than what I am used to - I'm still working on that.

But this is by far the best wide board that I've used - as compared to the Bic Techno I think the light weight is a huge improvement (for the more advanced sailor), but I've not sailed the Techno that much. I think that this shape is the best thing to replace the 110 - 130 liter and bigger light air free-ride boards for most people (7.0 meter and bigger sails). It does sail quite a bit different than the typical narrow shape, and this does take getting used to. WWW tried it and did not seem too impressed (but by this time he may have had impaired judgment from lake water ingestion :-). But I think most people would like it better after getting used to the different technique.

Amen
Rev Mike

Sunday 6/8/03 - Clinton Lake, Illinois (LLCJ's report)

It was a perfect 6.0 day at Clinton, although if the Rev were there he probably would have gone 5.4 or maybe even 5.0. I just don't know how he keeps that little gear planing.

When I got there, Chris was teaching his nephew to uphaul and taking a few quick runs near the marina now and then. His 6.5 was a bit small and he recommended a 7.5, but the main pool looked a lot windier. I rigged 6.0 on the 100L and worked up to the main pool getting some short planing runs occasionally. Once past the point, however, it was perfect. I hit the main pool at 12:00 and planed non-stop till after 3:00. A couple of weeks ago I would have called it choppy, but after Lake Mi it seemed smooth with a few sweet little ramps scattered around. At 12:30 the wind picked up to what I call comfortably overpowered and I had some really sweet chop hops - despite the heavy board.

The season got off to a late start but made up for it with a lot of 5.0 weekends. This was the first time I've had the 6.0 out this year and I'd forgotten how much I like this board/sail combination. Even overpowered, everything seemed so easy that I was able to just relax and enjoy the day.

Matt worked up to the main pool a little after 2:00. He was on his 5.7 and struggling a bit in the gusts until he remembered his ABK lessons and got things under control. We had a great time till it started getting holey a bit after 3:00 and backed down big time around 3:45. We schlogged back downwind - not all that easy as there were still a few gusts that liked to sneak up behind you. Funny how they would then disappear when you needed to waterstart.

We grabbed a late lunch and I called it day at 4:30. The wind was coming back, but I was happy to leave. Indoor rock climbing yesterday and sailing today had me happily worn out. Matt headed back out and Chris returned after taking his nephew home hoping to get in a little personal time.

We had a couple of light sprinkles, but mostly the weather stayed dry and skys alternated between sunny and heavy clouds. Steamers were plenty warm when sailing, but a tad cool hanging out on the beach. One guy was sailing some pretty old gear in a swim suit, but his wife said that's only because they forgot to bring neoprene. Oh yea, the best part was that there were hardly any boats out.

See ya on the water....
LLCJ