Fooled

Windsurfers are used to being fooled - usually by the wind forecast. It's either too low or too high, but rarely accurate. Since we'd rather be planing at just the right size gear, some of us rely heavily on the all-knowing internet, and even pay yearly fees to see more wind meters.

The image below tells the story of today:

The forecast had predicted decent wind (19 mph) until 10 am, and then a quick drop. After two weeks with little wind, we got excited enough to sleep poorly and get up early. But when we looked at the Corpus Christi wind meter readings (at the top left of the image), it showed only 10 mph, soon dropping even lower. Most of the other meters had similar readings, except for two. Those two, however, were clear outliers, and at spots where we never sailed before. They both showed averages close to 20 mph.

Believing the meters from the spots we knew well, we stayed home .. at least until the trees in front of the condo started swaying in the wind. By then, the "regular" wind meters approached 15 mph. We got to the water around 9:30, and yes, there were plenty of whitecaps. Nina soon took off on the 6.3/89 combo, I followed her on 112/7.8. We both used MUF Delta fins since the water was very shallow at the launch, and also near the islands that we wanted to sail close to for flat water.

The water was indeed flat, but the wind was too northerly to allow speed runs along the skinny island that Nina named "Turtle Island" after encountering a turtle on a previous light wind scouting trip. We had 45 minutes of fun until the wind turned even more northerly, which made finding a path between the islands and shallows hard. Fortunately, the wind also dropped below planing threshold at the same time, so it was time to call it a day, anyway.

In the roughly two weeks since we arrived in Corpus Christi, we've managed to get out on the water 8 times. But that includes one light wind scouting session and four foil sessions (for me - Nina managed to plane on our largest slalom gear on 3 of the 4 foil days). The three slalom sessions were on big gear (7.0 - 7.8, 99 - 112 l), and mostly cut short because the wind dropped, and/or lightly powered. But it was warm enough to never require a hood or gloves, and often sunny, so there's not really a reason to complain. However, bringing a toy like the foil for the lighter days was definitely a good idea.