Sunday, September 28, 2008

Bon voyage


There's nothing like a good sendoff. Sometimes its a party, perhaps some streamers (ala "Love Boat") and sometimes its the wind gods giving a little love before an epic trip.

In this case, its the latter.

Remember, I'm leaving Thursday morning for the long haul to Maui (though not nearly as long as Chris and Heather who are coming from Newcastle, UK with little Myla!) ... and as you can see in the post prior to this one, I'm all packed and ready to go.

That's all gonna change.

As I said, I'm NOT going to leave early, but I'm gonna get epic conditions. Remember the other option that might present itself? Well, it has.

Tuesday we're supposed to get some good afternoon winds, and Wednesday the winds are supposed to crank. And not just any wind, but north winds. Due north. And for a wave hound like me, that means Lake Michigan is gonna crank up some 35 knot gales with 6-9 foot swell and a little place called Sheboygan is gonna fire. Sure, Maui will be warmer, sunnier and all around more hospitable than Wisconsin, but for those of you who've rocked the lake on a north wind AND been to Maui, we all have a hard time deciding which is better.

The fun part - its port tack. 100% reverse of the winds/conditions on Maui. Clean, down the line sailing on the lew side of the breakwater with 10+ turns per wave. I'm sure the local surfing crew will be out en force as well, and those guys are the most hardcore surfers you'll find on the planet on terms of the cold water/air that they'll go out in.

Sure I'll most likely be in my "super suit" (goretex dry suit) and have to stop every hour or so to warm up, but inside, I'll be burning a stoke that rivals how I feel on Maui.

So, I'll be headed to Maui on Thursday with wet gear in the bags. I love that feeling. ;-)

The header shot is from a few years ago on a small 5.7 day with chest high surf at Sheboygan.

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