Flying Lake Union

The Fall is a welcome time for some, while I do enjoy the softer breezes, the coming colours, and the lack of tourists,  I do not look fowards to the colder weather that Autumn brings in it's wake.  So much for nothing, it was time to make the best of the quiet shore.

With heavy gusting again forcast for the Shore, I retreated back the Union Lake in Millville.  There were only a few boats out and about and even fewer breezes as I arrived at 1 in the afternoon and soon launched a little past the bottom of the hour.  I think I am figuring out how the winds work here, only a few miles north of the Deleware River.  First thing in the morning the water is warmer than the land so all the wind goes from North to south.  Around the middle of the day, as the land warms, the beezes get fickle and clock from North to South and back again with little Rhyme or Reason.  Then as the afternoon wears on and the land is decidedly warmer than the water, the breezes rush up the Cohansey from the Deleware and head northwards.

I could be wrong, this is only my second time visiting this nice little lake.

After heading south towards the dam,  I turned towards the shallow northern end, passing the yacht club and the few homes that touch the lake and into the marshy "upland" areas.  I finally made it around a small submerged island with only it's cattails showing before heading southwards again.  I did bump something on the bottom that forced the board up, but it did not last a second.  

With the clocking and fickle breezes, the trip north had been a drifter,  the further south I got the more the winds increased.  Never to the point where I wanted to pause and put a reef in, but it was a nice reminder that stronger gusts were always forthcoming.  I did make the mistake of trying to cross behind two islands on the way to the dock.  After bumping bottom with the board once more, I found myself without any wind at all.  Rowing with one oar while steering straight quickly put me back into the (stronger) breeze and back on track to the dock and removal from these brackish waters.

All told, four hours of delightful sailing.

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