SE Thursday Double Bluff Whidbey

[Chris Klohn]

Crazy forecast for tomorrow with 90% of the models I look at for Whidbey in agreement.

Predicted winds for Double Bluff, aka Useless Bay:

0700-1000 SE 10-20
1000-1200 SE 15-25
1200-1400 SE 20-30
1400-1600 SE 25-35
1600-Dark SE 30-40+

[Chris Klohn]

Local Forecast

[mparkes]

The gspot predicting 40+ knots to hit boundary bay in the afternoon. Could be a wild one in the bay tomorrow.

[Chris Klohn]

Here she comes.....

[Chris Klohn]

Holy Crap that's a solid TAF for Whidbey! Converted to mph from knots that's gusts of 52mph from 11am-5pm. Useless is going to be sick!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chris Klohn]

965mb low now This puts this system in the top 10 for the past decade. 2.8 sails and 5 meter kites tomorrow afternoon if things pan out as forecast!!!

[Faceplant]

Pretty radical today. 2.5 hours TOW 5m kite with mako. Plenty of power. One of the steadiest windy days I've ever kited. Been to nicola and seen gusts of 50 kts but then it would drop to 15 kts. Not sure what the actuals were. Double bluff Ikite app shows lower than what was happening.
Beauty rollers in the shoulder and occasional head high range. Some waves formed and broke properly making for excellent times. I was trying to score a barrel... no such luck.
Wife did not like the beach today. Sand blast for everything below waist high including our son. I might be pushing it to go again tomorrow. Gave it all I had today so if this is all I get I will still be happy.

[Faceplant]

A few shots he wife took. Unfortunately no pics of wave slashes or the bigger airs but as you can see not very crowded with less than 6 or 7 kites at any time. Sun even came out for a bit.

[Chris Klohn]

Great score! Useless sets up nicely for some front side rides off the sandbars. The two stations directly downwind, 1.5 miles, showed winds today averaging 38-44 knots with gusts of 47-53 knots. Like you said, very steady winds. I figured you get sunshine in the lee of the Olympics. That's pretty common for Whidbey on SE days. Tomorrow will be tamer with SSW 25-35 all day. Checkout Ebey first before heading to Useless. The beach is smooth polished rocks instead of sand. There's a gravel parking lot right on the beach and it gets nice waves on tomorrow's low tide. The wind is usually 5-10 knots more then Useless too! Ten minutes from Oak Harbour

Cheers,

Chris