One of the many thrills at last weekend's East Coast Windsurfing Festival was the chance to see a PWA champion sail. We saw Josh Angulo's mindblowing speed in the races, we saw a Very Large Loop...it was a treat!
But blogger James Douglas gives us a unique perspective. James put on a helmet with a GoPro camera attached, took an overpowered spin on a new board and rig, then handed off both the gear and the helmet to Josh for him to sail. The difference in observed speed is as radical as it was during the event. Check it out! Note that you can turn it off 3 minutes in unless you want to see me walk up to Mark and introduce myself. Had I know the camera on his head was on I'd have fixed my hair.
Here's the video. You may also want to check it out in its original context on James' blog.
(This probably concludes coverage of last weekend's event. If you've somehow come upon this post unexposed to our previous chatter and wish to subject yourself to it, check out the 2011 East Coast Windsurfing Festival reports one, two, and three.)
The winds were light and off-shore for day two...yeah boy! The standings as of Day One were on display, but things were going to get shaken up.
Racemaster Tom set up a modified course. I thought “I could do well on this course if I had a longboard,” but I’d left my Superlight home like an idiot. “Bring EVERYTHING to a race!” Pete Roesch had said (always listen to the guy who wins at these events). But I got lucky when Bill DeGeorge (who would have won Open Class except for a certain Mr. Angulo) lent me one of his 75 boards...a Mistral Comp (thankyouthankyou thankyou.) Then I realized I didn’t have a suitable uni. Peconic Jeff had an extra one (thankyouthank youthankyou). Special thanks to P-Jeff, who might have finished third in 7.5 instead of me if he hogged his unis and left me marooned on my Techno (Jeff remained highly competitive sailing a SUP board...mad props!) But now equipped with other people’s stuff plus my mighty 6.2, I joined the racers and managed to eek out a trophy.
Barely.
My best move in the days races was leaning out to catch Peter Richterich mid-fall. I did it for the karma points, to use against the bad karma I planned to accrue ramming Pete Roesch in the next race. But tragically I not only never got close enough to Pete to prevent his ultimate victory, but in the final reach of the final race I was ignominiously passed and left in the dust by his son Devon. I now have two generations of Roesch windsurfers to fear and loathe on the course.
Then came the relay races. Four teams of knuckledragging guys stood in the water waiting for the start, whilst the self-selected all-girl team put one sailor on the board, one at the luffed clew to steady the rig, and two at the back to give a push at the start. When us guys woke up and began to replicate their set-up the girls hooted and hollered, but hey, they should have kept their brilliant plan secret until a few seconds before the start. I believe the team I was on was the first to steal the idea; as punishment Jill rammed me at the buoy. Peter has a video of the complete race on his blog.
As the wind lightened a new event was added to the East Coast Windsurfing Festival: SUP relay races: A short paddle out to a buoy, go around it, paddle back to the beach and hand off paddle to the next person. I will confess that this sounded like a yawn to me...then it started. Josh began with a running jump onto a board and soon everyone was experimenting with ballistic starts. Some stood, some kneeled, everyone paddled like a demon. There were four teams...two contests...but also a stopwatch timing the winning team of each heat. The fastest team would triumph. In what seemed like a splashy, sloppy, laughy pair of heats, the team with the best time won by all of four seconds! Pretty darn close.
There was no more freestyle competition on Sunday due to the light winds. People who know me might wonder why I’ve not written about my freestyle exploits...fact is I did not compete. On Friday night I started with a sharp knife but a tough lime, and ended up with a deep cut in one finger. When this finger began bleeding during the first Saturday races I had to make a choice, and I figured racing to be easier on the hands than freestyle. Next year I’m a’doing no cooking the day before the event!
It all ended with giveaways of goodies donated by event sponsors, the presentation of trophies, and talk of next year.
Huge thanks to Mike Burns for organizing a great festival four years in a row! And to MC Tom T-Bone Thom Hering for brilliant race orchestration. To Chrissy, to the jet ski guy, to everyone who helped out. To Jerry Evans for the stylee trophies.
Who am I forgetting?
Mr. Angulo. Thanks to Josh for doing everything and anything to make the festival as enjoyable as possible...bringing a van load of equipment for people to try, putting on a windsurfing display like the champion he is, spending time with anyone and everyone who wanted to chat, and bringing his oversized great attitude, enthusiasm and cheer to every bit of the event. Dude, you’re an East Coast windsurfer now...come back next year!
(The results of the competition can be found here. We're seeing about getting a complete breakdown of the racing results. Peconic Puffin coverage of day one of the East Coast Windsurfing Festival is here. Other bloggers who have posted on the festival include James Douglas and Peter Richterich.
Photos graciously shared by Alphonso, Jeff Schultz, and Jimmy Rivera.)
(A semi-coherent description of the events of day one of of the festival may be found here. Tomorrow a second helping of scattered recollections and thoughts, focused on day two may be found on the Peconic Puffin as well. Here now are the names of all the good people who participated:)
Pro Men's Freestyle (Fully Ranked)
1. Mike Burns (The King of the East, for the third time in four years! All hail Mike.)
2. Jon Sassone
3. Chris Eldridge
4. Sergey Andreev
5. Josh Angulo (To quote Thom Hering, "It's a measure of the quality of windsurfing on Long Island that a PWA pro finishes fifth in our competition." Of course Josh is not a pro freestyler, and he did nearly rip a hole in the sky with his mondo loop!)
Amateur Men's Freestyle (Fully Ranked. It's testimony to ABK Boardsports that well over half of these competitors are ABK graduates, and the winner an ABK instructor.)
1. Ed Dehart
2. Graham Feddersen
3. Tom Dehaan
4. Jeff Schultz
5. Jake Agoos
6. George Marr
7. Rich Simmons
8. Mike Jamieson
9. George Pav
10. Kevin O'Shea
11. John Markwalter
12. John Spanos
12. Igor Manoylovich
12. Mitch Agoos
12. Ned Crossley
Women's Freestyle (Fully Ranked)
1. Deniz Kalaycioglu
2. Jeanne Bauman
3. Nina Richterich
4. Jill Marr
Open Racing
1. Josh Angulo
2. Bill DeGeorge
3. James Douglas (mad props to James, who probably doesn't know that in the last Long Island race series of six heats (dropping the lowest finish) Bill's results were 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, and 1st.
Racing 7.5 Limited
1. Pete Roesch
2. Joe Natali
3. Michael Alex (Thanks to the mighty Bill DeGeorge for lending me a longboard Sunday!)
Where to begin? Here’s an early report on Saturday. (early? I know...)
70+ competitors turned out (including former PWA champion and new east coast windsurfer Josh Angulo) for 18-24 easterlies at Long Island’s Heckscher State Park, where the racing was fast and furious. We had two racing classes (open and 7.5 limited) but unless you had full blown racing gear and knew how to use it, 6.2 was as big a sail as most of us wanted, and the racing was fast and furious. Sailors were on every kind of gear you could imagine (maybe no wave boards)...vintage longboards, modern longboards, formula planks, freeride boards, freestyle boards, even SUP boards! With all the wind many of us found ourselves boarding down to freeride and even freestyle gear to make the jibing easier (if this isn’t a racing adage it oughta be: It’s not how fast you sail, it’s whether or not you can tack and jibe dry!) For myself, in the first heat I sailed my Techno and finished about 30th, while managing to brain freeze on port and force Joe G (rightfully on starboard) to drop into the water. Sorry Joe! Switching to a JP Freestyle board I followed George Marr around the course (for two reasons...he sails like a bat out of hell, and he doesn’t hit anybody) and finished fourth. Much better! My favorite race was a heat in which the wind kept oscillating up and down...one minute the longboards had the advantage, the next the racing shortboards, then the wind would come up more and the freeride planks ruled. I remember being left behind by the longboards at the start only to pass them all halfway through, then watched in horror as Peconic Jeff passed me on his SUP board. For that race, the answer to the question "what's the gear call" was "doesn't matter!" Much fun.
At the end of the day the 7.5 class was lead by The Terminator/Eliminator/pick your honorific-ator Pete Roesch.
Then there was the Open class, twelve guys with big sails and race boards. As the kids say: OMG. Pro sailors are pro sailors for a reason; champions even more so. It was great that Josh Angulo was so warm and friendly and outgoing on the beach, because on the race course, he finished the first heat before most of the competitors were half way around the course. It gets worse: Judge Mike Burns says Angulo wasn’t really gunning it in that heat. “C’mon, Josh,” Mike told him, “show these people what you’ve got!”
So in heat #2 Josh blazed...nothing but fin in the water. He crossed the finish line so early that Judge Burns shouted out “Hey Josh: go around the course again!”
And so in a single race Josh Angulo finished First and...wait for it...Fourth. "And he missed 3rd by a board length!" Mike Burns says. Against 11 other sailors.
There was freestyle, too! With so many competitors at this year’s festival the judges held a ten minute elimination heat to whittle down the amateur class to a more judgable number, with sailors going for new school and old school tricks in a mad wonderful display of style and moxie.
Then the Pro class threw a combination Expression Session and competition. The blur of backsliding backwinded aerial madness was dominated by the reigning King of the East Mike Burns, but The Jaw Dropping Moment was when Mr. Angulo threw a loop with a 6.9 sail that seemingly took forever. I heard a dozen “woah did you see that”s simultaneously alongside the chorus of ooh’s and aahs.
Mike Burns thinks it could blow big. I'm not trying to jinx it! I'm just sayin' that's what Mike is sayin'.
MC Thom Hering thinks we may need jet ski rabbit starts. Say what? If the wind is from the east then racers will a-gather on the water (as opposed to the rabbit beach starts we've had in festivals past for the southerlies) and get started by a passing jet ski.
Both Mike and MC Thom say it's important that participants be there by 9AM to register, get numbers (remember to bring duct tape to put numbers on your sails) and kick off the competition.
It's going to be exciting!
The 2011 East Coast Windsurfing Festival is this Saturday-Sunday at Heckscher State Park. The following is a list of "important stuff to bring" taken from the event web site, as written by reigning King of the East Mike Burns himself:
"- Money - There is a charge of 8 bucks to get into the park at the toll booth.
-Weed fin - The beginning of June is when those weeds decide to start appearing. Sometimes you can get by without one, but it could just make the difference.
-Sun Block - I forgot mine last year and got burnt to a crisp.
-Food and Drink - There is nowhere in the park to buy food or beverages so bring what you’ll need for the day
-Toilet Paper - There I said it. The bathrooms at the boat ramp will be open but you never know if they’ll have what you need when you really need it. -Duct tape - it has a million uses so you might as well bring some. Whether you need to put numbers on your sail, protect your body parts from getting blisters from the tons of sailing you’ll be doing, you might just need some duct tape.
- Your family and friends - everyone else’s will be there, so bring yours along too."
See you there!
(photo of jet ski rabbit start borrowed from Continent Seven, where it was credited to Biancotto.)
Heavy is the head that wears the crown. So I'm told. Former PWA champion Josh Angulo knows first-hand, though, and he's losing sleep over his upcoming battle with Long Island's Mike Burns, two time East Coast Windsurfing Festival crown-wearer (or plaque wearer. Plaque carrier?) Some heavy heads and hands there.
Anyways Angulo is up against some stiff competition, and we asked His Wavelyness about it:
Peconic Puffin: "You’re probably aware that event co-organizer Mike Burns has won the King of the East Crown two out of three times since the event’s debut. Assuming that the scoring isn’t rigged (which I wouldn’t assume) do you think you stand a chance?"
Josh Angulo: "I'm actually gonna do a few push-ups and jumping jacks before my heat with Mike... I'm gonna pull out all the stops. I'm coming in all guns blazing for Mike " Da King" Burns. He's actually folklore worldwide. Only Robby Naish, Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Antoine Albeau and Mike Burns have held so many consecutive titles. So although I want to give it my all it will be a big ask."
I'm gonna try some push-ups and jumping jacks too. Anything I can do to get an edge!
General East Coast Windsurfing Festival update: Make sure you're there by 9am to register. The plan is for the first event to start at 10, so figure a 9:45 skippers meeting, so you'll want to be fully rigged by 9:30. That's the word from JamMaster Thom Hering and Lord Burns Themselves.
Fear this, and tremblingly obey.
(Top: Mike Burns looks back at the splash his crown made when it fell off whilst throwing a crazy-ass move. Bottom: The author demonstrates his reverse pushup technique underwater during 2010's freestyle competition. Photos courtesy Bill Doutney.)
Windsurfing legend Josh Angulo (who WON Cabo Verde...that’s more rad than the Bowl, homes!) is bringing his mightiness to Heckscher this weekend for the 2011 East Coast Windsurfing Festival. We at the Peconic Puffin say “Wow!” Stoked, we are. Fools, too, but not so foolish as to pass an opportunity to ask Mr. Angulo, who recently moved to Massachusetts to be closer to Long Island (we imagine) which Festival competition (racing or freestyle) he was more excited about bringing his PWA Wavesailing Champion awesomeness to? Thus spake Josh:
“Can I put in a few disclaimers now........ I am a very below average below amateur level freestyle sailor and Mike Burns said he's putting me in the "expert" division, which I don't really qualify for. The racing I'm fired up for assuming we get 11-12 knots...below that my pumping skills are pretty bad.”
Yeah yeah. Josh really isn’t that good. Look for him to finish sandwiched in between Peconic Jeff and myself. Yeah. Mr. Angulo went on with the nice talk:
“I'm really thankful for the open arms reception I've been getting in the whole east coast watersports scene and I hope I'm able to give back some of my " Aloha" from Hawaii and "morabeza" from Cabo Verde. From what I've seen and experienced thus far the East Coast already has plenty of both.”
Just wait until he finds himself between George Marr and Pete Roesch!
(The fourth annual East Coast Windsurfing Festival takes place this weekend at Heckscher Park. Sign up now, join the fun, sail with friends and welcome Josh Angulo to Long Island! Angulo photo courtesy PWA/John Carter)
I've been sailing since 1992, which makes this my 20th season. The only year I didn't get any water time in May was 2002, but that was on account of having rotator cuff surgery the month before. This year lack of conditions has been my bugaboo. Yeah if I'd driven 50 miles to Heckscher I could have scored some water time, but that wasn't in the cards. So my callouses are nearly gone, and the East Coast Windsurfing Festival is just two weeks away. I'm gonna get my tail kicked!
Thank the water gods for SUP (decent sesh with Scott, the Wolf, Jeff and Steve on Saturday. In the top photo Scott questions my manlyness, querying my use of hood whilst the rest of the gang paddled hatless. In the bottom photo, having explained that I was using the hood as a sunburn protectorant, I try to catch what clearly isn't a wave. Pix courtesy Jeff.)
It's time! His lordship Mike Burns (Festival organizer AND Reigning King of the East) has decreed that the hour to declare our intentions has arrived*. So get thee to the East Coast Windsurfing Festival's registration page, or just email King Burns directly with the following information:
Thy name (all of it).
Thy mailing address.
Thy email address.
Thy age (I myself lie)
Thy intentions to participate in freestyle, racing, or both.
*While the hour has arrived, a sufficiency of other hours are also available to sign up. However it's more fun if you sign up early, as web pages listing the names of the happy competitors shall soon be displayed to the people.
It’s Baaaack…the fourth annual East Coast Windsurfing Festival! Two time King of the East freestyle champion Mike Burns sez “mark your calendars for June 11th and 12th and expect the usual big turnout with lots of action and fun.” We’re talkin’ Heckscher, y’all. There will be freestyle, there will be racing, there will be a great time had by all.
Save the date.
(Don't know what you've been missing? Or perhaps you want to relive the thrill of victory and the agony of being beaten by Pete? Here's The Peconic Puffin's coverage of the last three festivals. The official web site will be updated soon. Photo from one of last year's races by Bill Doutney.)
I would be remiss (as I so often am) if I did not get these last few bits and pieces out:
1. Junior Division Results: Total, complete, and utter domination by one Devon Roesch. That would be Devon Son of Pete. I once had "Must Defeat Pete" writ large on the deck of my Superlight before a competition in an attempt to inspire my own success (didn't work.) Might I try "Confound Those Speedy Roeschs"?
2. Relay Race Team Results:
Position - Team
- Race results
1.) Team Natali - 2nd & 1st
2.) Team Roesch - 1 & 3
3.) Team Veith - 4 & 2
4.) Team Marr - 3 & 4
5.) tie - Team Yannick &
Giordano
The rosters for the teams are not available. Suffice it to say that I sailed for a fifth place team.
3. Spencer Buckets:
Jill Marr Superstar (coordinator of Neat Prizes and Trophies along with MC Thom) presented Spencer Buckets to top competitors. This is as great and as useful a windsurfing prize as anyone could want (in my addled opinion)...if you've never used a Spencer Bucket, you don't know what you're missing. Stand in it to change out of your wetsuit. Use it as a catchall for wet messy things. Rig your board's fins and footstraps on top of it. Flip it and sit on it. It has hundreds of uses! (well half a dozen). I asked King of the East Mike Burns to put his through its paces and provide the Peconic Puffin feedback on how well it meets his pro freestyling needs.
4. The Eternal Battle Between George and Pete:
George came in second and Pete in third in the races this year. They came in fourth and fifth the year before. The year before that Pete won the whole enchilada/spencer bucket/etc. Anytime you get on the water with Pete and George it's like being a witness to battles from Greek mythology. Kind of. Also the odds are you'll end up behind them (I beat Pete once, but he was injured.)
5. Unsung Heroes
A lot of people help make these events happen. Besides MC Thom and King Mike and Jill Marr Superstar, there is Chrissy Burns keeping it real on the judging stand. Bill Doutney capturing it all for posterity. There are others whose names I don't know, but the safety boat and jet ski (and their operators) as well as the Parks department made it all possible as well. Big thanks to them, and to those whose contributions I may be ignorant of, but am thankful for nevertheless.
6. What's Next?
Me I'm hoping for a return of the Fall Regatta. The Second Annual East Coast Fall Windsurfing Regatta has a nice ring to it!
I can screw up anything.Yet I somehow managed to have a good time at the windsurfing festival
last weekend, despite the following:
-blanking out on the port/starboard rule 45 seconds after MC
Thom reminded everyone about it, and ramming Peconic Jeff, who looked at me
incredulously as I turned into him (maybe that’s what motivated him to trounce
me in the freestyle competition.)
-forgetting just about everything during my second freestyle
heat (“Dude, remember to breathe,” King of the East Mike Burns said to me.You’d think I could remember that…)
-forgetting my BOARD Saturday night at the end of the first
day’s festivities (thank you Joe Natalie for rescuing it and packing it as
carefully as if it was his.)
-forgetting to post the Junior Division results and relay
race results afterwards.Will get them up as soon as possible.Pete Roesch already reminded me that his son Devon won
the Junior class…I’ve spent my Long Island windsurfing race career trailing
behind Pete, and now I can look forward to additional humiliation in the wake
of his son.
One thing I did right was to skip the board toss (ANOTHER
thing Peconic Jeffwon.I don’t think I can be his friend
anymore…dude let me win something!)Last year I managed the shortest toss of the event (spiking the nose) so
I wisely let this opportunity for failure pass me by. And I had nothing to do with the hole that was punched in Kurt's beautiful new race board (not that it stopped him from winning.) And I managed to meet Hudson River Windsurfing blogger
Ian, and Dan Perelmen of NY Windsurfing MeetUp and Joanne who just bought her
first windsurfing board and lots of other great people.And I got to match race with Ted
Bretter (who I only beat because one of us had a weed fin.)Good times!
Now I look forward to the Fall Regatta.Boy will I screw that up!
(Top: My kind of freestyle, captured by Bill Doutney. Bottom. Even Buddha Mike's Buddha couldn't get me right. This particular Enlightened One is rendered from potassium theldspar, and is just a teense radioactive, according to Carver Jamieson.)
"You're going to have so much
to write about" at least half a dozen people said to me. And it's
true, but between trying to catch my breath, getting my butt kicked, and the
fantastic three ring circus that was the third annual ECWF, for now here's just the top
line:
-Kurt Veith could not be stopped on the race course, even when competitors tried to sink his board.
-Deniz fended off challenges in both racing and freestyle to be the queen of the Ladies competition.
-Peconic Jeff save the best for last, and blew the doors off of some strong competitors (and me) to win the Men's Amateur Freestyle
-Mike Burns, the first King of the East, pulled out all the stops to regain the throne. All Hail Mike!
Complete Event Results:
Men's Racing (7.5 limited)
1. Kurt Veith
2. George Marr
3. Pete Roesch
4. Joe Giordano
5. Joe Natalie
6. Alex Hering
7. Scott Yanuck
8. Michael Alex
9. George Pav
10. Jim Manta
11. Jake Agoos
12. Jeff Schultz
13. Andrew Cebula
14. Ira Holzman
15. Rich Simons
16. Ted Bretter
17. Ryan Whitehead
18. Pete Ashman
19. Devon Roesch
20. Ian Berger
21. Art Spangel
22. Phil McPhilly
23. Valdas
24. Jeff Tannenbaum
25. Mike Jamieson
26. Dan Perelman
27. Scott Lynch
28 George Kellner
29. Wes Yland
30. Jeremy Grosvenor
31. Joe Rocco
Open Class Racing
1. Bart Kornas
2. Steve
3. Chris Dohan
Women's Racing
1. Deniz Kalaycioglu
2. Jill Marr
3. Jeanne Baumann
4. Christina Clement
5. Marianne
6. Liz Kline
7. Alison Dunton
Women's Freestyle Finals
1. Deniz Kalaycioglu
2. Jeanne Baumann
3. Jill Marr
Men's Amateur Freestyle Finals
1. Jeff Schultz (Yeah boy!!!!)
2. George Pav
3. Jake Agoos
4. Michael Alex
Men's Pro Freestyle Finals
1. Mike Burns
2. Kurt Veith
3. Chris Elderedge
There will be more to come, including in-depth looks at the board toss, relay races, spencer buckets, and the eternal battle between Pete and George.
(Photos by the mighty Bill Doutney. Misspelled names to be corrected ASAP...please let me know if I have you or someone you know wrong!)
These be details for the East Coast Windsurfing Festival a-comin this Saturday. Some nitty gritty that thee best be payin' attention to, lest yet be findin' yoursel' at the bottom of Davy Jones' locker (which at Heckscher is admittedly not that far down. Still...)
1. Be thee on time enough to number thy sails proper like! The event starts at 9:30. Get there before so you have time to affix thy assigned number to thy sails. Don't be thinkin' you'll pick your number afore the fest and show up prenumbered. No! Master of Numbers MC Jill might let you pick your number when you register, but if thy be thinkin' about being #1, 11, 111, 1111, or 11111 they better get thy arse there at dawn.
2. There will be duct tape available, but if thee'd bring thine own for sail numbering it will help speed things up. 'nuff said.
3. Pack thee a lunch! Twer no vendors at the ECWF in years past, and taint likely there be any there this year. So pack thy vittles and pack thy drink. There are bathrooms in the vicinity.
(Numbered sails are what thee best be having if thee wants to race or freestyle or both. Be thee prepared. Photo by Doutney. Arrrrr....)
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