The leaves are nearly out and the early flowers are poking out of the ground. Lake temperatures along the shore are up to 36 °F, colder offshore. We should be launching our sailboat sometime next week, assuming we get some 50 °F weather for painting. I can't believe spring is finally here. We have even had a 50 mpg tank of gas. Tom
Spring sprung awhile back here in the Bay Area but it's doing flirtatious hockey-pokey with us. We'll have really, really warm days for a stretch and then cloudy, colder days and nights. Last night I actually had to put on a jumper again! Very dry spring though - we usually get a bit more rain in April. Oh, and yes - it has gotten warm enough that my 50+ MPG tanks are back.
Already been out a few times this year. Spring is a great time for dinghy racing. The "lake" near my house opens tomorrow!! Hopefully the wind will last through the summer (ha!). Tom, you'd love the wind here in CO. Every point of the compass in 5 minutes! Got gybed last year when I hit an 80 degree shift. That was a bit exciting. :redface:
Opening Day on SF Bay was last weekend, tho it's only a formality delineating between the easy sailing of winter and the balls-to-the-wall summer gales which pick up like clockwork around 2pm. We like sailing and sailing likes us!
We have some friends that regularly sail in the Chicago to Mac, but it's not something we normally do. We do like to watch them when they go through the Manitou Passage; often the winds drop and you get a parking lot of sailboats from horizon to horizon. Our racing is usually restricted to weekend around-the-buoys races with our local yacht club. Our boat is more of a heavy cruiser than a race boat, so to do well we need conditions that normally cause a race to be canceled or postponed. She weighs in at 16,000 pounds and is built out of 5/4 inch Honduras mahogany over white oak frames. Tom
My sail boat does 100 km/h and it's faster when it's dry. The way to avoid unplanned jibes is to sail at 3 times the speed of the wind!! The apparent wind is always in your face.
