Wind like that is just air moving from a high pressure area to a low pressure area combined with the opposite circular motion air tends to take around the low and high pressure areas. If you happen to be in the path of the spot where the two circulating air masses combine, and the pressure differential is great, the wind will be pretty strong.
I did not watch the weather on Friday or Saturday, but I bet we were caught between a high pressure area to the south west and a low pressure area to the north east on Saturday. The air around the high pressure area would rotate clockwise and the air around the low pressure area would rotate counter clockwise. Where the two combined, if they were located as I stated, would create a strong wind from the north west.
The less resistance the air encounters as it flows, the faster it will go, to a point. That's why the wind picks up over long stretches of water.
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