Beatiful sail this norning. I was hesitant to go out, as on Sundays the lake swarms with every known power vehicle known, but there were amzingly few boats! Wind was variable as always, from periods of no winf at all to periods of good fun wind, but never was overpowered. OK, so just another nice sailing day...BUT...I needed to posts because I have not seen the wind this amazingly variable! In our narrow cove, it went from a head-on breeze to dead downwind, and stayed there, but the flags 300 yds in what should've been a 'downwind" direction from me were fluttering straight ROWARDS me...with a 50 foot swath of still water between my downwind ruffled water and the ruffled water near those flags. I've seen the wind veer and back like crazy, sometimes staying close-hauled while I follow the wind and do a 360...but never saw nearly diametrically opposed, sustained wind like that! Got back to dock just as a steady stream of boats were noodling up from the public boat launch. Hope you all are enjoying fun sails... Cheers!
Crazy lake winds
- Thread starter Tereza
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Fickle winds
I frequently have a similar situation here in central NH. The lake is oval shaped with the long axis oriented in a north-south direction. Usually when the wind comes from the north it stays in the north, northwest sector and we have the best sailing along the length of the lake. From the west it varies up and down the lake allegedly because of the hills around the lake. There was a day last week I got so frustrated trying to keep up with the changes that I just quit. I was sitting with a limp sail while 100 yards to the north a boat had a full sail!!!
I frequently have a similar situation here in central NH. The lake is oval shaped with the long axis oriented in a north-south direction. Usually when the wind comes from the north it stays in the north, northwest sector and we have the best sailing along the length of the lake. From the west it varies up and down the lake allegedly because of the hills around the lake. There was a day last week I got so frustrated trying to keep up with the changes that I just quit. I was sitting with a limp sail while 100 yards to the north a boat had a full sail!!!
We often observe on our lake two houses on shore a few hundred feet apart, each with a flagpole in the yard, and flags blowing in different directions. Last year there was a day when I decided not to go out because there was no wind at all on the lake. Then a guy with his grandson came to the lake and launched their sailboat. I watched him for an hour as he circled the entire lake and was never without wind. From my observation it seemed that at any given moment there was only one spot on the lake where the surface was not perfect calm, and that was always where he was. By the time I left the beach there was a pretty good crowd watching him (they had scrubbed the race for lack of wind) we were all wondering if he is a genius at reading the wind on our fickle little lake, or if he is in good with the man upstairs! j
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