Fun Day on Big Gear
Lake Isabella - 6/22/06

Just got back from the lake tonight. There were a few armchair weather forecasters at the lake and nobody thought it was going to get better after today, so I packed up after a day. Well, a little more, when I pulled in last night it was still blowing pretty steady so I rigged my 7.5 and had a blast until dark. Comfortably powered on my techno 125 and a big fin. This morning things weren't looking great for wind. Some called for nothing, you and iWindsurf agreed that it was going to blow. The north wind died around 9:00 and there was NOTHING until 12:00 when the north wind kicked back up. Noaa weather radio was all over the high pressure setting up inland, so it wasn't looking good. Mike (whom I think you met last weekend, nice older fellow) and I started packing up around 2:30 with the lake like glass. Once the boards were on the car, it started to come up a little in the right direction, and Mike talked me into getting back out on the water if for no other reason than to cool off (it was brutal in the sun). By the time I had my board back together and my 7.9 rigged it was getting sailable. We were on and off a plane until 4:30: when it shifted totally westerly. On a hunch I schlogged over past engineers point and found the arm full of white caps.

I had the bay to myself, totally powered up on my 7.9 and big board / fin that didn't want to stay on the water. I stayed there until 7 pm and left with the wind just starting to get spotty. I managed to follow a gust past the point and onto the area where you normally sail. On a broad reach back to the aux dam I was flying with a gust all the way back to the beach and had a glorious tear right parallel to the beach in a strong westerly gust. A fun day on big gear. Waterstarts are in check, so I'm putting my attention on jibing now. I'm falling into the inside of my turns a lot and having trouble with the sail flip. Something to work on.

Spencer - Hope you're having a good week, and thanks for the forecast on the lake. You were on today.

Best,

Dan Cole

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