(Lake) Perris in the Winter
by Shaun Geer
photos by Dave Whittaker

January 12, 2009


Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that we had a great day yesterday at Lake Perris. I called David Whittaker in the morning and we headed out to the lake.. Got there about 9:50am and the wind was light, around 15 knots.

When I pulled up my friend Bruce had a 5.8 sail rigged and was standing on the beach. He said, "Shaun, you are not going to believe it, but just a few minutes before you arrived it was cranking... That is why I rigged my 5.8 (Bruce weighs well over 200 pounds and is over 6 feet tall). I was debating rigging a 5.0. But then it just shut off".

If it hadn't been for the fact that he had a 5.8 rigged already I don't know if I would have believed him.

Never the less, the air temp was about 73 degrees and I was going to be able to sail for sure... So I rigged my 7.0. Bruce broke down his 5.8 and rigged a 6.9M. Dave pulled up, after teasing him on how it was blowing he began to rig his sail.

Bruce got in first, I followed shortly after. When I first walked in, as my wet suit has some holes in it, the water was chilly but it felt comfortable later. The air temp went up to, I am guessing, close to 80 degrees.

The water was flat and you could do some great long jibes. The wind was up and down, but I was able to keep sailing non stop on my 7.0 (I weigh 170 pounds on a Mikes Lab Board with a TR-3 7.0 Race sail. At times the gusts were really strong and I had to sheet out, but most of the time I was comfortable. It took my about 40 minutes to warm up as I hadn't sailed in such a long time.

We got out of the water at around 1:15pm, hence I had sailed for around 3 hours non-stop. I was getting tired, as when I did have to jibe I felt my arms having more and more difficulty pulling in the sail, so we all decided to go in.

Dave wanted to go in because he felt the wind might be dying off. I told him that usually the wind at the end of the day is the most consistent, as it was and even though it had gotten a little lighter it was actually less gusty. I expected it to blow until dark I said.

When we were de-rigging on the shore, Bruce looked over my head and laughed, "If I wasn't so tired I would go out again."

I turned to look back at the lake and a big dust cloud was blowing across as a gust hit and the lake was covered with white caps. I would estimate is was probably averaging low-mid twenties with gusts close to 30mph from looking at it. It remained filled in while we were de-rigging at 1:25pm. But we were too tired to go out more. It was a good break in for me as I haven't sailed since August a whole solid day like that. I would sail up to the sand bar where the wind compressed on shore as it came over the pass and spread out over the flat water. It was a perfect place to jibe as it was soo smooth.

It was kind of unreal when I was sailing, because you go so fast and the water is so flat at times compared to the beach that you begin to think you are just sliding on glass. Spencer, you would have liked this cause you can do some speed runs. But there are jumps, it is just so smooth in comparison to my three weeks in Maui and times at Cabrillo.

I forgot how nice it was to sail there. Lake Perris usually goes off the very last few days of the santa ana winds when it switches to a due east direction. I didn't call anyone because I hate people coming out on my accord and not sailing. But I did call Dave because he is willing to take a chance at being skunked and we have before.

So if you are willing to take a chance let me know and I will call you the next time as I would love for you to join us.. There were only three of us there the entire time and the air temp was warm with clear blue skies.

Shaun

(Lake) Perris in the Winter pt. 2
by Dave Whittaker

Yep, everybody knows, it's always windy on Mondays ! That's when most people go back to work and Monday, January 12th, was no exception. NOAA's forecast for the weekend was for strong Santa Ana winds gusting from 60 - 80 mph starting on Friday night January 9th. I loaded my truck with four boards and everything from a 7.3 to a 4.2 sail for a weekend of blasting on the water. I arrived at Lake Perris around 8 am on Saturday morning to find light winds and only one person there, Bruce a longtime Lake Perris windsurfer from Riverside. We waited for an hour and a half for the wind to fill in but it never really did, came very close, but not enough. By this time Ron the KA Sails rep showed up and all three of us waited for the wind.

After about another hour and a half Ron and I decided to make the drive to Lake Elsinore and see if it was windy there. When we arrived at the Weekend Paradise RV/Trailer park where we usually launch from we found the local Cal Cup racers there also waiting for wind. After talking to the locals at Weekend Paradise they told us about another launch site down the road a bit at a place called Perret Park. It has showers and a large grass area to rig on. Everyone drove down there and after a while the wind came up a bit and the Cal Cup racers broke out their 12m sails and Formula boards. Ron and I do not have Formula gear so we sat and watched for a while before calling it a day and heading home without sailing, damm NOAA forecasters ! After getting skunked on Saturday I thought I would head to the coast and try and sail there but it never really got windy in Huntington Beach either. Too bad because the waves were absolutely FLAT, would of made for some great speed runs.

On Monday morning Jan 12th I'm sitting in front of the computer looking at Iwindsurf, Surfline, and NOAA websites trying to figure out where to go when Shaun Geer calls. He said it was windy at his house and that he called the Marina at Lake Perris and it was windy. We decide to head out to the lake and hope its windy enough. When I arrived about 10:10 am Shaun and Bruce were there already rigged up. Bruce reported that 20 minutes earlier it was really blowing and he had started to rig a 5.8 but the wind had died.

Bruce ( 6 ft +, 220 lbs) rigged his 6.9 Ezzy wave and Shaun ( 5' 10", 170 lbs) rigged his 7.0 TR-4 and his new Mikes Lab board with a 36 cm Tectonics Goldwing fin. Those of you who know Shaun probably have not ever seen him on another sail, he always rigs his 7.0 no matter if its 20, 30, or 40 mph winds. The only problem with this is that I also now have to rig big in order to keep up with him. While those guys hit the water, Shaun in a wetsuit with holes in it, I ( 6 ft, weight classified) rig my 6.8 North Sails F2007 sail. I see Bruce and Shaun plane right off the beach which is a good sign but there was still some lulls so I decide to ride my wide Nelson board with a slightly smaller 36 cm Goldwing fin.

It was a really warm day for January, water about 58 degrees and air temp around 75 degrees. The wind was also really warn and dry, the kind of wind that dries out everything in just a few minutes even if its completely soaked. I had to keep wiping my hands on my wetsuit to get them wet again because my boom kept getting super dry and hard to hold on to. Awesome day, no need for a wetsuit hood ! I launch from our little protected cove and after a 10 yard slough to the windline I plane up and take off like a rocket. Ya, were having fun now ! I make a few runs back and forth across the lake and try to get the timing on my jibes figured out again before trying to catch up with Shaun who was fast and jibing well. The wind was completely filled in and the 6.8 was comfortable. There were a couple gusts that came thru where I had to sheet out but for the most part it was comfortable sailing. After about an hour of sailing I ran up to my truck to get my Sony Digital Camera to take some photos. Dang it, the batteries are dead. I pull out my GoPro Hero3 digital water camera and the batteries are dead also, dang it again ! I put in some backup batteries and run back to take some quick photos / video. Unfortunately the batteries were really weak so every time I tried to take a video it would run for 2 seconds and shut off. Oh well back to the water. By this time Shaun and I were ready to start racing each other and sail close together. I think there was a time when my board was about a foot away from him as we raced across the water at top speed. We are pretty used to sailing close together so it was not a problem.

This helps both of us tune our equipment and go faster. Shaun and I both had good board speed and are pretty evenly matched except Shaun planes up faster than me after jibing, guess I better lose some weight.

We launch out of parking lots 11 - 12 which is on the east side of the lake where the wind is also coming from. The middle of the lake is choppy as you would expect however the water is almost flat on the far side of the lake from where we launch. The wind comes right off the land and does not have enough of a fetch to build up chop where we sail. This makes for an incredible area for speed runs on flat, flat, water. The wind also gets compressed and redirected by the mountains so it picks up speed closer to shore. This is the reason I love sailing Lake Perris on Santa Ana wind days !!!!!!!!!!!! Warm wind, no crowds, flat and fast water, and fun, fun. fun.

Of course there is the occasional hooked in pitch over the handlebars that you have to deal with but it's worth it. We sailed for about three hours before quitting. I was thinking that the wind was backing off and I did not want to get stuck on the other side of the lake, no use pushing our luck. We carried our gear up the small, but butt kicking, hill to the grassy area to de-rig. We looked out over the water to see is was still cranking and may have actually picked up a bit. If we were not already tired from being out of sailing shape we would have gone back out again. We de-rigged and hung out at the cars for a while until the Ranger came by and asked us if we were going out because he wanted to alert the lifeguards that were we there. We told him thank you and that we done for the day. He informed us that a kiter got stuck on the Island yesterday and they did not know he was there. The kiter called up the next day and asked for a refund on his parking fees because nobody came to rescue him. Stupid Kiter : )

Anyways I hope the high pressure stays planted over California for a while and we get another chance to sail Lake Perris soon. If bump n jump is your thing then head to Sail Cove on the west side of the lake for some choppier water to jump your day away. If you would rather race then head on over to parking lots 11 and 12 and Shaun and I will let you chase us. You won't catch us because we are to fast, but you will have fun trying ! see ya on the water.

Dave