WIndsurfers on the road

Sometimes the wind blows in the middle of the night. Some other days it blows when you are at work, or while you are getting married, reading a book, or doing anything else but sailing. Some other days, though, the wind starts blowing right as you enter your beach parking lot, it stays up to epic conditions for a few hours, and then it disappears.
Those days you sail like there is no tomorrow. Because in fact, there is no tomorrow (the next session might be in two months), and all you have is here and now.
Well, that's what happened today at Wolf, with the exception that tomorrow it might be windy again, and all my pseudo-zen BS may get blown away...
Pray for wind...

October is here

October is finally here, the wait is over. This weekend the situation turned critical at Montrose, with 30 mph N winds and rollers all over the place. I decided it was not a good idea to go out in those conditions, and ended up at Wolf Lake, which was much more manageable. I was still overpowered on my 5.2 at times. It was a great session, but I still think about Montrose... The place was going off, and who knows if I would have been fine. Know your limits, I guess... Maybe next time.
Boring picture from Wolf, I keep telling myself to stop and take pictures, which I never do...

The last drop of wind

Today we had another great day at Montrose. The wind shifted to NNW and there were pretty nice rollers to play with. I was on my 6.5, which was just enough to get me going. The guy in the picture was on a 7.2 and it looked like that was enough... It's been my fourth straight day on the water, Fall looks promising...

Two in a row

Fall is in full effect here in Chicago. Thursday I had an evening session at Montrose with strong SSW wind. The wind was dead offshore, perfect for speed runs in super flat water. After a couple reaches I realized I was getting far away from the beach, trying to catch more wind, so I decided to call it, it was a little past 7 when I left the water, but I saw another sail cruising around. Someone else sneaking a session before dinner...
Yesterday was just another epic day at Wolf Lake (sorry, no pics). SW, powered up on a 5.2 until 5 PM, then 6.5 for the last two hours. There must have been 20 windsurfers out there, all having a great time.
Today I woke up and there were white caps everywhere! I got to the beach, but it didn't feel enough. The rollers were leftovers from last night's wind. Did I still give it a try? What do you think?
Tomorrow the forecast is calling 15-20 mph NNE. Let's pray for wind...

Montrose beach from my window

Old school

So fall is upon us. And soon the wind will start cranking everywhere. In some places, it's already happening. Rocktober, the windsurfer's window of opportunity, when it's crazy windy but not crazy cold. In Chicago this window is even narrower for a simple fact: the lake freezes, so we have to make the most of these epic days. So I'll hopefully be posting a ton of notes about short sessions squeezed here and there: late afternoon, early evening, after work, etc.
Here is a picture of last weekend's sesh at Montrose (Brotherhood), iwindsurf has a forum with a thread called: oldest gear that you still use. This rig is pure beauty to me...

Brotherhood

Last week I got married in Portland, OR. It was a very exciting week, and most of my family came from Argentina for the wedding, my brother Carly among them. Carly is a windsurfer, and the reason I became one. So put yourself in the shoes of a dude who is sitting at a wedding ceremony, an hour from the Gorge, and it's blowing... I swear I could hear him whispering numbers of sails and boards "5.2, 4.5, 85 liters" during the ceremony... He did not sail the Gorge in his first visit to Oregon... Again, put yourself in his shoes. Anyway, we came to Chicago after the wedding, and Carly came along... So this Sunday we went for a light wind session at Montrose, and the wind was enough to plane for a few hours... enough for Carly, who live with a smile and a promise that next time, we will visit the Gorge.

Light wind speed machine in action

Carly on Lake Michigan

Montrose wave special

OK, maybe you live in Maui... I, on the other hand, live in Chicago, and I call a 3 feet roller a wave. Adapt or die said Darwin to the windsurfers, so we developed an incredible range of gear so we can have fun in the water no matter what...
The day started light, with non-planing runs on my super light wind gear. Then, it picked up to planing conditions and beyond. The wind kept getting stronger, and the rollers kept getting bigger, so I decided to give the 6.5 and the Goya 105 a try. Did it work? I must say it was fun to play around in the waves, but I think we were still a couple knots short from epic...

Montrose beach, you can spot the bigger sets in the distance (just kidding...)