The Wind Whisperer

Published 19:16 on 8 Aug 2022

Sundays Met Office Forecast was for a south westerly wind averaging 11mph. So I headed to the club with optimism that it would be a good day with light winds. A pleasant and relaxing day on the water. Of course the Wind Whisperer at the back of my mind was telling me that when the wind comes from the south west at Grassholme then one should look at the gust speed as being more like the wind to expect than the average, but despite years of experience I confidently ignored him only to discover that he was right again. For most of the day it blew force 4 gusting 5.

The younger, fitter members of the club had a great time blasting back and forth at full speed, planing in to gybes that lesser mortals knew would end in disaster, but somehow they emerged still planing and heading out on a new reach. They had a great time and we enjoyed watching them.

As for me, well a drop in the wind speed after lunch enticed me on to the water, only for it to get up again. I enjoyed beam reaching at high speed, but when the race started I capsized on the line (O, the ignomy!) then after the beat capsized again, and wrapped the mainsheet around the boom end, leading to a third capsize. At that point I realized that the game was up and after a couple of broad reaches for the fun of it I retired to the shore to watch the others.

The forecast for next week is 10mph average from the east with gusts of 20 mph. I wonder what the Wind Whisperer makes of that?

By the way the lake is only half a metre below full and at 15 degrees C is warm. Conditions can hardly be better. So, as you have nothing better to do grab your kit and get up to Grassholme.