The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Scott and his Rope Fins

Scott, the Wolf and your editor at Meschutt.   The wind was blowing straight north...a little weird, and barely enough to plane on larger gear.  Scott was on his 5.8, I had a 6.2 on my 109, and the Wolf was trying to make a 5.3 work on his 102.*    

Meschutt Beach is still rigged for summer, meaning that swimming areas are roped off.  I'd never sailed there in the summer so it was all news to me.   My first run where I needed to go through the swimming area I spotted the full ropes soon enough that I was prepared to jump them and clear my fin.   Execution is everything though, and I failed to get the fin high enough.  Kapow, as Batman would say.

Soon after Scott launched, and I watched him head towards the swimming area.   He went through a section that apparently had no rope.  OF COURSE he knows the ins and outs here I thought.  So I headed the same way, but fortunately remembered that Scott's boards all sport weed fins.  He's cheating!  He has ROPE fins on!

So I tacked and headed upwind towards the jetty, where I was finally able to get high enough to reach past the ropes.

Other than that it was an unremarkable session...the forecast had called for a lot more wind but it wasn't to be.    Still, I learned a new rigging trick.  Rope fins!

Week-long Swap Meet at Hampton Watersports

Sept 12th - Sept 19th. Week long swap is back. Stop by whenever convenient. Buy or sell used and closeout Foil, Kite, surf, Wing and Windsurf gear.
Sellers - drop your used gear now thru 11am 9/12
Buyers - Come by and check it out . Note: Anyone looking for anything specific, let the store know before hand.

Hampton Watersports
1688 County Road 39
Southampton, NY 11968
(631)283-9463
www.hamptonwatersports.com

August?

I did get one session in, a couple weeks ago at East Landing...nothing special...6.3...but I thought "I'll write about it when I post about my next session."

But here we are, on another Skunked Saturday, and the month is getting SHORT!    Maybe tomorrow (Sunday) we'll get a westerly at Sebonac Inlet.   Fingers are crossed.

Steel Bolts Fail (over enough time)

I'm a two-bolt mast base man.   No single bolt uni's for me (except on the SUP which only has an insert.)   The attraction is the extra safety...if a bolt fails I can still sail home on the other, though the mast foot may get out of position.   Also the two bolt plates can be left on every board, and just the uni(s) can be attached and removed as needed, speeding up derigging.

End of sermon.   Here's what happened at the last session:   I was adjusting the mast foot position on my 99 Skate in the parking lot of South Jamesport, when, while tightening the bolts, one sheared off while I was not applying that much torque.   I wasn't close to using a strong twist.   That bolt was ready to fail...happily it did so on dry land.*

I'm guessing I bought the foot ten or twelve years ago...maybe more.   I'm not sure how I'm going to be inspecting the others, but taking them off of the boards (I have a two bolt plate on all four boards) for a look I will be doing.    Gear breaks.

*More happily I had an extra one in the van.

(Photo:   The bolt in two pieces.)

Catching Some in 80 Degrees

We don't have a category for "warm water sailing" on the Puffin, but we could have with sessions like yesterday's.  When signs of a thermal began popping up the texts went out, resulting in a small turnout of Scott, Artie, and your editor.   Sceptical Scott sat in his pickup saying "get me excited before I rig".   Artie and I had no time to waste...it was HOT out.   Artie only brought his 6.0...the perfect choice it turned out.  I rigged 6.3 and a 100 liter board, and down to the beach we went.   Once we figured out how to launch in between the two dozen people swimming (walk all the way upwind, shlog most carefully) we were on it.   There were lulls but there were also speed patches, and soon SceptiScott was out on his 5.8.   The forecast was for it to build, but after 90 minutes it seemed to be dropping, so in the interest of spousal points we wrapped it up.

(Top:  Artie jibing on the inside.  Bottom:  Me happy to be hiked out.  Photos by Chris.)