Matt and Fred joined me for the downwinder and we paddled 10+ miles with the light wind at our backs. We still had a straight north 10-15mph wind for the SUP downwinder. Because of how the lake twists and turns for that 10 miles, there was a lot of flat water in the leeward sections of the lake. But there are also a couple of open channel spots that have a long fetch, and those spots have a ton of potential for really good SUP downwind swell. We know that because of windsurfing on the lake. On really windy days, there is knee-high+ size swell/chop in the open channel areas. On Sunday, there were some small rollers that we could catch and surf a little bit and you can see some of that on the video below. With different wind directions (such as NE and SW wind), there are good opportunities for 4-5+ mile open channel SUP downwinders with much bigger wind swell.
The forecasted NNW wind didn't really happen in the afternoon either for my windsurfing plan, as it actually switched to NNE. That forced me to launch solo at a different than usual spot. I only got a few runs in before the wind and my GoPro battery died.
So here is my sub 3 minute little ditty about my Sunday double-header on the very edge of Hurricane Sandy...
Edge of Sandy - Sunday Doubleheader from WaterTurtle Productions on Vimeo.