The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Caught in the Fog at New Suffolk

Note to self: don't combine the following:

Unfamiliar waters.
Power boats charging through a narrow channel with strong currents.
Fog.
Nightfall.

It started out as a low-key little session: Jeff and I were driving around the North Fork hoping to catch some of the late day wind forecasted by iWindsurf. South Jamesport wasn't happening, so we decided to take a look at New Suffolk, where neither of us had ever sailed (though it's heartily recommended by Jon Ford, The Wolf and others for the chop potential on southerlies during incoming tides.) We got there around 5PM, and there were barely enough whitecaps to inspire rigging. But the tide was in our favor, so I volunteered to be wind dummy. On a 7.0 and my JP 109, I got planing in the side-on wind. Jeff soon followed.

The virtues of the spot soon became obvious. With about an eighth of a mile between the launch and the northern tip of Robins Island, there's a bit of wind tunnel effect, and the narrow straight (called the North Race) gets quite a strong current rushing through. Tide against wind really kicks up the chop in the channel (dredged through the middle of the Race for boats to navigate,) and just past that there's an excellent flatwater section, complete with jibatorium next to a large sand spit. Once you're upwind of the channel you can reach back and forth to your heart's content, with not too much boat traffic in the mix.

As the wind came up we began to have more and more fun, reasonably powered on our big sails, even getting air (Jeff said "I was getting air when I wasn't planing!" so big was some of the chop.) A light fog started to reduce visibility to a few hundred yards (which seemed like plenty as long as we stayed out of the channel,) and coupled with the lowering sun I wanted to suggest to Jeff that perhaps we sail shorter runs closer to the sand bar. But we were always sailing at each other, and when I failed to get the message across as I headed for the sand bar and he back out into the chop field, I decided to pull up and wait.

That's when the big fog rolled in.

Okay, it's time to go in. Where are you, Jeff? One minute goes by. Two minutes go by. Five minutes. The shore, just a few hundred yards downwind, is not visible. Come on, Jeff...we're just going to look out for boats, bear off sharply, spot land whereever, jibe and broad reach back to the launch.

Ten minutes have elapsed, but no sign of Jeff. Now I'm beginning to worry. It's getting dark, and the fog is still coming in. Behind the sand bar I now see some powerboats lining up to navigate the channel single file, with full lights on. They're worried about hitting other boats. There is no way they are going to see a down windsurfer in this. My own gear this day is entirely black and white...not a drop of color to catch a vigilant captain's eye. And where is Jeff?

Maybe he's out there in trouble. More likely he jibed on the outside, saw how blind the reach was back to the sand bar, and just hugged the beach on a broad reach back to wait for me on the shore. Or maybe he's trying to make it back to the sand bar because even sailing blind, a beam reach will get him here.

Fifteen minutes now and I'm getting worried for myself as well as Jeff. I write him a big note in the sand ("JEFF I WENT IN") and launch. Given the angles I've got to broad reach about 500 yards to cross the channel and get to safe shoreside water.

Immediately a twenty-foot speedboat comes through...I have to round up to avoid getting in his path. Between the fog and the darkness I can't see through my sail to tell if another boat is coming, so I nearly tack to take a look around the sail. Clear (I think.) Bear off once again. I'm in the footstraps, planing blind (fully powered). Between having no visual references at all, fear for myself, the chop in the channel, and worrying what I'll do if Jeff isn't at the beach, the sailing is hard. I beared off even more, both to lighten the sail and to get across the channel as quickly as possible, nearly overdoing it and falling. But I didn't fall, I didn't get hit by a boat, and all of a sudden I saw some houses just 100 yards in front of me. I jibed and sailed back to the launch beach. Jeff wasn't there, neither was his gear. His van was. So he was still out on the water.

My mind is racing now. Given the situation, maybe Jeff did what I did, and just sailed downwind blind until he came to shore, and is now walking back half a mile down the beach. Maybe he's looking for me. Maybe he got hit by a boat. I walked down the beach in the direction I think Jeff would have headed, but after a minute I had a clear enough view of a long stretch of beach to see that nobody was walking on it, nor was anybody sailing near shore.

I am now swearing up a storm. I'm shouting "Jeff!" into the fog (been doing this for quite awhile) which is ridiculous given the wind noise. Walking back my plan is to find someone with a boat...he's got to be just lost out there, and we'll find him before the Coast Guard gets here...when for one second I see a mast tip flying through the fog. Huge relief! Jeff is on his board! But doing what? He was headed back to the sand bar as best I could tell. When he gets there and sees I'm gone, he will surely head in, if he's not already trying to. I planted myself on the shore and waited...at least now I can keep an eye open for boats coming through, and worst come to worst if he gets hit I may be able to tell and to do something. I hope.

A few minutes later Jeff came downwind through the fog, just 100 yards from the launch.

My cell phone was ringing in the van. My neighbors were worried...it was dark, it was foggy, I hadn't shown up for the lovely dinner they had invited me to, and they knew I'd gone sailing. My wife is traveling, and I later told her the "light" version of this story. But she reads the Puffin, and will probably slap me upside the head at her earliest convenience. I'm supposed to avoid dangerous situations. The truth is we had no idea it could go wrong so quickly.

New Suffolk is a good spot to windsurf. But I'll only return with more people, and much earlier in the day. As for fog, I'll be getting my tail off the water pronto the next time the mist starts rolling in anywhere other than an enclosed playpen like Mecox. Jeff and I have had good fun in the fog there, except for the shotguns..

Rail Riding with Pierre

Pierre, our old-school freestyle man from Down Under who spins tricks from twenty years ago on gear from twenty years ago (previously featured in Freestyle Move of the Day) reached out to the Peconic Puffin with this quick tutorial for getting up on the rail. Check it out!

Pierre notes that his longboard "cost me $25 in a yard sale. Back in Sydney, I sail more wave-oriented gear, but hey, I'm having a ball." I spent $100 on my Superlight (would have spent $200). I meet the occasional skeptic, but they're usually cured by spending five minutes on the board, which has guaranteed grin-inducing qualities.

So...get thee on a longboard and have fun!

For Bill and the Kona Crew

A few Konas have been appearing at lightwind sessions this year. So for Bill and all the other guys who declare "it's Kona time!" here's a Kona performance clip that I just swiped from The Horse's Mouth.

Ponquogue Wave Video, Brought To You By Jeff

Today I'm missing a fine day at Ponquogue, stuck in the city managing a minor thing called my career. There's no doubt that work is a hindrance to windsurfing! But I can take a moment and imagine what it's like, by checking out a fine video produced by Jeff, taken during during a recent sesh with Jeff's girlfriend Chiaying as cinematographer.

Watch Jeff earn his first reach. See the Wolf and all of the Eastern Long Island guys named John work our local water. Catch glimpses of me when I wasn't being worked in the impact zone. If you like your images still, check out this selection on Jeff's Flickr site.

Sebonac Saturday...October Comes Early

High winds for a second day in August...and this time on a Saturday! It was quite the rare treat, and so the end of Sebonac Inlet Road was packed with shredmobiles in the morning, with WNW winds kicking up the good chop at low tide. Bill, Jason, Jeff, John, John, Jon, Scott and many others were ripping it up, and unless you were a big boy, you were on something like a 4.7 (I was overpowered on a 5.0...should have rigged down.) As I was leaving a guy showed up with an early 90's Fanatic and matching multicam race sail...the day's wind treat seemed to bring out everyone who could lay their hands on some high-wind gear.
(For some fine photography of this and many other Peconic windsurfing events, check out Peconic Jeff's Flickr page.)

SPECIAL TREAT: PECONIC BLOGGER SUMMIT!

While Windsurfing the East End and The Peconic Puffin have been yammering about the eastern Long Island windsurfing scene collectively for almost two years, nobody has managed to snap a photo of the two bloggers together for all that time (perhaps nobody cared.)

Until now.

(Top photo: The Wolf: "This is pretty frickin' great for August!" Bill: "It sure isn't Kona Time!"
Bottom photo: Jeff and Michael, guilty as charged.
Photos by Tyler...Happy Birthday Tyler!)

The Windsurfing Movie: One Night Only in Southampton

You know you want to see it on a big screen...here's our chance. Jace Panebianco returns to his home town for the premiere (maybe we'll get some wind and he'll return to his home waters as well!)

When: Saturday, September 1, 2007
6.00 PM (Doors open 5.45)

Where: Southampton Cultural Center
25 Pond Lane, Southampton

Tickets must be purchased in advance. Seating is limited. Tickets, directions and other details can be found here.

and the winner is...NOAA!

Checking back in with iWindsurf's predictions for today from two days ago vs NOAA:

IWindsurf said NW flow (the chart showed 15 knots declining towards noon) fades into the afternoon hours.

While NOAA said: NW winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 k

After blowing NW 25 gusting to 35, at 5:15pm it's still blowing 20 (gusting to 25.) iWindsurf called for a windsurfless day.

I began this comparison in the previous post because it's become increasingly apparent that iWindsurf fails to predict many sailable days. Weather forecasting is obviously subject to some extraordinary variables, but does NOAA get it right for Long Island more than iWindsurf does? And if so, shouldn't iWindsurf do something about it?



.

Does that look like 15 knots fading early to you? It was strictly 4.5-5.0 at Sebonac Inlet.

iWindsurf vs NOAA: The Saturday Forecast

(bell rings five times)
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...in this corner, we have iWindsurf...they've got the anemometers, they've got the specialists, and they've many of our credit cards (and bill us a pretty penny.)

In the other corner we have NOAA...the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (or something like that)...the FED of weather. They have robots that speak on the radio, and they invented the small craft advisory.

Who will win in the call for Saturday in Peconica?

IWindsurf says:

NW flow fades into the afternoon hours.

NOAA counters:

NW winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt.

Check back Saturday to see who got it right!

South Jamesport Gets Rampilicious

There are days when South Jamesport seems the best of all bay worlds. On southerlies, the reach is on flat shallow water, followed by well organized ramps, followed by shallow flats again. On those days it's practically dainty (except that you can get 6 feet of air.) But on other days the ramps don't show up. Jeff and I have been working to decode the conditions in which the ramps may be looked for. We got them today, and the formula is simple: Incoming tide, halfway through the rising tide cycle, when waterflow against wind is the fastest.

(Here's a good site with tides for South Jamesport.)

We had a great time at South Jamesport today, with everybody sailing something between a 5.0 and 5.5. The Wolf and I arrived first and caught the best of the ramps, followed by the arrival of Scott, Diane, Marni, John H, and Bill as the ramps lessened (Jeff couldn't make it.) For myself I was catching lots of Long Air...not such big height, but lots of horizontal flight. You've all seen that unbelievably long jump by Robbie Naish in the R.I.P. video? My jumps did not look like that. But one or two of them felt like it.

Can't wait for the next southerly at SJ.

(Top photo: Van der Wolf flashes his signature hand-drag jibe.
Bottom photo: "No more girly sails" Marni holding down as much monofilm as the guys.)

So Long, "Still Can't Gybe"

When I started the blog version of The Peconic Puffin I was determined to link to as many windsurfing blogs as possible. Some bloggers like to keep their blogrolls small, but my feeling was that windsurfing is a small sport to begin with, so anyone who is windsurfing and taking the time to blog about it, I'll link to them.

Without a doubt the favorite blog name I found in my first searches was Still Can't Gybe. Who doesn't love that name? Before you even see his site you know a lot about him, you know what it's like to be him! I immediately added him to my list of windsurfing blogs.

While I've been weeding the list periodically (as some sites have either layed dormant or gone months at a time with nothing about windsurfing) I've always held on to Still Can't Gybe, despite the fact that he hasn't posted since January. I comment on his site "Hey...write something!" and he says "soon". But he just doesn't post. Did he learn to gybe? I don't think so.

Now the day has come. He's out of the Puffin. He's out until he's back on the water and talking about it. Maybe he'll come back with " My Gybe is Rubbish". I just look forward to his return.

When Is It Too Light For Nonplaning Practice?

When the water is this glassy, there is no windsurfing to be done. That the egret can see its reflection in the water is one thing. That I can see its reflection from 50 yards away is quite another.

This is Davis Creek. I will go out in as little as four knots and freestyle on this water. There should always be at least four knots of wind. Ideally there should always be twenty, but I feel reasonable complaining about the lack of four.

Ponquogue Again

Bill is back from an extended work trip to Puerto Rico. Saying "welcome back etc" to him I pointed out that he'd only missed one good day. "That was here, right?"

Right he was. For only the second day of serious wind in a month, it was a return to Ponquogue. Side-shore sailing in ENE, though it was light on the inside, and the biggest gusts seemed to prefer the waters on the far outside. We had a nice sized crowd, including all the usual guys named John, Scott, Bill, George, and Jeff. Sailors started on 5.4-6.2 sails, though by the time I left mid-afternoon (overpowered on a 5.0) sails in the mid-fours were being rigged.

I personally had a less than stellar day at Ponquogue. Aside from getting more than my share of rejection from the beach break, it just was not my day to shine. Most memorable highlight: I charged an eye-high wave in pursuit of a big jump, but got there a teense too late: The nose of my board stuck in the lip as it began to break, but the rest of the board (and me) continued to swing up as if the nose was hinged to the top of the wave. Looking "forward", I nevertheless found myself staring straight down...sail fully sheeted in....and did a power dive into the back of the wave. I still remember a split second of confusion when I saw the ocean perpendicular to the board...I'd never been in that position with any altitude before.

Happily there was little pain at impact.

Beach break may be exhausting and humiliating, but for those of us less accomplished at getting through it, it also leaves us still wanting to windsurf after several hours of runs and rejection. So when Ponquogue got particularly trying at high tide (and with the wind still coming up) Jeff and I headed over to North Sea Road for some relatively calm Peconic action. It was nice, it was managable, it was warm, but it wasn't the ocean.

I'd trade a day at North Sea Road for an hour at Ponquogue any time.

(Top Photo: Sailor outbound at Ponquogue. Chiaying)
Bottom Photo: The editor in between waves. Chiaying)

The Electric Kool-Aid Racing Test

Am I a bigger fan of the race, or the poster?

The art is by Brian McDougal. Beautiful!

Follow the racing action in the blogs of Steve Bodner and Andreas Macke. Also check out US Windsurfing for the official take.

Classic Freestyle at Pro Kids Bonaire Event

Reading through the results of the 2007 Pro Kids freestyle competition in Bonaire, I was happy to see a listing for "Classic Freestyle." I love watching and trying the new school moves, but in truth I'm probably more stoked about nonplaning freestyle..."classic" as some of this stuff dates to the days before planing, and if it's possible to get radical in 8 knots, count me in!

I was also happy to see the winners list:

1st Place: Caesar Finies
2nd Place Andy Brandt
3rd Place: Brian Talma

Caeser Finies is a common site to visitors to Bonaire's Lac Bay, and he's also been popping up on YouTube in some tremendous nonplaning freestyle clips. My two favorites are below.

Andy Brandt is not only chief instructor/guru/master of ceremonies/owner of ABK Boardsports windsurfing clinics, but he's also been enthusiastically turning people on to nonplaning freestyle for over a decade, both as an enjoyable windsurfing activity for its own sake, as well as an invaluable way to hone technique and instincts needed to rip when it's blowing 25. I'm particularly glad he came in second place. Andy takes great personal pleasure in tormenting me at clinics, and I know he really wanted to win. So: great job, Andy...you almost did it!

You already know who Brian Talma is. I got to meet him when he MC'd the 2001 King of the Cape Freestyle Pro-Am. This guy can generate more enthusiasm for falling off of a board than the rest of us can about nailing a quadruple loop. He's a gift to windsurfing (as are all these guys.)

Come learn classic and new-school freestyle on Long Island at the September 21st ABK Clinic at Napeague. Special added bonus for Puffin detractors: See me get tortured by Andy for my second place wishes!)

(Photo: Andy works with a student on "sail chi". If you can control the rig from behind the clew, you're on your way to duck tacking. Photo by Jeff.)

Peconic Jeff Reveals Secret Spot!

This spring, Peconic Jeff invited the editor of The Peconic Puffin to a beautiful sailing spot on Peconic waters. But he forebade the Puffin from adding the spot to the Long Island Windsurfing Map and swore us to secrecy.

The Puffin has kept troth with the oath. (Sailing superstitions and all that...)

But now Jeff has revealed the spot! In a post on iWindsurf.com Jeff calls attention to Red Cedar Point! And then he links to a map he's made of the waters!

By all standards of Long Island windsurfing journalism the Puffin should now be free to add Red Cedar Point to the map.

But we swore an oath. And as I already borrow liberally (steal) from Jeff's photo collections, I decided to ask him. He has released me from my vow of secrecy, and so RCP is now on the map. But be warned: There are no legitimate ways to get to Red Cedar Point by land. You must sail to it. X marks the spot...

(Top photo: Jeff gives the thumbs up to reveal Red Cedar Point, as he sails to its secret shore.
Middle photo: Back when it was a secret, a stowaway managed to get on Jeff's board. We fear the young lass was forced to walk the plank.
Bottom photo: The skull and crossbones, as displayed on the editor's wave board. We take our sailing oaths seriously.)