Scary Larry's Morse Lake report

Doug Tackitt, Steve Reyburn, and myself went to Morse lake for a half day on Friday the 13th. Windsurfing was Indiana style - 125 and 135 liter boards uphauling 7.0 and 8.0 sails. Launch site was nice - used the East public beach site. By 3:45 PM, we were forced to leave from a thunderstorm. Doug was in the center of the lake at the time. Lightning was banging every second and wind was gusting radically in all different directions. Just when we thought Doug was getting his religion he popped right up, getting his first water start of the day, and planned full speed right into our launch site. Lucky, Doug was not caught downwind, like Larry was earlier in the day.

Scary Larry

Scary Larry's Morse Lake report

Saturday, April 30th, Whiz Kid and I had a learned day - on a lake that not every Windsurfer is familiar with: Morse Lake in Noblesville, IN. We started at 2:00 PM, rigged my new 7.0 (Areo-tech with scrim) and 135 liter F2 board I bought from Mike Alward. Winds were nothing like Sunday - guessing gusts were up to 12 mph. Over about 4 hours we shared the rig for about six runs each, until our arms got tired from holding up the sail. It was a no plane day. Doug got in the straps once. Sinking while schlogging was no problem with a 135 liter. But for us beginners . . . it was a good time.

Also, this was the first time I attempted to sail on this lake (which is very very close to my home). The best attribute about this lake is access. So far, there are two places worth noting. We went to the South Harbor clubhouse beach (on the South side of the lake). There, we parked 30 ft from the water, rigged in mowed grass, had trees to block the wind while rigging, and a sand beach. During the summer, there is a bathroom and snackstand nearby. The other access is the Morse Lake public beach on the East side of the lake.

Scarry Larry

Columbus Jeff's Clinton Lake report

Despite the heavy frost, I had the car and trailer rolling by 6 am. The
area temperature reports from the weather radio were all in the low 30's,
so I had my fingers crossed that it would be in the 50's by 10 am, as
forecasted. When I got to the lake, it was already starting to white cap
and I could have been powered on the 6.2. Instead, I opted to cruise
around and 1) find where everyone else was launching, 2) let the wind build
a bit, and 3) let it WARM UP.

Around 10:30 it had filled in at the marina and it looked like a straight
shot to the main pool which was fully capped over at that point. I rigged
5.5, crossed my fingers and launched. I made it to the main pool in 2
mostly planing reaches and had it all to myself. I eventually had to find
a landing to flatten the sail and opted for the far shore. The wind seemed
to be filled in all the way to shore and I found a nice little sunny beach
out of the wind to warm up and tune the sail. When I came back out, the
wind was well off shore and I had to swim the rig out. That's when I
discovered it had pretty much shut down completely. I worked on no-wind
water starts and schlogging a sinker and eventually made it to the correct
shore and prepared for my walk of shame.

Of course, that's when the wind started to come back. I spotted Glen,
Reid, Chris, and James (a UI who started sailing/kiting Clinton this
spring) launching and waited for them. They had a much tougher time making
it to the main pool than I did, but it was worth it. We spent the rest of
the afternoon well powered on 5.0's to 5.5's. Chop was nicely formed with
decent ramps in both directions. I noticed James getting some impressive
jump starts - that's when you get good air but miss the landing. The wind
was pretty cold and there were times that I could not feel the foot straps
and had to get into the water occasionally to warm up the fingers and toes.
To an untrained observer these warm up stops may have looked like falls,
but we know better ;o)

Mid afternoon, I was starting to get maxed out in the gusts and headed in
to Farmer's Beach to see if I could flatten the 5.5 just a bit more when
Ken showed up. On a 7.0 and barefoot. He had rigged a 5.0, but then
decided he'd never make it up to the main pool. He managed to hold on to
it and we stayed out till 4:00-4:30 and called it a day.

Jeff