Friday Locust SE

[C36]

Sweet pictures as always Dave. Glad you scored the double SE/W combo. A couple of those shots had some serious white water. How did the water conditions on Whidbey in less wind compare to Locust in more wind? Sunday is looking like a repeat with a stronger westerly component through JDFS. Hopefully something happens tomorrow as well.

Both
> tight period
> moving isolated peaking 'waves'

Locust
> easy launch (sideshore)
> fairly consistent just off the launch and over the river delta
> waist to chest-high
> slower
> clean sections (lines at times)
> nice wind/wave angle that would support frontside tries
> playful (no dire consequences)

West Beach
> challenging launch (onshore and STRONG shore current)
> fairly consistent just off the launch, down near the golf course, but cross chop in between
> shoulder-high to well over-head-high
> faster, beefier
> bouncy at times (chop on faces in spots)
> sluffing (not thowing or dumping as it did on lower tide)
> strange wind/wave angle on port (a little too deep with not enough power in the sail) and felt tight on starboard too at times
> you had to pay attention (some dire consequences, particularly close to shore)

Hope that makes sense.

[Chris Klohn]

Thanks Dave.........makes perfect sense. I've sailed West Beach lots but never Locust. Just wanted to hear your thoughts as you seem to have had more days at West Beach compared to the rest of the Vancouver crowd.

Cheers,

Chris

[C36]

Thanks Dave.........makes perfect sense. I've sailed West Beach lots but never Locust. Just wanted to hear your thoughts as you seem to have had more days at West Beach compared to the rest of the Vancouver crowd.

Cheers,

Chris

No Problem.

Afterthought: The water at Locust behaves a lot like Centennial, wind driven swell breaking over gently sloping mud/sand shelf. It also has many moods as does CNL depending on wind (direction and speed), tide and water depth. What Locust lacks in fetch it makes up for in wind speed (usually). So if you imagine sailing out of Centennial Beach on a 25 mph day on a high tide (lots of jumping ramps with a few rideable wind swell), that's what you get at Locust on 35 mph.