The Vegetation at Hecksher Does Indeed Get Thick!

Before I complain about the weeds at Hecksher, let me say Thank All Wind Gods for a place that blows in the summer.  It's been almost two months since I sailed something smaller than 6.2, so the fully powered 5.0 conditions yesterday were a delight.      Thanks for the wind, thanks for the air, thanks for the warm water.

That being said, let's talk a bit about the weeds.   I've never seen weeds slam the brakes on people sailing weed fins the way I did last night.   I've never been so weeded down myself at times while sailing a weed fin (True Ames Surfgrass).   It seemed like every now and then they'd just tie themselves in knots around the fin...I was hearing sounds from behind my board that I'd never heard before.  

Nothing a good jump or tack didn't cure, though.   I'd go back in a minute, though I'm hoping for some east end action today.

Comments

[Jeff]

I am amazed by my 24 cm Surfgrass fin. It performed well in Hatteras with a 7.2 sail on my 109 Skate, and came through in the clutch yesterday at Heck when I threw it on my JP 93 FSW and 4.7 sail!

I think if you redo the adhesive on your fin, you'll be fine - I caught no weeds yesterday once I switched to the Surfgrass.

[Mike Burns]

I wasn't getting snagged at all either. You gotta make sure that the weeds can't get into the little crack between the front of the fin and the board. That kills everything. And by the way you ain't seen nothing yet as far as seaweed goes at Heckscher. In August there will be 20 ft wide islands of weed floating around.

It was great to see you guys make it to Heckscher. It seemed like there were twice as many people trying freestyle there yesterday than bafoing.

[Michael]

Mike: Let us begin by pointing out that you run a 10cm weed fin (your customization where you buy a weedfin and then lop off the bulk of it.) You could sail over a log with that fin and not have too much trouble. I'd also like to point out that you sail backwards as much as forward, and perhaps are even using the weeds in your Funnel 720's.

I saw other sailors with weed fins grind to a halt as well...it took awhile before I realized what was happening to them (ie when my weedfin caught a weed itself.) They seemed different...maybe it was the water (which was funkier than I'm used to their...btw I'm familiar with the August weeds...the thing with them is you can see the islands and sail around them!

Jeff, I agree that I had a 32nd of an inch of the rubber seal sitting off center on the fin, though frankly I have blobs of epoxy that present greater weed targets.

Everybody's a smart guy until they get snagged...meanwhile thank all wind gods for the breeze!