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Water conditions at Willard Bay, UT

 
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:08 pm    Post subject: Water conditions at Willard Bay, UT Reply with quote

Willard Bay's website and telephone recording say the reservoir is way down and will stay that way until Congress funds repair of its dam. Is this a GOOD thing for windsurfing in that it will restrict boat launching, or is it so low that WSing is hazardous?

I've always liked that place as reservoirs go because I've very seldom seen such steady winds -- when it blows -- anywhere else, it's just a day's cruise from the Gorge, it warms up early some years, it has a great sideshore launch with a 5-mile reach and a 5-mile fetch, it's on the freeway, it has a nice year-'round campground, there's not a bump upwind for a hundred miles to mess up the prevailing wind, it's in the country, and the city is just minutes away.

\m/
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ethurlow



Joined: 07 Dec 2002
Posts: 119

PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How about Rush Lake? Will there be water in it this year?
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WindsurfUtah



Joined: 08 Jul 2006
Posts: 93

PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mike:

Willard bay is good. I don't know if it has thawed yet.
Check out www.livelakeview.com
South wind is good there during the mornings after about 12 the mountains seem to interfer and then it becomes gusty.
I have had some really good north wind days there. The trees create some wind shadow for the north wind but once you get past that the bumps are good.

The lower water level is more of a blessing for us non motoring folk. Still plenty deep for windsurfing 6 - 8 feet deep. I think the boat launch/harbour is shallow and that is it.

As far as regular wind that is not storm front produced - I don't think there is much to depend on, but that being said April and May are stormy here so you could sqeeze something out. Maybe even some spring days on the slopes. Come here to ski anything else is iccing.

you could also ask some of the locals but all the responses will be jaded because we don't live in the gorge. mostly jk
www.utahwindriders.com

Josh
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've seen early June blow modestly but very consistently for a week at a time at Willard. For 6-7 straight days, the forecast was 10-20. Sounds puny, but what that produced was 6-7 nearly identical days of waking up to 10, gradual ramp to 20 mph by late AM, then exactly 20 mph from noon 'til supper; no perceptible range, just 20.000 mph, or so it felt. That's fun even by Gorge standards, as steady wind + long fetch = nicely shaped swell even if it's not big.

Utah's "tall" enough that jet stream winds can mix down all afternoon on warm early summer days.

And, yes, I learned to ski in upstate NY, where -- no kidding -- we could sometimes see the ground through the "snow" we were skiing on (it's called "ice" in the rest of the world.) Utah's worst snow beat the hell out of NY's best. Then when even UT's snow turned to crap in May even though it was still 5-10 feet deep, we'd hit the ski slopes at night ... on snowmobiles. What a blast! It was frozen so hard we left no tracks unless we ran carbide teeth on our tracks, without which we may as well have been roller skating on an ice hockey rink.


If UT had more wind ... LOTS more wind ... I may still live there. It is an outdoorsman's paradise.

\m/
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