I've been watching this storm for a week and a half. Anticipating, hoping, planning and finally loading up and heading out. I was not sure what to expect. My first stop was Dreher Island State Park on Lake Murray which is west of Columbia SC. My plan was to stay close enough to the hurricane so that I would have good winds, but one step ahead to stay out of danger.
The plan worked really well. Until I got tired. According to my quick calculations, I windsurfed 6-8 hrs in a 36 hour period. I want to head back out as I type this, but I'm worn out!
I got to the state park and the staff told me that if I wanted to cancel, they would give me a full refund. I decided to stay one night, so took the second night's refund. I parked in my spot at Angler's camp circle and went about rigging up. I had a great afternoon/evening sailing with a 6.4 and Bic Astro Rock. The wind picked up a little more later. Today was just a warm up and getting comfortable being on a wide expanse of water alone.
I set up camp, ate some freeze dried dinner and went for a bike ride around the state park. In bed by 9pm, and true to form, the camper 2 sites over woke up and rustled around all night. I got intermittent sleep but, ugh. Why are people so self centered? I finally got some solid sleep from 4:30-7 ish, when I woke up to whipping wind! I took my time feeding myself and drinking coffee. By the time I rigged up, the wind was blowing strong enough that I was able to take my "new to me" Bic Electric Rock out for a spin. The board is identical to the Astro Rock, just smaller, better for higher winds and smaller sails!
I was out for 2 hours and decided to head in and pack up. I got everything loaded and set my sights on Hamilton Branch State Park, about 1.5 hrs away. When I got there, the wind was perfect for the Astro Rock and 7.5 m sail.
I headed out for an hour, getting lay of the wind direction and heading out to the center of Strom Thurmond Lake which is also the Savannah River. If I had kept going all the way across, I could have windsurfed into Georgia!
I was getting overpowered, so I came back in for a snack and a drink and headed back out on the Electric Rock and 5.3m sail. That left me a little under powered, so I came back in and upsized to a 5.7 which was perfect but I was getting tired and the wind was gusting to 25-30mph. Whew, fun, but once the fatigue starts to set in, a person starts making mistakes and things can go downhill fast. I took one more sloppy run and headed in to the campsite.
At this point, it was only 3pm. What to do? The campsite was barren, 1 other camper down the way. I could use some solitude. Looking at the Saturday morning forecast, there was a chance of rain, and the wind was going to be in the 20-30 mph range. I looked at all the options and examined my feelings.
I didn't think I would have the energy the next day to sail in such strong winds. I had definitely gotten my fill of windsurfing, although one never really gets enough. I had gotten all I could handle. I decided to head back to the mountains, thankful for the experience, and looking forward to spending the next day with the family!
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