Jetty Island slalom launch

This shot was taken by Michael O'Leary, a photojournalist for the Everett Herald, when I made my way across the channel to the island yesterday (see previous post). You can see that the tide is *really low* at this point - which means that wind on the water was a bit obstructed. Even with the tide and the current from the Snohomish River outflow combining, though, the breeze was strong enough (and northerly enough) to make it over to the island in one tack. Sure beats paddling ;)

Thanks for the picture, Michael!

Picture courtesy Michael O'Leary/The Herald

Jetty Island

Since I spend most Tuesdays in Everett for work, I usually try to reward myself for battling traffic and sitting through a day's worth of meetings by grabbing a session at Jetty Island after work. JI is a special place - it's a sandy spit right off the Everett Marina. On most summer afternoons, as the winds fill in from the Straits of San Juan, they get an extra thermal kick here, creating perfect 15-20 knots westerlies - usually accompanied by sunny skies. The kiters tend to own this place; they tend to arrive at the boat launch in droves, pump up inflatable kayaks, paddle accross the channel, walk across the island, then launch on the long sandy beach (or, at low tide, the flats off the beach - that's what you see in the background in that picture on the left). They certainly seem to enjoy the half-mile of shallow water off the beach, and the safety of a nice sandy leeshore.

For windsurfers, JI is mostly a formula kind of place. You can launch your big gear off the boat ramp, sail around the south tip of the island, and be out in open water in about five minutes (which is about how long it takes the kiters just to paddle across the channel). Yesterday, however, the thermal got an extra push from an approaching front, boosting wind speeds to an incredibly steady 20-22 knots (measured on top of the pier at the launch) out of the NW.

Given the conditions, I decided to take a chance and try for a slalom session. I launched off the dock encircling the boat launch and made it across the channel in one tack despite the ebb going with the breeze. Walking across the island with my gear wasn't too bad (the island is only about 1/3 of a mile wide at this point), then I had to walk out a ways across the flats (since the tide was at 0 feet), then wade out into deep enough water. I'd never actually set foot on the island before - it's certainly a bit of a jewel. From the beach and from the water, you can't really see the Everett waterfront (naval station, marina, light industry) too well - you do, however, get to enjoy great views of the mountains all around, and the Sound and islands to the W/NW. Hard to believe it's right there off Everett, of all places.

On the water, it was slalom nirvana. Flat water and steady winds closer to shore for hero jibing practice, more wind and nicely formed swell (and starboard ramps - for some reason I can't jump on port, so this was a nice change from the usual setup at Post Pt. or the Event Site) further out.

I sailed for about 1 1/2 hours fully powered. On the outside, the troughs were lined up for mach-speed broad reaches on port - wish I'd had my gps with me. At that point, I started getting suspicious, since there seemed to be a bit of oscillation in the wind direction - which smelled like oncoming conversion. So I got closer to shore (to kiteland...), sailed a bit longer, then started the trek back. Crossing back through the channel was a bit tricky (the wind had gotten pretty light on the inside). Derigging, I noticed that I'd gotten lucky and timed things perfectly, as the kiters weren't going anywhere anymore in the dying breeze. Great way to finish the work day - especially since by the time I left, traffic on I5 had completely abated.

New Toy

Got my first session on the new 9.9 Sailworks NXfw yesterday. Since the promised NW wasn't filling in and Everett was still blowing SE, I went to Kayak Point instead of Jetty Island (I end up making the trip to Everett once a week for work, so grabbing a session while I'm down there is my little reward for the extra driving).

No pictures yet - I didn't want to take the time before sailing, since I figured it was just a matter of time until the dreaded Puget Sound Convergence would shut things off. So I got about 15 minutes of pretty stout SE (around 20 knots or so), followed by a few minutes of complete calm, followed by 20 minutes or so of W, followed by rain and only the slightest breeze from the SW - classic convergence (and then, of course, I didn't really feel like taking pics in the rain...)

The sail felt good - leaner entry than last year, but tons of shape down low and lots of progressive twist. Definitely slippery, and still nice and stable even if you dump the outhaul all the way. The sail looks good, too - very clean foil, nicely finished construction. I usually spend a lot of time on this size - it's the staple for Gorge racing - so I'm stoked.

Kayak Point was a pleasant surprise, despite the $5 parking fee. Gravel beach, lots of parking, grassy rigging. On a SE, if sailing small gear, you'd have to walk up to the point along the beach a bit (since the parking/rigging area is to the lee of the point and pier), and if it's real Easterly, the windline would probably be out a bit (albeit not as far as Post Point), but the launch is definitely nice. Glenn R. warned me about driftwood, and from what you can see on shore, that's apparently a bit of an issue. Didn't see anything in the water yesterday, though.

In depth discussion of the sail, as well as some pics, once I get a chance to really put it through its paces. I've been sailing all winter, but somehow getting new gear and the more springlike temps sure make it seem more real that racing season starts next month.