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