Tuesday morning, I had only a little going on on by jobsite.
A front was passing through, and uncharacturisticallly for September, it had been raining for several days. There was a thunderstorm at 6 am, but the weatherman promised clearing skies by 9 and 10 mph winds all day with 20% chance of rain and a high of 84. Sounds delicious!  I left  the house at 6:45. I stopped at a customer’s shop in Birkdale Village to adjust a shelf, then headed for the lake. I arrived at Beatties Ford about 9:20 to see white caps, and gray skies with a few breaks
for sun.

I launched about 10:45. The wind was blowing out of the SW 12-15 mph with gusts to 20 mph. Waves were 12” to 18”. One of those clouds sprinkled on me as I went out but that was all the rain that I saw. I was spilling some air because of the gusts. I tacked into the wind heading south toward the dam. Because I was spilling air, I could not point up very high and my progress was slow. A couple of the 20 mph puffs heeled the boat almost to the gunwale. There were very few boats on the lake. The cloud bans were crossing the lake so that it was difficult to discern between a puff coming in and cloud shadow. I saw one sailboat with a cabin from a distance crossing the lake a couple of times, but then it disappeared from my sight.

I was about 3 to 4 miles from the dock when a steady 20 mph wind came up from the SW. I was sailing on starboard tack on a close haul. I sheeted out the main and the jib until they were luffing. I kept the boat on close haul feathering into the wind to keep the wind from overpowering the sails. I also tighten the outhaul and the cunningham to reduce the power.  I kept the sheets cleated, but kept a hand on the sheets in case I need to luff one or the other to prevent capsizing. The sails chattered in the wind. I soon found out that this was no puff. The wind continued for 10 to 15 minutes, blowing me about 2 miles across this 3 mile wide section of lake. The waves increased to about  2 feet. I was approaching an island. I decided to sheet out the main and head back to the dock. I came about to a broad reach which pointed toward another island. So then I jibed, (or tried to!). I pulled the main in to lessen the force of the swinging boom. A puff hit and jerked the mainsheet out of my hand. The boat heeled and I was thrown to the deck. I lost the tiller and the boat spun around into the wind and settled. I then regained control and set a course across the lake toward the dock. Winds had calmed to about 12 mph but the 2’ waves lingered on. I sailed across the lake on a broad to a beam reach. I thought that the winds would be lighter
under the lee of the shore.

When I reached the windward side of the lake, the winds were steady at 12- 15. I thought that the wild ride was over. I decided to jibe and head back across the lake, still heading back toward the dock. I was wrong in my decision. About half way across the lake, the winds came back again. I rode out the wind in the same manner. As I closed in on the leeward side of the lake, I jibed and ran on a beam reach for the dock. The winds backed off again to around 10-12. I guess you didn’t  hear me mention any lulls. There were hardly any on the trip. One of 3-4 mph and a couple about 8 mph. I tried to figure out how I was going to keep from crashing when I landed. The wind shifted so that it was blowing almost straight out from the dock. Easy solution: I sailed in on a close haul then turned in straight down the side of the dock. I dropped my sails about 30’ out and glided straight in. I did have to grab the dock to stop the boat. I was traveling 3-4 mph when I arrived. A perfect landing! That’s 5 in a row! I landed about 12:30. I said thank you, Lord for the adventure and getting me back in safe. Once again the Javelin performed well in high winds.

The official weather report from the airport was maximum sustained winds of 16 mph with maximum gust of 21 mph. I never heard of a 15 minute long gust, but I was also not sailing at the airport. So much for the 9-10 mph prediction. This was just a little over a year from the 9/16/10 sail where we almost capsized.  The winds continued in this pattern for the rest of the day. I went home very sore from the fall and from battling the wind. Yes, I am ready to go again!