Duluth

[BSMITH]

If you are feeling nutty. It looks like it will be plenty warm on the big lake tomorrow. Plenty windy too. I will be doing a "Career Assesment" in Tonka town.

[Dave Z]

Heh, saw that too....big day on the big water....brrrrrr...

[cdelp]

The latest I have sailed is Nov. 7th, I'm sure Chip has beat that. It does look tempting. I gotta work until three, see what the temp is then. It gets dark so early. My therapist says I gotta let go of my fear of the dark though...

[Chip]

I'd be willing to go out today - my holy booties will keep me from staying out too long at a shot though..

[Randy]

Yes, I've been feeling 'nutty' since yesterday when I saw this setting up. The internal battle raged.....yes...no...maybe....on and on it went. Will there be ice on the roads coming home? How hard will it be raining? Oh, but it could be so wonderful. And what about all the commitments made that would have to be broken. And then Brian starts a thread that tilts me to going. Go alone? Enlist a posse? Probably better to go alone than get this tortous mental chatter going for someone else. Maybe I can blame it on my wife. "Jane, I'm thinking of going to Duluth to sail. I know it's disruptive given our plans, but this for sure has to be the last day of the season." I wait for her pronouncement of insanity and attempts to persuade, but there isn't one. Guess I can't use her for an excuse. Ah, but they now say the roads will be real icy and the rain looks like it could intensify. And on and on it goes to the sad state of affairs where I write my post to you from my home.
I find this part of the year quite frustrating. I've gotten into the full on winter mode, gave my personal funeral to the 2005 Minnesota water season, and then Mother comes out of the blue at the end of November, creating all this business in my head.
I'm going to lay it to rest, carry on with my scheduled duties and anxiously await the posts from those who met the unexpected conditions of Superior waters.

[Chris Lock]

Hmmmm, the spectre of the waning season rears its ugly head yet again as Mr. Smith pours gasoline on the smoldering fire. I would love to go, but as I sit here staring into my pint of Guiness in a Dublin pub, all I can do is egg someone else on, perhaps so that I can live it vicariously through the next story. Go Randy, go dammit!

[Chip]

I unconceously (no really!) suggested to my wife that she drop me off at work after lunch and pick me up on her way home.... So, I'm afaid I'm out.

If I wasn't so damn busy, and if I had a car and if my booty didn't have a big hole in it and if I had better gloves and if it weren't raining so damn hard and if someone else would volunteer to go with, then I'd go..

Randy, if you can find the weather data for last Thursday, try to look up south shore wind conditions. It was the BIGEST NW I have ever seen!

[cdelp]

Well, I guess I have a case of the "Big Talk from a Little Guy"

Sunset is at 4:21 here, and I got off work at 3:15. Allowing for a half hour to go and get my stuff and time to rig it gave me just a ten minutes of sailing time.

I know, you say "I REAL man would sail 4.0 on Lake Superior in the dark despite the rain and sleet!!" I mean, if the Mailman has motto "Niether rain nor sleet...

But hey guys, ever since my testicular reduction surgery I haven't been the same...

[Randy]

What a great laugh.... Actually, much better than hearing about how I missed another outrageous day. Thanks for the empathic responses.

Chip, I've never seen so much white on experimental as what Superior's been showing the past couple weeks. Did anybody travel east to take a look at it?

Strange time of year...yesterday it was 50 degrees and our lake was completely frozen over...today it's low 20's and the water's open. The ducks are very confused, just as we seem to be.

Next time.

[JimW]

I've been driving up to Bayfield at least once a week this fall for work (with no time to sail) and have put some serious thought into sailable locations. Let me first say that sailing in Duluth has it's thrills. But it is a shore break with the waves stacked on top of eachother. What I am after (those of you who know me and my past) is some serious side-shore wave sailing (riding and jumping) conditions. The real deal. Port Wing has some advantage, but it isn't what I have been looking for.

About a mile before the rest stop on Hwy 13 (before Port Wing) there is a pull-out that overlooks the lake. If you look just to the right/north you'll see a small point. I've seen nice breakers wrapping around the point into the bay on a N to NE. Another spot is Bark Point before Cornucopia.

... just a couple of spots that I think deserve some attention. I think that it would be worth it to do some reconnisance (sp?) next season and look into bottom structure on the whole south shore. There has to be some places that will work. I'm not looking for Jaws, but perhaps another Kanaha. Would it be worth the drive? Hell yeah!! ...my two cents...