Today was a speed day, though - we needed to improve our monthly ranking on the GPS Team Challenge, and practice a bit for the speedsurfer house in Hatteras in April. A "cold" front pulled through, bringing northwesterly winds. Temperatures dropped from near 80 F to 70 F during the afternoon - if that's a cold front, give me more! But more importantly, we got great wind - averages reached 30 mph, gusts 35 mph.
We decided to look for flat water, and sail a further away from WorldWinds today. Here are Nina's GPS tracks for the day:
We had to sail upwind about 1/2 mile, but it was well worth it - the water was hip-deep everywhere, and the chop was small. After sailing around for a while, I decided to see how close to the island near the top (South Bird Island) we could sail, and walked along the shore. Quite close, it turned out: the water was knee-deep about 50 feet from the shore. The wind angle was not ideal for speed (a bit too square), but we did a few speed runs and had fun. I was happy to see 30 knots on my GPS for the first time here. Nina improved her top speed by almost 2 knots, and set a total of 4 personal bests! She beat my speed in several categories, including 5x10 seconds (often considered the most important speed category). Nicely done! Of course, she look fantastic on her speed runs, with perfect speed stance. Maybe I can convince her to use a GoPro next time...
Great to find a nice speed spot here. Thanks to Mike Murphy for creating the BIB Windsurfing Guide, which gave us the idea to follow his tracks, and for the helpful feedback on the Corpus Christi Windsurfing group on Facebook!
