Maybe I don't believe in numbers anymore, anyway. Today's wind was stronger than the last couple of days, but the meter readings don't show that. Perhaps it's because the meter does not record lulls (those were nasty the last few days). Or maybe colder wind just packs more punch.
We started the day with a 2.5 km (1 1/2 mile) upwind tour to reach the "South Bird Island Bay". It was absolutely perfect there yesterday, and I hoped for a repeat. I did not quite get it, since the wind was ~ 25 degrees more northerly today. That made getting there harder, kept runs shorter, and created more chop. But since the water in SBIB is only knee-to-hip deep and partly shielded by islands, it was still flat, and very flat at the ends of the runs. Perfect for jibe practice! I must have made some progress, since I ended up with a new personal best of 22.15 knots for alpha 500 (a 500 m run with a jibe in the middle, and the ends of within 50 meters of each other). That's the 4th personal best in the 6 GPSTC categories during the one month we've been in Texas. No wonder we like it here! Although we are a bit exhausted now. So we like the "no wind" forecast for the next 2 days. All is good.
Here are today's tracks:
