The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Winter Windsurfing Spirit...These People Have It

When it comes to winter windsurfing, the community of lunatics I sail with is about as stoked as any out there.   I just stumbled over a photo collection of these windsurfers in Norway, who appear to be true brothers and sisters in cold weather spirit.   Found it on The Horse's Mouth (a most excellent blog for all things wonderful or weird on the water...also pretty girls and fish.) Thanks, Joe!

Scott Looks Mahvelous, and a Meschutt Fashion Review

Five of us sat in Scott’s pickup, eyeing the conditions from the Meschutt parking lot.   Every time there was a lull Scott whined that it was dead.  Every time there was a gust Jon Ford said it looked like 4.2.   The Wolf noted how grumpy Scott was, I made dumb jokes, and Peconic Jeff took it all in.

After about five minutes of this I noticed Scott’s hair.   It was looking quite good.  He appeared positively coiffed, and I was moved to comment.

“Scott, your hair is looking exceptionally good today.”

“What?” Scott replied.

“Your hair IS looking good,” Jon agreed.

“I got a haircut,” the Wolf interjected.   The Wolf did indeed look clean cut and keen, but there was no doubting that on this particular morning, Scott was taking the spotlight as a very handsome man.  Even Jeff agreed.  I began taking photos of Scott.

“What’s wrong with you people?” Scott demanded.   Then Frank pulled into the parking lot, a big gust shook the pickup, and the Scott Admiration Society disbanded to rig.

I went with a 4.5 and the 77 liter FreeWave, and was first on the water, pleasantly lit.  The freshly shorn Wolf followed soon after on a 4.2, which was the sail call for everyone else save mighty Jon on his 4.7. 

Someone noted that in this wind range Scott, Jon and the Wolf were all on blue Maui Sails (what my wife would call a “blue story”) which seemed nice except that yellow Jeff and the red contingent of myself and Frank were left out in the cold.  Speaking of which, both Scott and I were sporting some new heavy winter booties (warm, comfy, and lending a pleasing line to the drysuit legs) whilst Jeff sailed with new gloves and a personalized twist to his facemask.   The air was 34 degrees (water temp 41, for a “hundred rule” total of 75…pretty frickin cold) so our winter wear needed to be both fashionable AND functional.   When snow started to blow I donned sunglasses (Scott grabbed construction goggles) but these both fogged pretty quickly, so off they came.

The tide was near high, but before high tide the ramps were quite jumpable, and some faux backside waveriding was to be had.   During our frequent breaks to warm hands we’d huddle around Scott’s propane heater and wave our mitts in front of it, making sure to remove them before steam started to rise or plastic melt.  Jon sat in front of the thing at one point and began to lean back before Scott and I shouted, preventing a three inch hole from being burnt in.   Finding a tailor who could have mended that attractively would have been a bitch.

(Photos from top: Scott and Frank tear it up and mix colors, Scott is mystified by the crowd of admirers, Jeff sports new gloves, nose protection, and the cutest black bow atop his helmet, the editor warms his hands whilst Scott rigs.  All photos by Jeff except for the Jeff shot, by the editor.)

Possible Weekend Nor'easter

Weather.com (the Weather Channel online) says there's a chance of a nor'easter hitting Peconica on Sunday.   They're also calling for highs of 37 degrees on Sunday.  

My usual cutoff these days is 38 degrees, but it's been over a week since I've sailed or paddled (okay five days but it's GONNA be a week come Saturday) so I may have to call Peconic Jeff and appeal to his inability to say No to any water time.

Let's see what the wind and wave gods bring.

Enjoy Summer While You Can...It Will Be Winter Soon Enough

Drysuits, rigging in slush, cold hands, ice cream headaches...they are all coming.  And they're all good, as the windsurfing is outstanding in winter.   But if you're a sissy who whines about wearing gloves, who doesn't want to buy a 5/3 or a drysuit, then make sure you're getting every minute on the water you can right now.

 

We’re done with drysuits, but 3/2 doesn’t cut it. SUP session at Cryder

All in all it was a good day:  No wind forecast, no waves neither, but their was waist to shoulder high swell at Cryder where Jon Ford and I went to SUP.   In the bright sun and near 70’s air temps my drysuit had been put away, and I thought I’d try skipping my leaking 5/3 and surf with a 3/2, plus a neoprene shirt and hood to insure maximum comfort.

Not even close.

Fortunately/unfortunately I didn’t fall for a good ten minutes after hitting the water.   My first dunking in  the 52 degree Atlantic was alarming.   I was about five degrees warmer than Get Out Of The Water Immediately, or in other words Conditions Were Great Except When I Fell.

Jon caught lots of good waves, and I rode half a dozen winners plus a dozen not-so-bads.    But the cold water was punishing with every fall, and after an hour or so I paddled over to Jon to tell him that I thought I’d wrap up the sesh after a few more waves.    The first time I tried to say this I found my lips didn’t work so well.  So my second attempt I changed the line to one more wave.   Then when I tried to get back up standing and fell three times in a row (my balance shot) I thought “I’m like one of those hypothermic people who don’t realize they’re compromised” and decided to get my chilled butt off the water whilst I could still fake clear-headedness.

Next time out I’ll be back in a semidry.  Even my leaky eight year old 5/3 would be better.  But perhaps I’ll go shopping for some proper new neoprene.

Safety, and an otherwise fine session at The Bowl

None of us had windsurfed in waves since December.   Sweet long lefts were breaking 4-6 feet at the Bowl (with the occasional meaty seven-footer rolling through to really catch your attention) in side off winds.   The Wolf was out first, and he was back first, as he’d hit the water with his drysuit less than fully zipped.

This is hugely uncool.

Allow me to be alarmist for a moment (John is, was, and always will be fine, but please indulge me):    We’re sailing in water cold enough to induce hypothermia and kill anyone.   The drysuits change it into a playground, but only if they’re working.   Imagine launching with an unknowingly unzipped drysuit…you have a good run out, jibe off swell a few hundred yards out, and catch your first wave.   You don’t fall, remain unaware of your unzipped state, jibe on the inside and now head way to the outside where you see some big beautiful waves setting up.   Jibing a quarter mile out you fall, and take on three gallons of ice-cold water.   Realizing that you never zipped up (as you shout, crosseyed in discomfort) you set up to waterstart as fast as you can.  But the wind is a bit light, so you can’t get any power in the sail at all when you’re in a trough, and as some swell brings you back up into the wind, twenty extra pounds of water in your drysuit prevents you from getting back up on the board. The cycle repeats.

After a minute of this you are in trouble.  Maybe it’s three minutes before one of your friends (on shore, taking a break during the lull) comes out to check on you.    Now you are unable to sail, and your friend has to figure out how to get you on your board and somehow drag your icy ass back to shore before your heart stops beating.  (Hey while we’re having so much fun reading this post, hop on over here and read a bunch of stories about hypothermia deaths in cold water.)

Okay, you say, will you please relax?  Who hasn’t launched with an unzipped drysuit, Mr. Editor of the Peconic Puffin?  Haven’t you?

Of course I have.  We all have.    And like most all of us most of the time all I ended up with was a cold back and a quick scare.   But sailing in the ocean things can get complicated.   And at the Bowl yesterday with the currents swirling near the jetty, the winds up and down and forecasted to turn increasingly offshore, the Wolf’s little episode put safety front and center in our minds.

So to the great disappointment of the two seals hanging out on the inside and rating our jibes, we called it a day after a few hours.   “I’ve sailed the Bowl for twenty years…I know when to quit,” said the Wolf.    And we all resolved to double check our drysuit zippers in the future.

The Ice is Gone but the Wind Remains at Sebonac

Another sweet day at Sebonac Inlet.   Remarkably steady winds for the most part (sail sizes began at 4.7-5.2, building to 4.2-4.5 by days end) with the sun warming up our drysuits, decent ramps at the sand bar, and the special beauty of Sebonac under full sun.   It was one of those magical sessions where you get caught up in the wonder of the sport...the Wolf was waxing poetic about the light on the water, how every second is a new decision/new navigation/trim the sail/the board/jump/breathe and just love life etc (I was right there with him.)

 T’was Scott, Jeff, Mr. vanderWolf and I (Jon Ford stopped by to watch…he’s still nursing a dinged wrist) with no snow on the beach or ice in the water to fret about.   The water was see oh el dee cold, though…my booties need replacing…I could stand in the water for about seven seconds before the icewater started to trickle in.   I’m liking my new gloves a lot, though…from Mystic Boarding (I’m not linking to their website because it’s slow as molasses) Jon is carrying them at Hampton Watersports (formerly Windsurfing Hamptons).  The wrist seal is very, very good without being overly tight or constricting.   I had zero leakage yesterday even after some quality falls.

Now I’m hoping for more wind on Sunday.  Bring it!

(Top:  Heading for the sandbar, where there be ramps.  Left:  The editor contemplates exactly where he's going to place his board.   Three feet from the beach the inlet is dredged to overhead depths, and as many of us have learned from experience, dropping into the inlet while the current is flowing will rapidly land you in either Bullhead Bay in flood tide, or fifty feet out into the Peconic during the ebb.  Photos by Peconic Jeff.)

Slashing Slush at Sebonac Inlet

I’m back, baby.   Seven weeks and one day after my last windsurfing session and over three weeks since SUPsurfing, I had my triumphant return.   Me on a 5.3, the Wolf (who else) fully powered on a 4.7.   It felt so good to get back out there…hook in, feet in the straps, lean back, close the gap and take off like a shot into the blue waters at Sebonac Inlet.

Blue and white, yesterday, actually.    We arrived in the middle of  the ebb tide, while Bullhead Bay (the water to which Sebonac Inlet leads) discharged its frozen and snowy slabs.   The section of the Peconic that’s usually extra choppy right outside the inlet was instead a slush and ice field…you had to slow down and weave a path outbound to avoid hitting the larger pieces of ice, while sailing through the pure slush sections sounded like you were playing with a straw in a frozen margarita.   On the outside the water was mostly clean with moderate ramps, though we still had to (as the Wolf described it) do some “ice slashing” to avoid getting launched by a berg.

Air and water temps were both 36, though I’ve got to think the water was darn near 33 in the slush.  Still, sailing in the full sun we were quite warm.

(Above, the Wolf points upwind to avoid the inlet's icy outflow.   Below is a little vid of the frozen offerings.)

A Winter Windsurfing Prayer

My Latest, Greatest New Bit of Cold Weather Gear: Earplugs

I’d heard of Swimmers Ear, Surfers Ear, whatever ear…some problem with too much cold water in your ears.  It never happened to me windsurfing in winter…maybe a few drops would get beneath my hood but it never seemed like a problem.   Then two weeks ago I got rolled mightily by some waves during a SUP session, and the 41 degree water was a real kick in the…ear?   I’d get back on my board with my ear in some pain and a vague feeling of nausea.  After about fifteen seconds above water the badness would pass but I resolved to try some plugs for my next session.

So I wore a pair of wax disposable earplugs (the kind for sleeping) while SUPing a few days ago.  And while once again I got rolled in some very cold impact zone water, my ears were fine.   Yes they slightly reduced my ability to hear, but not so much that I'd consider not wearing them for cold water wavesailing or surfing (when the underwater experience is most intense.)  Also it seemed that the plugs helped keep the rest of my head a tiny bit warmer (that was probably just in my head...like the plugs) but hey I’ll take imagined warmth along with the real.

We Fail To Score a Blizzard Sesh/What Constitutes Crazy?

Were we unlucky or just gurlymen?   I don't know, but we didn't get out today, and that is le bummer.  Jeff and I encouraged each other throughout the day (mostly by questioning the other's manhood at times of thermal capitulation) but it never came together.     It was really frickin' cold (iced spots on the bays, air temps never cresting 30 degrees) and not properly windy until well into the afternoon, but I feel like I'm whining.  

Scott suggested that I was crazy to consider sailing.  I'm clinging to that, because to be called crazy by the crazy seems like a good thing (and I've sailed with Scott in preposterous conditions!)  

But I was one-upped by a guy in the parking lot in town, who was walking around loading his SUV wearing shorts.   I watched him for awhile before finally walking up to him and asking "not cold enough for you?"

He replied:  "Hey I was in the ocean a few days ago."

Of course.

So we talked for a bit.   Perfectly sane guy.

(Top:  The view at North Sea Road...not enough action to make it worthwhile.   Bottom:  The Guy In Shorts.)

Winter Rules: Special Puffin Report to Windsurfing Magazine

Coming soon to a mailbox or newsstand near you:  The April issue of Windsurfing Magazine, featuring their "Winter Rocks!" coverage of what windsurfers on Long Island have known for some time:  there's some great windsurfing to be had when there's snow on the ground.  There are articles on sailing by glaciers, sailing Lake Superior in winter, sailing on snow, profiles of some heavy duty neoprene, and the jewel: a piece on winter do's and don'ts, written by the editorial staff of The Peconic Puffin and includes photos by Long Island legends Pete Roesch and "Peconic Jeff" Schultz.   In particular check out Pete's tremendous shot (page 24) of Brook Cuddy wading through a field of ice to catch some north shore (Long Island) action!

The Wolf Shreds Bellport on his Ice Yacht

The Wolf caught an ice session last week at Bellport.  "Great conditions," he told The Peconic Puffin.  Your editor has only ice-windsurfed once (two years ago at Cold Spring Pond) where he got to try out the Wolf's ice yacht, which features a large friendly deck, and brakes!  (Details on the Wolf's ride and that session here.)    Meanwhile how beautiful does the ice look at sunset below?

(These gorgeous photos are from a windsurfer named Jeff whom I don't believe I've ever met   When you see gorgeous photos on this blog attributed to a Jeff we're usually talking about Peconic Jeff, but not today.  Kudos to this Jeff!)

"There's no ice on your sail so you got nothing to complain about."

Water temp 42, air temp 36 (and forecast to fall throughout the day) for a "100 rule" score of 78.   But I hadn't sailed in two weeks, so when the phone rang and it was the Wolf I couldn't say Yes fast enough.  "It's going to be high tide at the Pier" he warned.  "It's windsurfing, right?"   I needed a fix badly.

Scott said it was "too cold", Peconic Jeff had some lame reason for being in the city, Jonathan was skiing, and I don't know where everybody else was, but we arrived to find 25 knots of NW and no ice to contend with.    The tide was ebbing quickly, and we had excellent ramps for jumping (the Wolf on his brand-spanking new Ezzy 4.7, and me on a 5.0.)   The wind and waves kept building, and I managed to pogo the mast on the inside just as it became time to rig down (carnage limited to a snapped mast base) and we were soon back out on 4.2 and 4.5 sails, having a great time.

Even with frequent breaks I could only manage two or three runs before needing to hit the beach to warm my hands, huddled in the lee of the jetty.   When I mentioned to the Wolf how the air was getting colder and that I didn't know how much more windsurfing I had in me, he responded with the title of this post.    Not long afterwards I did see ice on my sail following a particularly frigid gust, and as my left foot was starting to turn into a block of ice and the wind was getting holey it seemed an excellent time to call it a day.

Every session in January is a gift.

Lake Sailors Challenge Icebergs Too

A windsurfer gets some in upstate New York.  Titled "Bill braves 'the break', Da Club"  posted by Rochesterwindsports08 on Flickr.
I envy this guy.