Thanks Terry.  Yeah, that particular tournament wind storm was a humdinger!  No doubt, that was a no brainer cancellation call. 

I didn't realize 10-20 MPH wind was common in our tournaments.  That's good to know.

As to low water and sand bars, I watched numerous boats last week get stuck on sand flats (long before you get to the dunes).  And yes, I did too - it went from 4 feet to 1 foot in seconds.  Happened a couple of times as I was trying to find my way around.  Luckily I was going very slow and could motor off the sand bar in reverse. I've kept the GPS trails I recorded on those two scouting days so as to avoid those areas for this coming week. 

I remember Larry Gonszy and I were in his boat going up Crab Creek many years ago and he felt confident he knew how to avoid the sand bars.  We were going at a pretty good clip when we screeched to a stop 30 yards up on a sand bar covered by 2 inches of water.  Took us an hour and a half of digging with a paddle, rocking, pushing and grunting to get free.  Slow is the way to go at low pool.

Yup what terry said. Just be careful. Also beware water level. This time of year u cant get back in the dunes very far at all.

The Potholes tournament that was cancelled was 25+ sustained with gusts to 50.

10-20 is normal there:)

I'm keeping my eye on the weather prediction for this coming weekend and the Potholes tournament.  And my internet resource is presently saying 15 MPH on Saturday, and 13 MPH on Sunday.  Anyone got any recent history as to when any of the tournaments you wanted to participate in were canceled because of wind?

Years ago I worked every weekend and didn't get to go to a tournament unless I took vacation.  I set my time off for the WBC Potholes tournament.  And I was so excited!

The first morning we watched a pup-tent rolling down the middle of the the lake in a howling wind, and the tournament director rightly called the tournament off for safety sake.  Of course I was crushed.  But for the life of me I can't remember how hard the wind was blowing back then. 

What has been your experience - how fast does the wind blow before you feel unsafe to go out?  I know Terry will do what is right, I'm just looking for base line as I watch the weather predictions rise or fall.

I scouted Potholes for two days last week, and they predicted increasing winds on my last day. And while the wind did increase for a while, it never reached the prediction.  In fact, it actually dropped down quite a bit. 

So weather predictions are just that... an educated guess.  What will be will be... but for those of us with smaller tin boats, we tend to get a little more concerned with these numbers.  Fingers crossed.  Let me know what you think.