Jibe Marker Jill's Eagle Ocean report

Well, it wasn't quite as windy as "Epic Sunday" on Eagle Ocean
yesterday, but it was pretty darn close!   The Indy airport yesterday
reported peak winds at 45 mph, and a peak gust of 51 mph.

I showed up at EO around 11 a.m.   Indy Car Mike had already been out on
his 5.5, getting hammered in the gusts.   Chef rigged his 5.8, and Rev
rigged his 5.5, and suggested I go 4.5.   At this point, the Airpark was
reporting winds 22-33, so I opted for my 4.0.  By the time I got out,
everyone was coming in to rig down.   It went out on the 4.0, got out
about 100 yds from shore, and couldn't even begin to hang on in the
gusts.  So, I immediately came back to rig my 3.0.  Lots of others
started showing up, including Dr. Evil, Techno Matt, Jethro Matt,
Martin, Mike Award, Red Truck man, a few sailors I didn't know, and
probably some others I'm forgetting.   3.8 to 4.5 was the call for most
sailors (basically everybody rigged the smalled thing they had).  It was
rough going for everyone, as it was insanely gusty.   The wind was from
the southwest and gradually got a little more westerly as the day went
on.   There weren't the nasty directional shifts of a true westerly, but
the wind speed constantly varied from 20-40 mph in a matter of microseconds.

I was slow in getting my 3.0 tuned, but finally got back out the
water.   When I did, most had come in for a break, or to flatten their
sails more.   At first the 3.0 was perfect in the gusts, a little light
in the lulls, and I had a couple of reasonably fun, but gusty, runs. 
Then, somebody really turned on the wind machine.   EO was whipped into
a total frenzy, tons of spray coming off the water, and if I raised my
sail 1 inch above the water to get ready to waterstart, it would get
ripped out of my hand.   Mega mega windy!!!   I managed to get back to
shore, sailing in the lulls, and crashing in the gusts.   I ended up a
bit downwind and waded back to the launch in conditions that I choose to
describe as "shorebreak".   Little shorebreak, but I'm calling
shorebreak nonetheless!!   Chef was on the shore with his windmeter, and
measured 40 mph sustained winds.

The wind cranked hard like this for quite a while, and we mostly just
sat on the beach and watched.  Every now and then someone would head out
on the water, providing entertainment for the audience on the beach, and
return and pronounce it unsailable.  A few who had just returned from
the steady winds of Hatteras made disparaging comments about Eagle Ocean
winds, and decided to head home.

After a while, the wind finally backed off chunk, and most of the gang
headed back out to enjoy the somewhat sailable but still very gusty
conditions.   By 3 p.m. or so, it had backed off enough to move up one
sail size, and became a bit more sailable.  I went back out on my 4.0
and had what I thought was the best sailing of the day.

A new-to-Indy sailor named Eric showed up.   He just moved here from
Oregon, where he sailed the Gorge.   Ouch!  Eagle Ocean is undoubtedly
going to be a letdown for him.   But he seemed happy to be sailing
nonetheless.   He and Martin sailed until the wind had backed off more,
and they were the last ones off the water.

Post sailing festivies were sushi and beer and Ginza Steakhouse.

All it all, it was a fun but crazy day on the water.   The warm temps
and sunshine sure helped make the psycho conditions more enjoyable!

- Jill

Columbus Jeff's Clinton Lake report

Unlike the Max crew, the Clinton crew was able to sail yesterday - sort of. Sara and I got to the lake a bit after 9:00. Chris had just got blown off the water on his 5.0 and Reed was measuring gusts at 39. He and Chris were rigging 4.0's. I put Sara on a 3.5 and instructed her to say inside the cove until she felt confident she could handle the wind and chop. I didn't want her ending up at the swim beach while the rest of us were sailing the marina.

The wind backed down a tad and Chris couldn't make it up to the main pool on the 4.0 with a 72L and so came back for his 5.0. Ken, Glen, and I rigged 5.2, 4.5, and 4.2. Getting up to the main pool went something like this - schlog, hulu a sinker in the lulls and then catapult in the gust - schlog, this time survive the gust and plane like hell to the next hulu and catapult. After reaching open water the wind was steadier, but still up and down with voodoo chop. I hung on a while then went in to flatten out the 4.2. That made the gusts more manageable, but wasn't enough in the lulls. I could jump - conditions were perfect for big (to me anyway) air - but jibing was something else entirely. By the time I started getting my confidence back and was beginning to make a few jibes, the wind backed off forcing Ken and I to sink/schlogg back to the launch. We should have paid more attention to Glen and Reed who seem to have a sixth sense and made it in while they could still plane.

Nanos arrived about then, sans booms and wet suit. Glen was able to scrape together a suit and boom for him so he could get out, but he just couldn't make the main pool on 4.8 & 72L and gave it up. After a leisurely lunch the wind came back and we made it up to the pool again for a better session.

Sara never did make it out of the cove, but she made 100% of her beach starts - which is quite an accomplishment for a beginner in the swirly 0-40 gusty cove. When Ken asked, she said it was fun for about 3 seconds and then she'd hit the far shore. She wisely elected not to attempt leaving the cove and is now determined to focus on waterstarts so she'll be able to venture into deeper water. I think she's been hanging around wind snobs too much and doesn't realize it's possible to uphaul in lower wind conditions.

Some other locals made it out too. I met Tony from Decature, but he felt his board gear was too big and didn't go out. Hugh was also there and consuled Sara that she should go to U of I in Champain for grad school - it has a good Microbiology dept and is close to good sailing. She's considering, but feels it's too far from skiing. Hmm, sounds a bit like her dad.

Wayne's Lake Maxinkuckee report

Friday - I did go to EO about 1PM. There was not much wind. The water level was way down, so I spent some time picking up large rocks and trash in the exposed beach area. Then I rigged my 7.0. I waited, but there was not enough wind to entice me to suit-up. I gave up and went home at 2:30.

Today - I met Duckburn and Joe at the east Max launch site at 10:45. They were standing in Joe's trailer, just looking at the water. It was nukin'. There were long, continuous breaking waves, with water spraying off the tops. There were limbs breaking. One limb landed in the middle of the access road, just in front of us. We moved the vehicles farther back, away from the water, for fear of getting hit by a falling limb.

We all rigged our smallest stuff. Joe 3.8 (which he bought from me last week), me 4.2, Duckburn 4.5. Around noon, Duck volunteered to be a wind dummy. He made a couple of struggling runs and came in, proclaiming it "unsailable", despite the fact that he had just proved otherwise. That was enough to keep me and Joe off the water for a while. Around 2PM the wind finally showed signs of lessening. We all went out. Duck was making a lot of long runs, although he was also falling in a lot. He launched a backward loop, and landed on his back. Joe and I were still strugging just to make short runs. The shore break was significant, and the waves were very close together. In the time it took to get reasonable wind, the temperature dropped a lot, and I got chilled in my 3/2 convertible. Joe was in a drysuit, and Duck in a 5/3 steamer. I didn't feel like changing into my drysuit, so I quit early. As the wind started to taper down, Joe took out Duck's 4.5, and was marginally powered. As we headed out, they showed me the esoteric south launch site, and Irsay's summer home. They convinced me that Maxintuckee is a great place to sail.

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