The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Is the Water Getting Colder?

Can't remember the last time I got a headache after a dunking...January?    Arctic Artie dubbed yesterday Frigid Friday, and it was cold.  Or it seemed cold.   4.7's for Scott and me, Christian on a 5.0, and Artie arrived late to sail 5.4.   Big holes meant shlogging, but when the wind came up we were lit.   Looking forward to retiring the gloves for the season (two weeks ago at SJ they weren't needed.)  Shred on!

Mercedes Wind Power Commercial (with Windsurfer)

Set to a a slow cool cover of the Beatles "Come Together" is quite a cinematic piece of work for Mercedes Benz.   The upshot of the commercial is that all Mercedes factories in Germany are planned to be powered solely by renewable resources by 2022 (next year).   In the many bits of imagery in the spot is a few seconds of a man getting into his wetsuit, with a rigged sail and board by his feet.   No resort sailor this, the guy looks like a Long Island regular launching in April.   Come together!

White Caps, Sun, Firing Sandbar!

That's the text I got from Christian at Sebonac Inlet, and it was spot on.  Also Windy!

I was lit to overpowered on my 4.2...must learn how to properly rig my 3.7...and when I wasn't overpowered it was glorious.  The sand bar was sending evenly spaced wavelets across the reach, to jump or to S turn for fun.   

Unfortunately for me it was often two knots more than I could handle, and with limited time (family obligations) I chose overpowered to rerigging.  Will work out the kinks of the 3.7 on the next windless day (backyard project) so that I can rip comfortably when it blows like that again.

On the scene:  Scott, Christian, Frank, Marty, Jonathan, Bruce, and Jan arrived as I drove away.

Sun index:  I got color on my face even while wearing sunscreen.

Cold index:  Didn't need gloves at SJ last Friday, but they were necessary today.   I'm optimistic it was the last gloved day of the Spring.

(Top:  Lord Scotworth leaps on starboard.  Bottom:  Jon Ford airs it out on port.  Photos courtesy Mike O'Connor.)

 

You Call This 4.7? Almost Windy at Ess Jay

Scott said it was 4.7.  He certainly had RIGGED a 4.7.  Christian rigged a 5.something.  But nobody was sailing.  Not much in the way of whitecaps either.   But word was the wind was coming, so I rigged a 4.7.   Everyone who rigged went small, while Jon Ford and Peconic Jeff watched (yes, Peconic Jeff make a rare appearance!  No gear though...he brought a camera to shoot the windsurfing, if any happened.)   All that higher wind gear laying on the South Jamesport beach, dry.

The first move was to put a bigger board under one's 4.7.  I'm usually on 77 liters for 4.7 so I went for my 93.   Then I watched someone shlogging on 100 liters so I grabbed the trusty 109.   One hundred nine liters, 70 cm wide, with a 34cm fin...NOT what the windsurfing gods intended for 4.7 sailing, but I wanted to plane, and so I sometimes did.    Me Scott Artie George Christian and others doing the on-off for a couple hours.

Scott said the big winds would come an hour later, so Artie and I called the spouses to request late passes.  And got them.  But as the wind died further I bailed and went home.  Artie dubbed it "the day that never was."   Such is windsuffering.

(Scott excitedly waiting for the late blow to begin.  Pic by Artie)

Old School Fins

I don't know how well they worked, but they make for a pretty poster!   As seen in the Old School Windsurfers Facebook group.