Winooski F&W

"Launching at 2 pm from WInooski F&W in Colchester, then heading out to the lake.
It's a raw, wet, and windy day."  (water 34 degrees, air mid 30's, 30+ knot wind, and sleet/rain at time of posting) 

By trip time the precipitation had stopped, air temp was up to 40, but the wind was holding up.

The Winooski boat ramp is far enough up river that it's sheltered from the lake, so launching was calm and easy. The lake level is high enough, just a hair under 101 feet, that we didn't have to paddle around that last bend to get to the lake. It was possible to just paddle through the woods.

When we got in sight of the river mouth, the wind was howling pretty loudly, and we could see breaking surf in the distance. 

Once out in the lake we headed upwind (south). It was one of those days where you spend a lot of time looking up at the waves coming at you.  Effort needed to progress was not sprint, but enough that the big enchilada I had for lunch was complaining about getting squeezed.  

Eventually we got to some point that had pretty good clapotis (reflecting waves) on the south side.  After running that we headed back out into the lake enough to get a straight downwind run to the bridge.  

The bridge was in the sheltered area, but the waves still had enough momentum to give us a little kick going under.