The Wild Westerlies at Sebonac

You know it’s windy when John Hulse is windsurfing instead of kiting.   The day before perhaps wasn't enough (4.2-3.7 the call) but Saturday was strictly three meter sailing at Sebonac Inlet, and when the reef revealed itself under sunny skies at low tide, the windsurfers were on it...even Hulse.  Full-on nuker!  And we were practiced up...

Friday had been a teense lighter (me lit on a 4.0) but still a tremendous day for wind on a holiday, and the place was packed...the crowd included Peconic Jeff, the Wolf, Bill, Jeff Schlecter, Sam (in need of a smaller board!) and many more, most notably Scott, who was perfectly dialed in and smoking past everyone while howling his signature chimp cackle.  

Saturday was the big day, though.  One look...starting at the spray blasting off the tops of whitecaps, and ending on the Wolf as he wrestled his gear to the sand exiting the water..and I thought "don't even ask...just grab your smallest gear.

3.4 and my 77 liter Fanatic were off to the races with an even bigger crowd.  I have more names for Saturday:  In addition to the aforementioned John Hulse, Peconic Jeff, Wolf, Bill B, lunatic Scott and myself we had Frank, CPU John, Jan and Bruce (Jan who has trouble walking but no trouble ripping in 40 knot gusts gets the Macha Award) and Fisherman.   The waves towards the point were plentiful and generous (as befits a Thanksgiving weekend sesh) and the ramps were nearly perfect...P-Jeff noted that their angle was not quite its usual perfection.  Yes I replied, but in that much wind it didn't take much to catch entertaining air.

Speaking of entertainment, Sebonac this day was also sporting a feature I hadn't experienced in years...the inlet was freshly dredged.   If you've never been, imagine this:   You sail up to the beach, hop off your board, and promptly sink over your head.  You manage to bodydrag to shore (if you're quick...otherwise you're pulled out into the bay by the current and must approach again.)   You in fact approach again, and sail until the nose of your board is on the beach, and then hop off.  AGAIN you're underwater!   If you (mis)timed it perfectly with the tides, there was a moment when you needed to get your mast track over sand before you could step off your board.

That's entertainment.

(Photo by Jeff:  The reef went off big time.)

Comments

[scott kielt]

oooooohhhooooooohhhaaaahhhaaaaaa i love it!!!!

[bonnie]

One fun thing about having windsurfing blogs on my blogrolls is thinking "My friends called off their paddle on Saturday because it was too windy. Hm. Bet there's some good windsurfing posts out there!"

[george markopoulos]

yehaaa twas an epic weekend
live2sail

[ralph]

sounds like you kept stepping in a stump hole! i've been getting my first taste of current at hatteras this year. it is was blowing my mind for a while. good stuff man.

[Bunty]

Now that looks wiiiiiiiindyy!!