Wow what an extreme day!
The big story everywhere in New England was the temperature drop expected. When we arrived to the lake, temperature was already 6F. Winds were up and it felt brutal.
The ice was dangerous with large regions of open water connected by plates of ice! There was enough room to sail one large region which required taking a secret passage between 2 small islands "The Beavers", then the wide open large sheet of ice was truely a Shangrala!
Top speeds to 52.75 knots , and this was the fastest my Alpha/Slalom board had ever seen. Trying to stay warm was difficult and more essential. GoPro camera died instantly. GPS had to stay in warm pockets. Hand & toes warmers only lasted about 2 hours , not all day like normal.
We were sailing just downwind of a large region of open water, where the surface was producing 'sea smoke' . Later on, near sunset, the temperature dropped again to -5F and the sea smoke began to thicken. 30 mph winds would blow smoke over our speed run lanes on ice and we left vortec swirls from our sails thru the smoke! Just an amazing experince never seen before.
Top speeds could have been better if it were not for one large annoying speed bump healed crack we needed to cross each run.
The game was about pure survival to battle extreme temperatures, so GPS speed performance was really not top priority.
Meanwhile, nearby Mt Washington sets all time new lowest wind chills to -100F with winds well over 100mph, and actual temperature -47F.
|