Bizzaro weather? We'll take it!
Recent prayers for wind were answered yesterday and the high wind gear came out as we were treated to a big NE blow...rare for this time of year. The phone tree went off early, and by 10AM there was quite a crew at Ponquogue, featuring about five guys named John, Jeff, Jimi Sobeck, Fisherman Bill, and the triumphant return to the ocean of Scott. It was 4.7-5.4 depending on your displacement, but after a few hours the rising tide made the beach break untenable.*
So we packed up and drove a mile down the beach to The Bowl.
The Bowl was light on shore break, and light on wind until the end of the jetty, but once clear it was all power (I was shlogging on the inside while Fisherman...Mr. Efficiency...had a laugh as he planed by, filling me with "curse you Red Baron" thoughts.) Still, it was sweet on the outside.
It turns out that Jeff (my partner in learning to sail the ocean) had never received the "be careful of the inlet" lecture for The Bowl, which states that if you sail too close to the jetty and fall, you will be sucked clear through the inlet until you land on a sand bar somewhere in Shinnecock Bay. So of course Jeff sailed too close, fell, and then fought a fine battle in which he barely managed to escape.
That was Jeff's lesson. Mine involved learning why I should not jump fully powered unless I'm ripping. In a misguided attempt at moderation while overpowered I went off a wave slowly, got about four feet up in the air, at which time the sail loaded up and hurled me into an excellent nose-first power dive.
Time to rig the 4.5!
After a few hours playing at the Bowl, the consensus was that the shorebreak back at Ponquogue (which has better waves) should now be manageable, and so once again everyone packed up and headed back, where we got about 45 good minutes before the wind died. It should be noted that John "The Wolf" sailed just about every minute of the day.
(Top photo by Jeff: Guys getting to the good wind, The Bowl.
Puffin photo: John Van der Wolf finally gets out of the water.
Bottom photo by Jeff: The Wolf, outbound, approaches the editor inbound at The Bowl.)
(*I know..."untenable" is a bullshit word for a windsurfing blog. I'm still working out the kinks.)
A 4.5 in July, most excellent!! Congrats on a great day and thanks for sharing.
Posted by: wind.sh@dow | July 25, 2007 at 01:36 PM
About an hour away Gardiners bay was blowing strong from the north east and the early birds caught the entire outgoing tide cycle with big smooth swells. I sailed a 4.2 and a 3.8! Nice treat. Glad you guys got some too.
Posted by: Frank | July 25, 2007 at 06:25 PM
3.8! Once again we confirm that Napeague usually gets 5 more knots on north east than the rest of the island. Nice.
Posted by: Michael | July 26, 2007 at 08:34 AM