The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Almost Lost At Demo: The mikedabaker Story

I've heard quite a few Long Island windsurfers rave about the wavesailing at Democrat Point, or “Demo”, on the western tip of Fire Island.   But every time I hear talk about Demo, invariably there's also a story about someone getting into a jam...if the wind drops or your gear breaks, word is that the currents will take you to Portugal.  I asked about this in the Long Island Windsurfing Forum, where (along with encouragement to try sailing Demo) I was told that I needed to read the story of "mikedabaker".

I read it.

Wow.   It is as vivid a description of a windsurfer in trouble on the water as I have ever read.   I asked Michael “mikedabaker” Vitti if I could run his story in this blog, just to share it with a few more people.   Mike graciously said yes, so here it is.

(Note: People I've spoken with who know Mike have stressed to me that he's an exceptionally fit athlete and surfer.  In other words, a less fit and wave-savvy windsurfer might not have made it.)

Mike's story:

Oct 13, 2004, 2:00PM.   I got to the beach and the wind had just lightened up.   I waited.  Soon the sun came out and the wind picked up and the sand was blowing.   Ran back to my van and rigged the trusty 4.7 and the 99 liter board.

Decided not to wear the dry suit as my plan was to make this a quickie session, so I put on my wetsuit.  I was kind of tired from doing trail work the previous morning and sailing all Saturday afternoon but those waves looked juicy and I wanted a piece of them.

I sailed straight out, making a bee line for the outer sand bar,  jumping all the way.   As I approached the impact zone I noticed it looked really gnarly, and contemplated jibing away from them and heading for the inside bar at Cedar Beach.

As fate would have it I decided to go for it.  Since the wind was side off the waves were really hollow, and I spotted some really vertical ramps to send me skyward.  These combined with the incredible speed I was traveling made it seem like I was getting launched into orbit.

I jibed outside and came into the breaking waves for some down the line sailing.  Caught two good rides then suddenly I fell in trying to escape the froth of a previously broken wave.  I gathered my gear together to position myself for water starting, then turned to look into the mouth of a freak rogue hollow wave that was sucking and about to dump right on me.   As I was sucked into the mouth of the beast I held tight prepared for the mother of all Nantucket sleigh rides.

I had one hand on my foot strap and one hand on the end of my boom as I went through the rinse cycle.  It felt like my arms were about to get twisted and ripped off so I let go and tumbled along hoping my board wouldn't get too far away. I popped up and swam for my board as fast as I could before another wave came to clean me up.

I quickly assumed the water start position and out of the corner of my eye I saw a slight looseness to the sail and figured oh well, I got another hole in the sail.  “That's good.” I thought, because I was overpowered anyway, but upon closer inspection I saw the whole panel was gone.  “No big deal,” I thought, I'll just luff/limp back in with whatever is left of the top and bottom of the sail.

As I tried to waterstart again I noticed something looked really wrong with this sail.  I waited for a lull in the waves constantly breaking on my head to finally get a good look.   Crap!   The whole sail was ripped straight across the top of the boom, including the heavy fabric seam along the clew edge.

Okay, that sail is useless.  I laid the mast on the tail of the board and started paddling towards shore.  45 minutes later I realize I'm not making any headway.   I'm still in the impact zone and getting pummeled.

Okay this is a bit more serious than I had thought.   Time to get rid of the sail which was now acting as a sea anchor.  Time to take everything apart in between wave impacts and slip the sail off the mast.   Said a few words to my old faithful friend…"adios amigo" as i watched the sail head south in the outgoing current.  

And speaking of outgoing current, I was not far behind.

I was close to the fishing boat when this all happened, but now I was pretty far away. I saw a windsurfer sail out to just about where I was and I gave a wave indicating I was okay and he jibed and headed away. I kind of figured the Coast Guard was going to be called due to my predicament.

Now I am out past the outer sand bar, and I quickly put my one piece mast on top of my board along with my boom, then I climbed on top and started to paddle more earnestly without stopping as I knew I had to get in front of the breaking waves so they could help push me towards shore.

My first attempts at riding the bigger waves in towards shore ended in complete failure as my gear and I were tossed about.  Trying to belly ride my board with the one-piece mast and boom on those huge waves you see out by the buoys was a ridiculous attempt in futility.

Numerous times I was separated from my gear and eventually I told my mast and boom goodbye.   But every time I got rid of them they would float back to me like scared little kittens wanting to come back on board.  “All right, I'll take you along for a little while but if you start to screw things up for me...your outta here!”

As I drifted along I never saw land getting any closer. I was only able to stay in the outside sand bar's breaking waves.  As I neared the second buoy…a red one…I decided to tell my mast and boom to get the hell out of here.  I just couldn't ride the waves in with that mast hanging to one side as it would always turn me to the side and I'd roll sideways and capsize.

But they always floated back to me...get the hell outta here!   I gave in as I was adding up the replacement costs.  But I vowed to ditch them if I was still swimming past sunset. I had my eye on the Fire Island lighthouse and was glad to have that beacon to guide me in when it got dark.

Finally I learned how to ride the waves in and adjust for the mast hanging off the end of my board.   Now I had my sights set on demo.  Paddling a little more seriously with head down and deep strokes, I tried to get close enough to catch a big outside set to push me in closer.

I'm close now as I could see the jetty.   Suddenly I felt the ocean falling beneath me and looked behind me to see the mother of all waves about to break behind me.  I quickly shimmied my weight to the back of the board to prevent pearling and felt a rush of white water crash upon my back.  I had a death grip on the rails of my board because if I lost the board out here I would be pulled out to sea again with no floatation and that would be really bad.

It was quite a ride in, bouncing along with the white water and steering myself from a wipe out.  Soon the wave flattened out and I schooched forward to drive the nose of the board down the face of the wave so I could keep this ride going.  Now I'm heading straight for the rocks of the jetty but I'm not going to let this wave go.  I'll smash right into the rocks if I have to.
 
The wave reformed and I steered the rig to the left but the waved jacked and dumped me off. I surfaced after going through the turmoil and my gear was gone.  The current was pulling me out and I'm swimming towards shore hoping for another wave to push me in.   I turned around and saw another big one behind me. I was able to swim fast enough to catch it and body surf in, finally touching the sand but only getting sucked out for another tumble. One more wave pushed me in and I happily was finally walking on sand.  I ran down the beach and gathered up my gear, then looked back at Overlook. I saw a boat coming out of the inlet with flashing lights and figured it was the Coast Guard. I knew I needed to contact them to call off the search so I ran down to a fisherman and asked him if he had a cell phone to call the Coast Guard and call off a search for me.  "Where did you come from?" he said  "Out there" I pointed.
 
They wouldn't call off the search until they verified that I was the right person they were looking for.  After they determined I was the right person they asked how I was going to get back and I said I guess I'm walking.  They offered to send a car...like I'm going to say no?
 
I looked over at Overlook again and I saw tons of flashing lights on the beach....I was like uh oh...this is turning into a big thing.   Next I see a Suffolk police helicopter and another smaller coast guard boat. I noticed that the Coast Guard cutter first went to the last place I was seen and traveled the same route I had drifted and was soon off Demo searching.

Boy these guys know there stuff...I would have thought to look elsewhere due to the current.

Finally I see an ATV and two police vehicles coming down the beach and I was offered a ride.   I apologized for getting everyone involved but they were glad that I was found alive.   It doesn't always work out that way.

Lessons learned:

-Sail with a buddy

-Use one of the strobe lights that strap to your arm. I had mine in my van...it works better if you actually wear it.   The waves were 6-9 feet and you're not visible without the strobe light.

-Stay in shape or stay near the shore.  That was one long paddle...about two and a half hours of non stop paddling in addition to the numerous wipeouts.
 
-Offshore or sideshore winds will make it difficult or impossible to swim back.  Combine that with an out going current and you have a deadly combination.

Thanks to Stan and Lou for making the right decision to call the Coast Guard if I was out for a longer period of time it would be good to have that back up especially if it were after dark.
 
I've already started to write a thank you letter to the Suffolk Marine Police and Coast Guard."

*****

(Three years later it's still a vivid memory for Mike.  After reading an advance copy of this post he wrote the following:)

" The waves that day were about logo to mast high on the outside. Water temps were in the low to mid fifties. Air temps were upper fifties. I made it back to the beach just before sunset.

I was very strongly motivated to reach the beach on my own power, after I saw the helicopters and coast guard boats. I thought they would charge me for the rescue! How dumb was that?

Also an interesting side note:

I wore my light weight wet suit so it would make me colder faster and force me to only have a quickie session...because...I was supposed to pick up my kids from school and I didn't want to be late! If i was snug and warm in my drysuit...I wouldn't want to cut my session short.

Because I never showed up to pick up my kids at school...it set off a whole chain of phone calls, which reached my wife who happened to be on a business trip....I WAS BUSTED!

Instead of being glad to find out I was still alive...my wife didn't speak to me for a week!  My kids were used to it though cause I've arrived to pick them up from school late and still in my wetsuit several times. Once I had to go to the principal's office in my wetsuit to pick up the kids, who were being entertained by the office staff."

(Aside from being an avid windsurfer and surfer, Michael Vitti is the president of CLIMB (Concerned Long Island Mountain Bikers) and is busy building mountain bike trails and a BMX tracks. He helped lobby successfully to get the first mountain bike trails in New York City parks. Mike says "These parks had a problem with heroin and crack addicts. We're changing the predominant use in these parks from one type of junkie for adrenaline junkies!"   Check out CLIMBonline.org Mike was once a baker at a health food store, and was known to show up at sessions with muffins to share.)

(photos of Mike on better days courtesy Ely Spivack, and h2omen.com.)

One-Handed Nose-Spin Fill-In-The-Blank

Let's see...could that be ME?   No, it could not...my hair doesn't look anywhere near as good when wet.   That could be Mike Burns at Hecksher, though.

(Photo by Bill Doutney)

When Blogs Collide

I met a fellow blogger today.   That’s excitement in my book (I need a better book, I know.)   Really and truly, though, getting to talk face to face with someone I’ve been trading comments with for months or years is cool.

Windsurfing bloggers are gregarious and make an effort to meet.   I’ve connected with OBX Bill and Lost In Hatteras Andy with ease, and had to screw up pretty badly to miss meeting Mac of Water Turtle and Catapulting Aaron.    (Drysuit2 Frank and Peconic Jeff I knew pre-blog.)

But the sailboat bloggers are cut from different stuff.

Their blogs are fun to read (they have so many exotic topics to explore…”vang tension”?) but the bloggers themselves like their privacy.   The sailboat crowd generally doesn’t let you get too close.   They think they’re so damn superior…

So when I received an email from Adam of Messing About in Sailboats it was a pleasant surprise.    First we went back and forth about PJ Harvey (for his “Songs for Friday” series)   then a bit about work (we’re vaguely in the same field) and then lunch came up (we’re both working in NYC).

So we did it.   It was great fun…the best part being all the trash talking we did about The Horse's Mouth Joe and the Tillerman and Frogma Bonnie Bonnie Bonnie…*

(* I would never trash talk Bonnie Bonnie Bonnie.   Besides, she’s a kayak and cucumber blogger and is perfectly sociable.  Furthermore Joe and Lord Tillerman have been quite generous to the Puffin, so any bad behaviour towards them on my part is inexcusable.   It wouldn't be the first time...)

Pray for Wind, 2008

It's been over three weeks since we've had a good day of wind.   There have been a few moments where if you were in the right place at the right time (I was not) you got it for an hour or two, but a righteous session on sails other than our largest is way past due on Long Island.

Ya Ain't Seen Nuthin Till Ya Sailin' On A MuFin

(to the tune of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way")

"Backside ridin' through the waves you be glidin'

then you jibe, say your fin's okay,

But ya ain't seen nothin' till ya cut back on a MuFin
Then you're sure to be a changin' your ways..."
 

The MuFin...a wave fin that doesn't look like a wave fin.   James has the story.

In Desperation, I Drive 54 Miles For A Few Hours of Marginal Planing

It had been 16 days since I planed at all.  21 days since both feet were in the footstraps.   Hecksher Park is not close (whether I'm in the city or in Peconica) but since it always has the best odds of getting some thermals, I planned to go.  Got a call from Peconic Jeff, who was also losing his mind from lack of planing.   He wanted to go to Hecksher too, but then the Cable Guys screwed him up and he had to stay home.

Poor bastard.

Anyhow The King of The East said there would be thermals, so  to Hecksher I went...where a dozen or so people (including King Mike, Frank, Ira, George Marr and other faces from the festival) were on the water, mostly planing.   I had a good time on a 6.2 for a few hours...not ripping, but getting enough jibe and trick attempts in to feel like I'd done some windsurfing.

I'm still parched, but I'm not gonna die of deprivation just yet, and they're calling for some breeze on Sunday...

For The Windstarved: A Little Wave Sailing Video

Nothing fancy...just a day I would love to have right now.   Thanks to Chiaying for suggesting the video.  Skip the first 30 seconds to get out on the water.

 

How Well Do You Check Your UJ?

I worry about gear breaking...in particular anything that would leave me unable to sail back to shore, and expecially anything that might separate me from my board (perhaps you caught my rant about two bolt bases.)   I've been fairly lucky in regards to uni breakage (it's only happened to me once...my safety line held, and I didn't trash the deck sailing back to shore) and I inspect my uni's regularly, but after reading a post by Andreas Macke about how he found quite the crack in a tendon, I need to improve my inspection technique.

Check out his story and see for yourself.

(Photo of Andreas' torn UJ swiped from his blog, G-42.)

Rent Windsurfing Equipment at Napeague

No gear?  No problem.  Get thee to Napeague and hook up with Windsurfing Hamptons' trailer.  Here's the word from WH's Jonathan Ford:

Jake is our employee who will always be on the beach with the trailer, and we'll have other instructors rotating through as necessary.   All new gear in the trailer - boards and sails of all sizes, along with SUP boards. Instruction as well as gear rental is available for all levels for both windsurfing and stand up paddling.   Anyone interested in lessons or rentals will want to book in advance either through the website or call the shop (631-283-9463).  Booking in advance is key to availability, particularly when the forecast is good!   Here are the links for renting equipment and booking a lesson.

The Puffin often receives inquiries about where good windsurfing equipment can be had near good sailing waters.   This is a primo opportunity for everyone from beginners to jibemasters.  Just add wind.

Junior Windsurfing Championship On Martha's Vineyard in July

The Great and Powerful Nevin Sayre (US-9) informs the Puffin of a junior windsurfing event on Cape Caahd, July 16-19.   Thus spake Nevin: 

 
"The East Coast Junior Champs will be hosted by the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club on Martha’s Vineyard, MA.   This is also a U.S. Sailing Junior Olympic event, and is broken down into Under 19, Under 17, Under 15, and Under 12 age groups.   The event is really kicking into high gear with junior windsurfers already registered from as far away as California and Florida.  Up and coming junior windsurfers from the East Coast Champs may be eligible for grant funding to the 2009 North American Championships (likely in San Francisco).

July 16 will kick off the action with an optional windsurf/racing clinic to improve your skills.   This is a free opportunity to learn from a team of multiple national windsurfing champions.  July 17-18 will be the Junior Championship held on beautiful Vineyard Haven Harbor.  Vineyard Haven is the breeding ground of such prominent windsurfers as Seth Besse, the Douglas Brothers, Nacy and Platt Johnson, and yours truly.  On July 19 there is also a separate Long Distance Race open to all ages and all equipment as part of the Vineyard Cup (www.VineyardCup.com).  Junior competition will be held on Techno 293 One Designs with charter boards available on a reservation basis.   Per USWA guidelines, there are maximum sail sizes for the different age groups.  Limited housing is also available.  More information is available at www.vhyc.org.

What’s great about this windsurfing regatta is that all ability levels are welcome.  There are kids who’s main goal is to make it around the course for the first time, and other kids who are eager to strut their stuff.  We break it down into different divisions and the kids inspire each other.  Any one who can make it to the windward mark is qualified.  This will likely be the largest group of junior windsurfers in the U.S. in one place at one time, and there is a pioneering spirit that makes it super fun for all the kids.  If that's not enough reason to come, we are investing in a dvd of the event to promote junior windsurfing.  You could be a staaah!"

(You just know that Nevin is hoping their little shindig goes off as well as Long Island's finest.  We wish them well!)
 

Jonas Ceballos Attempts Orbital Flight, Splashes Down

How high would you say that jump is? Taking a wild guess (and estimating that the mast of the sailor on the water is a 400cm...13 feet) I'm thinking Jonas Ceballos has about 28 feet of air under the tail of his board. I particularly like the acceleration he achieves about half way through the jump. I suppose the winds pick up once you're in the jet stream.

Final East Coast Windsurfing Festival Item (We Promise)

As the glow from last weekend is just beginning to wear off, I have three things on my mind.   The first is to thank and share the names of the key people who made the event happen.  So thank you:

Mike Burns:  Organizer, and King of the East!

Thom Hering:  Organizer, and King of the Mic.

Sonny:  Official Timekeeper.

Joe Natalie:  Race Commitee, and generous provider of the safety boat. 

Jill Marr:  Official Scorekeeper. 

Bill Doutney:  Official Photographer.

Warren Anderson (of Bestway Tools) donated the custom screwdrivers.

Dan Lefkowitz provided flags, racing marks and ground tackle.

Ocean Air provided the GPS units and demo sails.
Lee Owens designed the logo and trophies.

Joe and Dave at the Parks department for their support.

Everyone who showed up to participate in the event.    Windsurfers are great people, and the sport attracts great people.   I was particularly in awe of all the folks who had never raced in their lives, who didn't really know how to go about it, but then proceeded to race.  Again and again and again.  It made me grin like an idiot (okay, more like an idiot.

The second thing on my mind in the 2009 East Coast Windsurfing Festival.  I'm told it's going to happen, and that it's going to be bigger an better than this year's, yet with all the charm and fun of our inaugural.
If you have ideas for what would be great to add or change, please leave your thoughts here (or tell His Lordship Mike Burns King of the East, or Thom, if you know them.)

The third item is figuring out how to beat Pete!

(Here are two bonus thoughts for you:  People did very well in the racing with 20+ year old longboards!  So if you have such a thing in your garage (I literally dug mine out from beneath a brushpile) dust it off and get it into halfway decent shape.  Also note that there is "vintage longboard racing" scheduled for August on the Great Peconic...contact Windsurfing Hamptons for details.

The other bonus thought is to note the observation made by George Marr (current front page star of New England Windsurfing Journal, and husband of Queen of the East Jill Marr) before the freestyle "sports" finals:  All the competitors were graduates of ABK freestyle clinics.   Freestyle is easier than it looks, and a lot of fun, and ABK makes it easy to learn.   There will be an ABK Freestyle clinic this September (9/19-21) out at Napeague...come check it out.   There is also a "regular" ABK clinic the week before which will include some freestyle instruction.)



(Photos by Bill Doutney)

The Horror. The Horror. 1979 Windsurfing Fashion Flashback

From down under we are presented with this photo of Rick, sporting a harness bra. Then there's the bathing suit. As seen on Windsurfing NSW.

Complete Freestyle Results from the East Coast Windsurfing Festival

While racing was the more popular event (with over 45 competitors) the freestyle action was fast and furious and a whole lot of fun!   We were stoked to have Phil Soltysiak and crew join us from Canada, though they had to hit the road on Sunday and missed the final competition.

Freestyle Pro Men

1 - Mike Burns (The King of the East)

2 - John Sassone

3 - Larry Hoff

4 - Ed Dehart

5 - Phil Soltysiak

6 - Josh Soltysiak

7 - Tom Soltysiak

8 - Kuba 

Freestyle Sport

1 - Kurt Vieth

2 - Michael Alex

3 - George Pav

4 - George Marr

5 - Pete Roesch

6 - Jeff Schultz

7 - Ian Warren

8 - Ira 

8 - Rich Simmons

10 - Jill Marr

11 - Tom Dehan

12 - Martin  ("this dude took the train to the event and borrowed gear!"-Mike Burns)

13 - Ted Bonner

14 - Mike Jamieson

Women

1 - Jill Marr

Juniors

1 - Alex Hering

2 - Xavier Campos

3 - George Marr III

4 - Katie Pav (owner of a massive duck jibe!)

5 - Doug Marr

(Photos by Bill Doutney.   Can we shout out Bill for this closeup of George Marr sailing back to back?  I will...yeah Bill!)

 

Complete Racing Results: East Coast Windsurfing Festival

Here are the overall racing results from the East Coast Windsurfing Festival.  Note that all racers (guys, gals, youts..."what's a yout?") are combined.    Note that Pete Roesch was unstoppable (I even rammed him but still ended up in his wake in that heat!)   Note that Bart Kornas is dangerous to crowd near a mark.   Note that young Alex Hering smoked an army of adults!   And note that we had lots of ties overall (see the duplicate numbers to the left.)   On a personal note I'd like to say that the first time I ever raced at an event, I never made it around the course, so mad props to everyone who got out there! 

1.  Pete (the Eliminator) Roesch
2.  Bart Kornas
3.  Alex Hering
4.  Michael Alex
5.  Joe Giordano
6.  George Pav
7.  Marhn Sszymanski
7.  Jim Manta
8.  Martin Risner
9.  Ian Warren
10.  Xavier Campos
10.  Dennis Grunbeck
11.  Peter Alagha
12.  Mike Columbo
13.  Kurt Veith
14.  Peconic Jeff Schultz
15.  Joe Natalie
16.  George Marr
17.  John Markwalter
18.  Kuba
19.  Rich Halloway
20.  John Sasson
21.  Ted Bonner
22.  Bluefish Mike
22.  Ira
23.  Phil Soltsiack
23.  Jill Marr
24.  Juan Piantino
24.  Jesse Waters
24.  Tanya
25.  Elvin Quezaba
26.  Sean Keating
27.  Vicki
28.  Larry
29.  Chip
30.  Tom Soltsiak
30.  Florian
31.  Rich Simmons
31.  Robert Mallin
31.  Tom Dehan
31.  Josh
31.  Dean Carbalo

(Photos by Bill Doutney)