Oh those whacky winds!

Merrily

Merrily

Administrator
I sailed yesterday (in my second race!) at my club which is on a narrow tree-lined reservoir. We usually have mystery winds falling from above over the trees and gusting through gaps. Yesterday was even better with major oscillating winds about an hour before thunderstorms arrived. Without changing heading I went from beating to sailing a broad reach and then back again, all the way up and down the racecourse. Classes of boats with spinnakers never bothered to raise them.

What's your whacky wind experience?

Merrily
 
well in yestetrday at the Baker Reggatta (higshoocl national reggatta for 420's) the wind went fromdead calm to hiking all the way to dead calm and shifted 90 degrees in 1 hour. another on was i was hit by a summer squall while sailing my laser and the winds went from a steady 15 to 35 gusting at 40 in 10 min.
 
ya i sailed today on a little lake called bald eagle. it was blowing a little but then it totaly died. you really learn alot when theres no wind and its shifty. main thing is heel the boat a little and get your weight forward. i put both my legs infront of the main sheet and like sit with my legs on the leeward side of the boat. it was fun because i went from last by far to second place just workin on those tactics
 
Obiously you have never been to Glenmore resevoir. It is located in the middle of Calgary, and it is our drinking water... so there are only parks, cliffs and parking lots surrounding the lake. It surprisingly holds the largest sailing school in canada (# of people who go through) but really, they dont know how to sail very well. There will be almost fifty 420's andc CJ's out on the water when a conveniant gust arrives and they all go over, rather entertaining, and there is only two motor boats allowed on the lake... but that is not me, i have sailed there and advanced in races based on the thermals coming off of the parking lots, the bloddy parking lots..... worst place ever....
 
Yeah my local club sails on an inland lake in Australia, Lake Wallace. When the wind is under 5 knots it is incredibly variable. I have seen to boats 50m apart on the same heading but on opposite tacks!. Once the wind picks up it's normally ok. As the wind shifts hit hard and obvious, which I find easier to read than the slow bending winds on the coast.
 
sad to say but conditions like these make us better sailors. theres this little spot behind "the island" or the sailing school i sail off of and theres a bunch of other stuff around it so the wind is like totaly shifty even in heavy air. most people hate it but i love it... when you sail in it alot you get good at looking at the water and stuff to determine where puffs and shifts are.
 
Yeah.. wacky winds, Albert Park lake in Melbourne city. I've only sailed there on one occasion because it's simply a pathetic place to race. But you would be sailing and you see a gust, so you sail into it and watch your wind indicator shift 90 degrees, then you'll tack without the boat changing direction. The reason for this is because of the large buildings surrounding the park, the wind is just totally disturbed.

Fair enough for people that have no other places to sail, but Sandringham is a short drive from Albert Park, I don't know why you'd bother with a man made lake in the city when we live by the ocean.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top