Strange magic,

I can see your point with people believing they can achieve a good paddle in winds that have been reported by others which may have been incorrect. For a start I think that every paddler should adopt the international convention of using Knots and nautical miles to report. When I've explained why I didn't go out today becasue the forcast was for 25 knots people look a me with a blank look. I then have to explain that that is approx equal to 46km per hour (we are metric in Oz). The conversion of knot/miles is not too different (29mph)but still errors can compound.

And yes I have thought about buying an anemometer for my personal use to keep an accurate log of my paddles.

Cheers Bill