A great light wind session showing the Lake George smooth, a week later it was absolute glass but no GoPro.

Really weird.....
How do you explain such glassy conditions and still planing/ripping??

Looks super shallow... must be an awesome gliding feel

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zemax said..
Looks super shallow... must be an awesome gliding feel

Knee to waste deep and shallower closer to shore , the weed is in places 1m tall and sits just under the surface

Are those dark patches on the water weedbergs?

I don't think you get weedburgs at Lake George, not that I've seen any way. I have come across very think stuff, right up to the surface, won't stop a 45deg fin but slows it down a lot.

Most of the lake is waist to Chest deep, but in many places the weed grows right up to very close to the surface. It's quite dense and difficult or impossible to wade or walk through.

Something in the weed excretes some sort of surfactant.oily substance that keeps the surface glassy in winds under about 14-15 knots. Where the weed is very close to the surface, it can still be glassy in patches in 30 knots.

The dark patches in the video are small areas where the surface 'oil' has botken up and allowed micro ripples. This also happens after a windsurfer passes and parts the 'oil'. the tracks stay 'micro ripple' for a few minutes and gradually cover over.

There are no real weedburgs in most places, but we get 'foambergs' where the weed touches the surface and the floating foam builds up on it.

See the tracks in this short vid:

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marc5 said..
Really weird.....
How do you explain such glassy conditions and still planing/ripping??

An excepted theory, is that the weed makes some sort of oil when the sun shines on it. That makes sense to me, but I'm not sure if there's been a dedicated scientific investigation of the phenomenon.
The other aspect is the lamina flow of the wind over it, lets the bottom of the sail work much better. I've had it where there was slight ruffles close to shore, then a big patch of smooth followed by more slight ruffles. That was really weird, it was marginally light for my gear, when I launches couldn't get planning, but when I hit the smooth I was up and going. I didn't think much of it, but as I approached the next lot of ruffled water, I prepared myself for a nice lift, didn't happen, I dropped off the plan again, plodded out a bit further, after gybing again didn't get planing until I hit the smooth, and dropped off the plan when I hit the inshore ruffles.

If you guys start growing extra limbs or taking up kiting i guess we can assume it was the oil.

Looks amazing! I really need to get my act together and get down there soon - considering its in my 'backyard'.

PS:
Ben from Windsurfing.TV has expressed interest in doing a Send It Sunday - Lake George Special, so if you feel like sharing to the world, and he gets enough high quality footage - we might see a special on it, which would be cool. If the northern hemisphere ice-sailors can get one - then SURELY Lake George deserves one too!

Email: Sendit@windsurfing.TV with a Wetransfer / DropBox / GoogleDrive link or something similar.
Background story, names, and as much info as possible will make for a nice segment.

A week later it was glass, I had never seen water that flat.
I think it's oil from the weed, when in the water it feels slippery. Don't over think it, get there one day and enjoy, I've never had so much fun doing so little speed

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firiebob said..
A week later it was glass, I had never seen water that flat.
I think it's oil from the weed, when in the water it feels slippery. Don't over think it, get there one day and enjoy, I've never had so much fun doing so little speed

Bob - amazing vid
As smooth as foiling on the ocean?

Can you catch any fish in there?

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JakeNN said..
Can you catch any fish in there?

I don't fish Jake but I believe you can.

I was hoping that fish oil would have the same effect when the big cold killed the fish in the Laguna Madre in Corpus Christi, and you'd surf by dead fish every couple of seconds. Did not happen, though . The only difference was that the gear smelled worse after the session.

it looks like some sort of Witch magic and trickery! I'd just be thinking i was going to break my neck ...must take a bit to get your head around it... easy to see why so many records fall at LG...

the oil/water thing....just need to refine this invention.......

failing that , this was my other non PC idea....

great vid bob ..so the tracks in the weed are from fins right ?

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Tardy said..
great vid bob ..so the tracks in the weed are from fins right ?

Or from the vortex off the tip of the fin.

The weird thing about Fangy type weed that's usually right on the surface and noticeably draggy at low speed, gets less draggy the faster you go. So my theory is the pressure wave at the front of the fin, is parting the weed in front of the fin.

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JakeNN said..
Can you catch any fish in there?

Big mullet so many you can't leave your net in overnight. You see thousands of little ones when walking out. Also there has been a lot of flounder lately. Most nets are put in the big lake we sail in the middle lake.

I can see a possible evolutionary advantage for the weed to excrete an oil like substance. It makes the surface of the lake clear and probably lets in more sunlight.

Glassy Lake George on 3/3/21. About 12 - 15 knots with a 125 litre Tabou Rocket & 7.5m Point 7 freeride sail. First time at the George and definitely won't be the last!

I guess I should throw my video in as well...

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sick_em_rex said..
I guess I should throw my video in as well...

Yes you should Andrew, it's a ripper

Thanks Bob

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sick_em_rex said..
I guess I should throw my video in as well...

Yes one of the best I have ever seen!

Here is another one taken on March 2, 2021. Fox Severne 105 l board, 7.5m Point 7 sail, 18 - 20 knots. Top speed 32.5 knots.

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WindHound said..
Here is another one taken on March 2, 2021. Fox Severne 105 l board, 7.5m Point 7 sail, 18 - 20 knots. Top speed 32.5 knots.

That looks awfully choppy compared to the other vids!!

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sick_em_rex said..
I guess I should throw my video in as well...

Unreal! how was the wind? seems the other guy was on 7.8 so I'm assuming a smooth 15 knots breeze?