How close can you get on Conesus Lake?

The wind was out of the south and predicted to go more south west so Ron and I decided to hit Conesus Lake. The day was warm and the water cool but not cold yet, the sun was out and it warmed up enough to remove the jackets and soak up the sun while enjoying ten miles of excellent fall sailing. Here is a video of a close pass, close enough to put a little water in Ron's boat from the bow splash.

SOGA 2013

The Southwestern Ontario Gliding Association has a fun competition each year. Joel and I took a road trip and although two out of three days were blown out, the one flyable day was awesome. Graziano Mele made this video of some of the fun. Enjoy!!!! 

Ron got an early start and I met him later in the afternoon at Braddock's Bay to do a little sailing. The prediction was for light northerly winds and there was more wind than expected when I got there. North wind works well and a NE wind I think would work the best there. There were three foot rollers coming in off the lake and we had a blast cruising all over the bay, up both creeks, as far as the bridges where the park way crosses, and one short trip out into the lake. The video clip is as we were running downwind into Buttonwood creek. All told we sailed 8.5 miles and only headed in as the wind died around 7pm.

Tim is flyin' high

   Tim Lewis is a success story, He wanted to learn to fly. But first he had to lose a lot of weight, basically an extra person. He found the motivation to do this by dreaming of hang gliding. It worked. He lost the weight, he built his endurance and enrolled in lessons.
   He wasn't "a natural", he didn't pick it up in an instant, but he was very motivated, enthusiastic and willing to listen to the instructors and build his skills.
  The young kids ran past him up the hill, he kept pushing himself, they had bountiful energy, he had persistence. Like the tortoise and the hare he just kept going.
  He was the first to achieve his Hang 1 rating, and then his H2. He knew he would keep flying so he was the first to buy a glider.
  Then the training hill closed early and no one could get their first high flight last season. So most went home to wait for fall or the next spring, not Tim, he went and learned to aero tow and soloed that summer.
  Saturday was the first good forecast in a month and through diligence at the training hill this spring he was ready. An early flight at Bristol, then two more at Harris and he is off to the races. He will achieve, I guarantee it.

Conoe sailing at Hemlock Lake

      I met Ron at the north end of Hemlock Lake with the intent of sailing south to the opposite end of the lake. We unloaded my boat and drove to the boat launch at the south end and left my vehicle for retrieval. The wind was out of the SW in the mid teens and unfortunately not blowing straight up the lake, which is SSE-NNW oriented, that made it a little switchy and gusty as it rotored up and over the steep west hill side. It was slow going as we tacked back and forth across the lake trying to make as much head way into the wind as we could. We were only averaging 2-3 mph and not always in the right direction. We stopped for lunch and then continued south till about 6pm when we made the decision to turn and run down wind back to the north end where we put in. What took us over 5 hours to gain we quickly took back and were back to launch in about an hour.
    We didn't make it like planned but had a great day sailing the lake and enjoying a treasure of the finger lakes in Hemlock Lake. Little boat traffic, lots of canoes and kayaks and no cottages, it is an Adirondack lake close to home. Here is a link to a quick video and a over the shoulder shot of one of the few times I was out ahead of Ron.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DuEveZDKPs&feature=youtu.be

Cruisin the parking lot at CMac

It was blowing 15-18 mph out of the NW with gusts as high as 28. I started with the 5M NPW and felt over powered so I switched to the 3M NPW and it was much more controllable in the higher gusts. The only problem was in the lulls it was way to small. I switched back to the 5M and although it was a hand full in the higher gusts it did much better in the lulls and the day was on. John and I had all we could handle and went home with a smile. Max speed 20.2mph, 11 miles covered with tracks.

The wind was up so I met Ron and John at CMac to do a little traction kiting and land sailing. With gusts up to 41 mph it made for active kiting and miles of cruising. Ron hit a max speed of 33mph and mine was 22 and 10 miles covered.

laying tracks at Conesus Lake

The conditions were not great, the ice was very bumpy, the wind was up and down and there were a lot of fishermen to maneuver around. But a bad day on the ice is still better than a good day at work so I used a vacation day and met Ron and John for some ice boat fun. The wind was out of the NW and we could track a little over a mile diagonally across the lake before turning to head back. We were on the ice from 10am till 5pm and layed down miles of tracks before the sun went down and the wind started to lighten. Here are a bunch of pics of John and Ron as they streaked by. I took some video with John's Go-pro while riding in John's Sirocco so hopefully he will get it edited and posted to youtube and I will link it soon.

High speed fun on Honeoye Lake

I had to patrol at Cummings Nature Center so I didn't get to the lake until after 4pm. Ron was sitting in his car warming up from the bitter cold and rather than hauling all my stuff out I grabbed Ron's ice boat and took it for a ride. The wind was up and I soon joined John flying back and forth across the lake and working our way north. There was a 20mph wind out of the NW and gusts even higher. We went about a half mile north then turned back down wind to give Ron back his boat. He had sufficiently warmed his toes and so I jumped on John's two seat Sirroco with him and off we went. We again worked our way north into the wind and were hitting speeds approaching 40mph. Here are a few pictures of Ron on the ice as we buzzed around the lake. 

Frosting on the cake

I was on ski patrol at Mendon Ponds Park today, the day started cold, clear and crisp with blue sky, single digit temperatures and a frosting of snow on all the trees and shrubs. What a great day, everything sparkled as I skied around. Here are a couple pictures of the South Meadow and one of Quaker Pond, they don't do the real view justice.

Mendon Ponds video

I met Ron at Mendon where he had been most of the day tearing it up and laying down tracks. I got there at 1:30 and the wind was still pretty strong. It mellowed as the afternoon went on and we had a blast cruising around the Hundred Acre Pond. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opE4fjpvtH4&feature=youtu.be
Here is a link to a video he took with my phone.

The ice is nice

And finally we get some ice, there was enough ice a couple weeks ago but it was short lived and due to other activities I never made it out. Cold nights have resealed the lakes and we tried Conesus on Sunday, there was enough ice but not enough wind. Today was predicted to have higher winds so I met Ron at Mendon Ponds Park to check 100 Acre pond. 4" of black ice was enough so we rigged and were able to make a few passes in the inconsistent wind. It wasn't great but it was good just being out on the ice with a taste of better conditions ahead. Here is a picture of Ron with his ice sailer out on the pond. 

wandering through the woods

Another good day on the snow. I met Ron at Mendon Ponds and we did the trail from Round Pond to the water tower then to the North Meadow trail, then back. It was a little cooler and the snow was fast. I got the waxing right on my skis so I had good grip on the climbs and a great glide. The pictures are as we took a break when the sun came out as we cut over towards the water tower on a snowshoe trail. There is a lot of snow in the woods, the excellent conditions should last a long time.