VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Tuesday, May 24th: George and I arrived at Nitinat at about 11:00 am on Tuesday am after catching the 6:30am ferry from Horseshoe Bay. It was already white capping so I rigged the 7.5 and 6.2 and went out on a GO 140 and a RETRO 7.5 for about an hour and a half from about noon to 1:30. The lake level was very high and the water was frigid!

Had lots of good rides blasting up to the river and then some kicking dornwind reaches. The wind came up at about 1:30 so I switched to the Carve 121 and the 6.2. Rode for a little more than an hour on the 6.2 then the wind dropped off so I switched back to the GO and 7.5. Stayed on the water till almost 6 pm. All and all a pretty good day! There were only three of us on the water most of the day. George, me, and MarKUS. It was a pretty good day! Sore muscles. Had a nice fire on the beach and watched the sun set.

Wednesday: KC7777 and his buddy arrived late last night. Henk, Roger, Chris and Janet, and a bunch of others arrived in the morning. There was a 10 knot outflow early that lasted most of the day until 5:00pm. KUS entertained us by madly pumping a Formula up onto a plane.

The wind turned to an inflow gave us a little puff, enough for 1 ride on the 7.5 and GO, and that was that! Hot!

Thursday: Outflow all day. Hot! Watched for the wind to turn all day. Left at 4:00pm. Still no sign of an inflow wind.

Hey mb....I'm glad we left at 2:00 pm....made the 5:00 boat home.

Strange 2 days with weather at Nitinat....nice and hot but no friggin wind....but I did get the new JP Freerace 142L wet...planed for about 5 minutes on Wed. (inflow) and for about 2 minutes on Thurs (outflow)....finally had to do the walk of shame from the river back down to camp....slept on the beach under the stars by the fire. Next time it will be better.

KC. I'd be surprised if it turned at all yesterday. KUS bugged out at about 3pm. When we left at 4 it was still a weak outflow and there was no sign of any action up lake. I notice that there was an outflow at Harrison all day yestarday as well. North pressure slope I guess.

For the weekenders it looks promising for Saturday --> a marine push is forecast and the fog bank is creeping up the coast toward the Island. Sunday should rock. Too bad I'll be here!

I have found that when you've got gale force outflow in Howe Sound it's not a good time to be at Nitinat.

Oh yeah, sure, easy for you to say living in Victoria. Now I gotta get up at 3am, drive up to Squamish to check the outflow, and back to Horseshoe Bay to get the 6:30 am ferry.

I'm no meterologist, but I think the problem with the past three days has been that the high pressure is inland up north and there is a low off the Oregon coast creating a steep North - South pressure gradient which is in the wrong direction for inflow thermals at Nitinat. It's probably the same phenomenen that creates strong outflows at Squamish (and Harrison) so the solution is for me to learn to read weather maps or to move to Victoria. Know anyone who is hiring windsurfing bums?

I listened to the spirit of mother earth. She said she would blow Saturday and so I am going if my truck is fixed by then

hey mb. I've seen the dreaded outflow only twice since the early nineties.
My understanding is that when high pressure is out at sea; that is, it's even hotter out there than on land we get outflow. I always check the temperatures at Tofino and the Port Alberni. If Tofino is too warm there will be no wind. But if Port Alberni is about 5c warmer than Tofino it will make good wind. More difference=more wind.
My routine? if the weatherman on tv says several sunny days in a row and I check the tofino /alberni difference and if it's right, I go. Out of about 40 lifetime trips I've only been skunked three times using this method. And on the last skunk I knew it would be poor but i was terribly desperate.
See yaz there. Jim

Go to the library & borrow a copy of "the wind came all ways" or use the link from env. Canada pressure slope. You will not be disappointed.

jjjim - "I always check the temperatures at Tofino and the Port Alberni. If Tofino is too warm there will be no wind. But if Port Alberni is about 5c warmer than Tofino it will make good wind. More difference=more wind"

That was certainly the case on Wed and Thurs. There was more at work on those days than just a thermal. The pressure gradient was definitely kicking in. Randy Ashino, an actual meterologist (and GO board sailor) says: "If the pressure slope is Northerly or Easterly, forget it. If it Westerly or Southerly its probably going to blow at Nitinat if its not raining. " Up until this week I have onlty seen the outflow last all day once too. I've been there when it's hot in Tofino and it doesn't outflow at 8 - 12 kts from 8am to 3pm.

canada day long weekend, 1994. after two sweet 5.0 days it got stinking hot and blew reverse most of the day. i tried to get planing with my e rock and pryde raf cam 6.0 but couldnt get it going. on the drive home i could feel the heat radiating from howie's sunburnt face onto my arm. Having just a tiga 260, he sat and baked in the sun all day. "check your head" was on the tape deck.

DWD - sign me up for the car pool. 8'9 camper and 3/4 ton picked (extended cab) on propane.

I am doing the day trip thing!! Your vehicle or mine, doesn't matter. I have tonnes of room!!

Ya hoo for tomorrow!!!

Are there any reports on the Friday at the lake? Sometimes there is need for the debate over whether the fire needs more wood or more air, but definitely we needed more wind Wed/Thurs!!!!

just got home from Cow Bay where it was still outflowing til 2 but a bit might have happened at the lake, not sure nor do I any longer care. My week of holidays is over....and if anyone is wondering, Yes, it sucked the big wang on the windfront anyway! I did get lots of biking done and cleared the Caycuse point and river trail pretty much up but the skull trail needs more work than I could muster. More riders needed on the river bit, for sure or it'll be lost. Socializing on the beach was great, but.....

NO wind, my buddy bailed on beers, I mowed the lawn 6x at the RV lot (some kinda record I am sure, crappy mower, can't handle a few...., well 24 inches of grass) and my wife's not home either with all the doors/windows shut .....although most of her clothes are still here.....but it's 48,000 degrees in here....Yeah, I'm stoked! Where's that knife..?

There's no doubt which is the pointy end with you KUS!

I got a question for ya. If ya don't need a board bigger than 99 L, cause they are all aircraft carriers, then why are all the manufacturers makeun um? And people buyin um?

See ya at the lake again if you get over being disgusted ... I'll throw a stick on the fire for ya!

They are all AC carriers for Victoria conditions, for Vancouver you generally need your weight in kg * 2