Dec 6

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks Retro 6.5, Hi-Tech Slalom 9'0" carbon, wind: 15 knots

Frustrating day - wind consistent 20 knots all morning and until after I arrived and had rigged the Retro 5.5, then it dropped to 15 kts or less. Rerigged to Retro 6.5 assuming it was they typical afternoon dip but it didn't return to morning levels as it usually does. Spent the afternoon underdone with a lot of shore time waiting for the never-to-arrive uptick in wind speed. 

Dec 5

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP Evo 6 5.8, iSonic 90, MFC KP-320, Wind: 19 knots

Underdone today. Rigged for forecast of increasing wind to average of about 22 knots, of course didn't happen. Some broad reach runs and slogged back. A little surprised at the nm number as speed chat was telling me over 20 for most of the run.

Dec 4

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP Evo 5 7.8, iSonic 90, MFC-KP 360, Wind: 18 knots

Quick session in preparation for backing up Roo with his ARooBar session tomorrow. Practiced pumping today, feel more comfortable getting the rig moving in marginal winds. 

Dec 2 - Gorge Gear

Bonaire Lac Bay. Sailworks Cam 1+1 4.6, Hi-Tech 8'9" Gorge pintail, Wind: 23-24G26

My irony for the day: we had the strongest winds of the past two months yet I had the best/most comfortable sailing session for that time period. Why? GORGE GEAR :). Sure glad I kept this 20 year old equipment as it was perfect, for me, today. Heavy, narrow glass board stayed stuck to the water. Sail was easy to handle and easy to clear, if necessary, for a waterstart. Down-side: not fast, but that was what I was looking for. Didn't need to be stacked today, especially in the middle of the bay with large chop. Also interesting to me was that the chop was actually starting to become predictable swells deep into the bay - actually gave some relatively smooth water.

Roo commented:

Keep it up Barton, Saturday looks good here for a session at ARooBar. We should be able to get some numbers on the board.

I commented:

Roo, won't be able to come anywhere close to your numbers but Saturday looks good here too (relatively speaking) with a 20 G 24 knot forecast. Should at least be able to get numbers on the board. Hopefully Marc will also be able to sail on Saturday so you will have two backups

Dec 1

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 6 7.0, iSonic 90, MFC KP-RC 340 fin, Wind: 16-17 ENE knots

Conditions were good for a relatively casual sail, nice change after yesterdays drubbing. 

Got my GW-52 yesterday. These numbers are posted from it. Below are two pictures showing the numbers from the GPSLogit/Alcatel OneTouch Evolve 2 that was on my left arm and the GW-52 on my right arm. Had the GW-52 upside down so antenna had a cleaner shot at the satellites.

Nov 30

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 6 5.8, iSonic 90, MFC-KP 320, Wind: 23G26+

Today I violated a primary windsurfing rule - have a plan B. I was so sure, for some reason, that I knew what the conditions were going to be that I failed to bring any Plan B gear,  in this case 'gorge gear'. I am not (yet) competent to sail the iSonic 90 in completely overpowered circumstances when the water condition is .5 - .7 meter washboard chop. I was able to hold everything together on the outgoing run, while working hard to depower the sail, since it was a slight broad reach. But on the return run pointing into the wind I had a lot of difficulty keeping the board from being airborne off of each chop face. Eventually I stacked it and relearned how difficult it is to re-fly a race sail once the luff has filled with water. Drifted in to shore where I could apply more outhaul, fly the sail, and limp back to the launch site. I hung around for a while but it was clear the wind wasn't dropping so I packed it in.

Because I had other commitments during the day, I didn't have time to make the hour round-trip drive home to get the proper gear. This slammed the door shut on any chance of USA-West making a dent in USA-NE for November. Sorry Roo. Bummer. Don't know if Marc sailed today - didn't see him out while I was there.

Nov 29

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 5 7.8, JP Magic Ride 118, 40 cm Ride fin, Wind: 14-17 knots

Afternoon started out with a bummer when the Sailworks JoyStick 460 mast snapped while rigging the sail. Second time this mast has broken in six months - No more Sailworks masts for me...  Afternoon got significantly brighter when I was able to acquire a used Neil Pryde 460 Matrix mast (which should better fit the curve characteristics of the EVO sails). Rigged the 7.8 - worked great! Wind was light when finished rigging so went out on the Magic Ride, got a couple of nice cruising runs then the afternoon wind bump kicked in to where I was fully to over-done on the 7.8. Tide was high so I could practice jibes over the sandbar area.

Nov 27

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 5 7.8, iSonic 90, MFC KP-360, Wind 13 - 14 kts

Diddle around day. Barely enough wind to sometimes get on a plane (about 50% of the time).

Nov 22

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 5 7.8, JP MR118, iSonic 90, Wind: 15 knts

Was hoping that the 7.8 was enough for the iSonic 90 in slightly less than 15 knots - nope. Got a sucker run across the bay and a wobble sail back. Switched to the MR 118 and it was wobble both directions. Waited an hour or so and the wind maybe got to 15, enough for the MR. Sailed a lap or two with Marc - same sail size but he was on an iSonic 118 (?). Being a better sailor with the right size/type board he left me behind each lap. Presently wondering if the iSonic 107 would be enough to get me through these types of conditions... Had aspirations of making a dent in at least one of the numbers to pull us even with the USA-East coast but didn't happen, thanks Huey. Maybe tomorrow...

Nov 17

Bonaire Lac Bay. NP EVO 5 7.8, iSonic 90, MFC KP-RC 360, Wind: 17 kts.

Roo, don't panic, Marc sailed today and should have some decent numbers to post :).

I misjudged the wind, big-time, when I left the house it looked like a repeat of yesterday so rigged the 5.8 when I got to the bay. Then the wind dropped off just enough so all I could do was wobble across the bay. Waited for the afternoon wind bump to occur - of course didn't happen today. If I hadn't already talked with Marc and seen him do a couple of NM runs, I would have been in more of a hurry to re-rig.  Finally rigged the 7.8 but was too late in the day, wind was already backing off - for the evening. Managed one run and called it quits.