Good friends + good sesh = good sailing

[Coach]

What a perfect Sunday for sailing! Warm, sunny, and breezy.

It started out with a proposed trip to Mille Lacs, but not enough people were interested. So, I hooked up with Randy and Ryan at Forest Lake. We scored some sailing, but got pump-faked by mother nature a few times figuring out where and what size to sail.

Around mid-afternoon I headed back to WBL since the wind clocked west and wasn't really figuring out what it wanted to do. I got there just in time for a killer 2-hour sesh on the 16m kite. Mike W. showed up, and we were pretty much the only guys on the water aside from Jim K and another guy out ocassionally on windsurfers.

The funny thing was, I could have looked at the day as a complete bust. The wind was fluky in the morning, I headed out for my first sail with the plug open on my board, and - since I haven't parked in a garage for quite some time - managed to back my board into the top edge of my garage and rip the fin box out.

The fin box is a major bummer - but it didn't matter. Shit happens, and I got to spend some time with friends and get a great sail in. That's enough to make any day good.


-Coach

[Mike W]

Nice post, Mark! I too was quite happy to get a good session in after fulfilling different family commitments into the early afternoon. It was quite a thrill to see you fling that 30 ft. jump, whether you intended to go that high or not. It was the biggest air I have witnessed to date. Nice!

[scottchapman]

Glad you guys had a great time. I can't wait to get on the water. I will be back on Tuesday afternoon. I brought back the Japanese wind god and a shrine so pray for wind when I get back. Hope to see you all on the water soon. tokyo boy....scott

[Mike G.]

Heh Coach,
the gang was all down at Mahtomedi (Jim,Pat,Todd,Pete,Kat and others);
I played guinea pig by rigging up at Ramsey beach about 9:30am, but light
enough so I was on a 9.5, getting some great rides, but it was obviously
blowing harder elsewhere, and seemed to be more westerly.. Pat and Jim
were watching from shore and had the same idea..headed
over to Ma to find the crew and a nice set of whitecaps rolling in Okay, so I rig a 6.5 and head out.. again first on the water (what the
heck were you guys doing??).. but found it a bit up and down.. 7.5 would
have been perfect, but since I don't have one, I rigged my 8.5 V8 and
thought I'd tinker with the adjustable outhaul.

There was clearly a windline about 300 yards offshore.. think Jim was the
first to reach it and he was ripping.. hoo ah.. as the early afternoon came
it started to really fill in with some great 6.5 conditions.

All that and that gorgeous sun filled blue sky! Wish we would've had
a grill with to go with the tailgating atmosphere.. and more to come..
saw on the news that we had 5" snow this time last year

Jim remarked maybe he should head over to Ramsey to complete the
circle (did you ever make it over there?).

[pbeytien]

Fianally figured out who Mike G. is! No, I didn't get to Ramsey, but was envious of all the wind that Coach and M.Winter got at Bellaire. Had a session where I could not seem to get everything dialed in. Screwed around with down and out-haul, mast position and different fins....but it took several combination changes before any consistant planing. Every time I think I'm starting to grasp the concept(s), I get served a mega sized slice of humble pie. Oh well, just makes me more determined to nail it next time...Hey, check out the Maui Chat further along the site...more info than I've read in a dozen Magazines...Got me thinking about some big Pacific rollers...WOW!!!