Homecoming Opener

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Fri Apr 16, 2004 9:41 am

It was great to open the season with some heat... While tempted with Superior, the 80 degree weather down here got our vote and Ryan and I headed south. The parking lot at Cannon was full when we dropped by about 1pm, with sailors out on 5-6M rigs. The wind hadn't yet clocked full south, so it looked on and off. Having been raised in Albert Lea we gave the nod to drive another half hour south and met with 6M southerly winds when we arrived at Helmer Myre State Park. The gate to the point was closed so we went back to the road connecting Big Island to the mainland. There's a grassy rigging area that's out of the wind and as we were rigging we got the SW shift we were looking for.
Albert Lea Lake is about 2-4' deep with a mud bottom that keeps one alert from any head first catapults. It's flat water speed sailing, hero jibe city, consequently, sail size is somewhat irrelevent. We sailed wound 5.9M and I finally broke down and rigged my 4.5M only to realize a 4M would have worked as well. Yet, Ryan was comfortable on his 5.9m throughout the session.
The lake has a flock of pelicans, commorants, soaring vultures and its share of big jumping fish. Sailing from Big Island is great when it's SW to NW and this makes for my third season opener on the lake I played on as a young child. Somehow, now doing it with my son and the heavy presence of my ancestors made it one of my more memorable sailing days. Looks like Faribault shifted SW around 2pm as well. We were hoping for a second session on some terrain on the way home, but the wind just didn't hold up.
(Note: if your looking at NOAA hourly readings, go to Austin instead of Albert Lea. Albert Lea airport gets the funkiest wind readings that can fluctuate dramatically from reality)

pat taylor · Post by **pat taylor** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:32 pm

Sounds like you and Ryan had a good opener. I sailed Lake Pleasent, Friday and Saturday, and had a pretty good opener- I didn't have any major mishaps. Thats a good opener for me on a new body of water. You better not move from Minnesota; I think you will miss the state and people too much. If you get down Phoenix way make sure you look me up. Pat.