The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Big Winds and Bad Timing

It was my wedding anniversary, but Sally let me go out east for the day to catch the wind.  A fine wife!   Called Scott during the drive...he told me it was blowing big...4.2 at least!   

I arrived at Sebonac early afternoon, to watch two wingers struggling to get out of the water in nuking air with crazy gusts.  Scott was on shore catching his breath, talking about 3.7.  I own a 3.7 but I don't like it, and frankly don't like sailing in that much wind in general.  "I'm rigging my 4.2" I proclaimed.   I love my 4.2 and 4.7...Naish Force sails balance well for me and make me happy.

"Look at Frank!  Frank's on a 4.0!" Scott said.

Frank was sailing inbound, totally sheeted out.   Frank is not like other windsurfers.  He is mighty.  If Frank was totally sheeted out on a 4.0, I would be spanked badly on my 4.2.   So I rigged the 3.7.

Meanwhile Christian...who had already rigged...was sitting in his shredmobile watching soccer on his phone.  "Football" he called it but whatever.  He didn't want to launch in the crazy wind.   Frank rigged down to a three meter sail.  John Nat put his wing away and rigged something small.

After much hemming hawing and avoiding I launched in the inlet.   The wind was blasting, but the current was going into the inner bay so it was hard to get going.   After two attempts to clear the inlet sailing westbound Jon Ford convinced me to shlep over to the beach side and launch from there.

I did. It worked.

But it was still too much wind.  Fully overpowered outbound I managed to hold it together, even catch some air.  Jibing was out of the question though.  Bear off?  Are you insane?   I did an alternative version of a laydown jibe (lay the sail into the water while sailing straight, then step off.  Turn everything around, waterstart.)   On the way back it was gust lull gust lull waves 2-3 feet and all crazy.   I got back to the beach and said I was done.    I was having no fun and afraid to get hurt, and if I left early I'd return for my anniversary dinner with time to spare.   Should have saved my driving day for Sunday, which is turning out better.

Dunzo.

(Photo:  Me just short of tailwalking, returning inbound.  Photo by Jonathan Ford.)

Puffins at Sebonac

Puffins at Sebonac Inlet?   The watermen?  The birds?  Yes to both!

With a supermoon high tide and up and down wind (I was on a 5.4 and 93 liters...powered then gagging, powered then gagging) the wingers were on the water first (John Nat and Christian, while Dan had been first and was already derigging) before Scott, Pav and I broke out sails, and some kiters weighed their launch options. 

There was some dredging going on by the little inlet to the east, turning the water their to muck, so we mostly sailed towards Meschutt, launching from the beach to the west of the road (the high tide was running up to the road on the eastern side so the usual launch was NG.)

I saw two or three puffins shoot out from the inner bay (Bullhead Bay)...it has been a few years since I've seen any so Hurray!    The puffins and maybe six runs was all I'd get out of the day before the wind dropped to send me derigging.  Still grateful for the water time!

Up and Down, On and Off

Met Scott at Sebonac.   The forecast resembled that of two weeks earlier, when building winds brought us from calm to blown off the water in a few hours, so expectations were high.   With maybe 10 mph breezes Scott was worried that he hadn't brought his 3.7, based on the readings he was getting from up island.  I felt the need to rig something, so I picked 4.7.  5.4 seemed like asking to get flattened, but Scott's anticipation of nukedom seemed overly optimistic.

I'd rigged correctly, kinda.

Whilst some wingers (including Christian, John Nat and Dan) were out for lighter breezes, I got going on the 4.7, with Scott soon behind me but not quite as lit (over the winter I lost weight...Scott not so much).  Good fun, but the lulls got bigger and bigger, and ultimately shut us down.

An hour later back at home it started blowing 30 on the bays.   I'd had half of a good day and was cool with it!

(Photo of me and Dan.  Dan is a former colleague of the Wolf, though Winging is his first wind/water combo sport!)

Blown Off The Water at Sebonac

It had been a year since I'd sailed my 77.   Someone said "check your footstraps for rot!"   I've never had gear go dry for that long!  The straps were fine.   I met Scott at Sebonac, where we were joined by Winger John Nat and another guy whose name I forgot but he used to work with the Wolf so he is automatically In.

Scott forgot his 4.2 ("I left it under my 5.8!" so he was in a pickle, as the winds built over two hours, but not gradually.  Ever so often it was as if a switch was thrown.  Me:  4.7 on the 93, 4.7 on the 77, 4.2 on the 77, and then in the middle of a run I (and everyone else) was flattened by a gust.  Liquid smoke.   I got back to the beach fully sheeted out, thinking my 3.4 was too big for what was blowing.   Everyone came in (John toughed it out for an five extra minutes) while sand blew down the road.

Derigged to a gorgeous sunset.

Hart's Cove Quicky

As I pulled up Scott and Joe Nat shouted "you killed the wind!"

I hate killing the wind.

They'd been on 5ish gear (Joe bigger, with a cammed slalom sail) before I got there, and were sailing lit.  We stared at the water for half an hour, with me halfheartedly rigging my 5.4, when it came back up.   I caught maybe 30 minutes of nice wind, and in my recovery from a year of practically no sailing I managed not to fall (my jibes are still shite however).   Then it started to rain, and as we didn't want to get wet we left.

Nice little sesh.