The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Poll: Name The Windsurfer Formerly Known As Peconic Jeff

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"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." -Willie Don Shakespeare

The time has come.  Will he be Plain Old Jeff?   Jumpin' Jeff?  Will he remain Peconic?    Will you suggest a better name?  (Sorry Andy B,, but "Larry Hoff Jr" has been rejected in order to avoid confusion with The Mighty Larry Hoff.)

TWFKAPJ's fate (or at least his nickname) is in your hands.

(Wondering what in the Sam Hill is going on?   Read all about it.)

Water Is White

I can't wait to get back into the waves.

(photo by A Jeff To Be Named Later)

He's Baaaaaaack! (But is he Peconic?)

His blog is back!   Jeff (known to readers of the Peconic Puffin as Peconic Jeff) was the original Long Island windsurfing blogger.    A thoughtful fellow of few words (unlike the thoughtless blabfest perpetrated here) he doesn't update  Windsurfing the East End very often, instead letting us know what he's been up to by his excellent photos on his Flickr page.   But now in a burst of typing P-Jeff is filling us in on recent adventures like taking up SUPing, the ABK clinic, and recovering from the malaise induced by our windless summer.   Peconic Jeff is making noise!

Or is he?  Is he Peconic Jeff?   In recent weeks the irksome meddling of a windsurfing instructor whom I will not name (Andy Brandt) has thrown a wrench into the Puffinworks, suggesting that I should stop referring to Peconic Jeff as Peconic Jeff.   In the ensuing brouhaha Jeff has been seen declaring (both in person and online) that he doesn't mind being called Peconic Jeff.

He doesn't mind.

I don't think that's really sufficient.  Does he have any idea how many people out there want to be called Peconic Jeff but can't because he is Peconic Jeff?  Wannabee P-Jeffs are lined up outside the Peconic Puffin offices every morning, whom we politely but firmly turn away.

But Jeff himself, he doesn't mind being called Peconic Jeff.

So here's what we're going to do.  In the coming weeks we're going to have a poll to rename Jeff.   He may end up as Plain Old Jeff, he may return as Peconic Jeff, or maybe we'll start calling him Jeffune Lord of Tides.   Keep an eye out for the poll, and feel free to suggest new names for Jeff that will be included in the poll.   In the meantime he'll be A Jeff To Be Named Later.

In the meantime, be sure to check out AJTBNL's Windsurfing the East End and his recent photos from The Bowl and South Jamesport sessions.  

(Photo:  A Jeff To Be Named Later on Peconic waters.)

Swap Meet Postponed Until Saturday 10/4

Heavy weather is going to delay the Windsurfing Hamptons swap meet for one week.   Word from Jonathan Ford:

"Due to the current nor'easter, we have decided to reschedule the swap for a week. The Swap will take place at the shop on October 4th  from 9-4.  Lets hope for sunny skies and warm temps. Looking forward to seeing everyone then.

    Enjoy the current high winds - ride safe."

For details, call Windsurfing Hamptons at 631-283-9463...they're also at  http://www.w-surf.com

 I'll bet someone could have used my 85 liter Naish yesterday!
$150 with bag and three fins (430 Fiberspar SDM mast also $150).

Hopefully we'll sail tomorrow. I'm toasted from yesterday.

The Bowl Serves It Up

 

While Graham Ezzy was tearing it up at Demo (read about it in the Yahoo Long Island Windsurfing Group)  everybody who could manage it further east was tearing it up at The Bowl.

The sail range was 4.7 to 5.2, with head-high waves (bigger further out by the buoy) rolling up big and clean in the morning.  Me (the wave newbie) managed my best bottom turns/cutbacks ever on one wave…which was good because I didn’t do very well on most of the others (though one did very well with me...“paid your dues” said Scott.)   Sail a little torn, and me spitting sand, but I’d take a session like this any day.

It got messy after a few hours as the tide changed, and the crowd packed up to move to South Jamesport.  I was getting laughed at on my 5.0 (‘cause it was much windier) but that’s what I rigged…should have gone with something smaller.

My arms are burnt  to a crisp.   In the joyous crowd today:  Frank, Radek, Jan, Bruce, Scott, the Wolf, Jeff, Fisherman, Bill, John H, George Pav, Joe, and about four more guys I don't know (yet).

(photos by Jeff:  Top: We play.   Middle:  All I see is white.   Bottom:  The Wolf likes his waves clean.  For more photos from this session, check out Jeff's Flickr page.)

(To find the Bowl, South Jamesport, and 50+ other launches, check out the Long Island Windsurfing Map.)

Windsurfing Ditch Plains

I've wanted to windsurf at Ditch Plains in Montauk ever since I first heard the name.   "Ditch Plains" put me  in mind of vast stretches of water with conditions so gnarly that ditching one's gear was a standard survival move (I should probably learn the actual origin of the name.)   Anyhow for years I've wanted to check out Ditch Plains, which is famous for surfing (Surfline describes it as " Mecca. The most consistent wave on Long Island".)

But when Jonathan Ford called and said "we sail at Ditch Plains" I had to think it over.  It would be an hour's drive each way, and I'd only be able to sail for an hour given other obligations.   All that driving for an hour at Ditch Plains?  "I'm on my way!"

It was Jon Ford, Radek and myself with the sails (me on a 6.2), playing with the waves further out and keeping our distance from the surfers closer to shore.    The waves were gentle and long, about shoulder high,  and made Ponquogue seem chaotic and challenging by comparison.  Given my lack of waveriding skill, the relative ease of catching the Ditch Plains wave was greatly enjoyed.   I can only imagine how wonderful it must be on a bigger day.

The Wolf and Scott arrived as I was wrapping up.    The wind was dropping a bit, and I suspect they put sails on their SUP boards to play with the swell.

Mad Skill Factory (and fun too!) ABK @ Napeague

At my first ABK clinic I was wrestling with tacking and jibing.    A few clinics later (if sixteen is a few) I’m now pulling off clew first fin first piledrivers, anklebiters, and the whatchamacallit jibe.   But I still remember when a planing duck jibe seemed the unattainable fantasy.

Nobody learns windsurfing slower than I.    I am no longer (well, rarely) the worst windsurfer in the world, but one thing I’ve figured out is that lesson help, great lessons help a lot, and ABK clinics are the best thing going out there. (I am not sponsored by ABK, though yesterday they let me have a second sandwich with lunch.)

This past weekend’s windsurfing clinic at Napeague was a blast to watch, much less be in. From the adults and kids (we hate the kids…they learn so frickin’ fast) working on the basics all the way up to the freestylers, there was a whole lot of learnin’ going on. Friday (and Saturday AM) had the good wind, but as the photos show we were all working on the water Sunday as well.
The worst things that happened were a broken down car and a stubbed toe, but these were more than offset by all the tacking, jibing, chacho anklebiting etc.

I can’t wait to do it all again.  ABK returns to Long Island in May 2009, but more drastic measures may need to be taken.

(Photos by Jeff…

Top: Happy Campers.

Second: The Mighty Larry Hoff goes Gecko.

Third: Una. Una learning to windsurf spells nothing but trouble. It’s bad enough that her mom aspires to be the fastest windsurfer on the island, but the little one has world domination on the brain. When she gets into the footstraps I’m taking up golf.

Fourth: Alex (can’t go home) Hering, The Mighty Larry Hoff, and a windsurfer to be knicknamed later sharing too little water during Sunday’s expression session.

Fifth:  The editor is a grinning idiot.

Check out more clinic photos by Jeff on his Flickr page.)

Andy Brandt Rocking Anklebiters On da Simulator (the video)

ABK's Andy Brandt (practitioner and teacher of mad freestyle windsurfing) likes to throw sails around on simulators when the local wind and water aren't prime.  Practice practice practice!

Anyhow below is a clip of him working on anklebiters, matrixes, and the odd bit of sail-chi.   He says it's his current favorite video of himself.  The music drives me nuts, but I like watching him throw the sail!

Buy Gear! Sell Gear! Swap Meet on Saturday 9/27

There's no reason for any windsurfer to not go to a swap meet.

1.  There's no such thing as having too much gear.
2.  There's an excellent chance that it's time for you to upgrade some of your gear, and so sell the stuff that has served you well to someone who can use it (for a reasonable price).
3.  It's an opportunity to meet windsurfers you don't know, and see what the ones you do know look like in street clothes.

So come to Windsurfing Hamptons this Saturday, September 27th 9-4pm to (in the words of Jonathan "Let's Sail!" Ford:)

"Buy and/or sell used Windsurfing, Kiteboarding, Surfing and Stand up paddleboard gear. Loads of closeout '08 gear avail at huge savings. Sellers: Your used gear must be to the shop no later than 9am Saturday."

Come buy my Naish wave board...85 liters, 2002 vintage, rather bump and jumpy for a waveboard, and featured in many Peconic Puffin (mis)adventures.  $150 takes it with bag and two fins.   I've got a Fiberspar 430 mast too...

 Windsurfing / Kiteboarding Hamptons is located at 1688 County Road 39 Southampton, New York 11968 (631) 283-9463 www.w-surf.com.

Windsurfing Terminology

"I don't know any of the terms, except for "shove it".

-a beginner windsurfer discussing his windsurfing knowledge at an ABK clinic.

The Tillerman Asks, The Puffin Answers

High on a hill sits the Tillerman.    The Tillerman is the “granddaddy of sailing bloggers.”   That’s saying a lot, because when it comes to wind powered watercraft blogs, sailboating blogs are way bigger than windsurfing blogs.   They’re the big dogs.   And the Tillerman is the big cheese.

(I asked the Peconic Puffin art department for an illustration of an enormous piece of cheese, surrounded by large dogs, at whose feet were little windsurfing bloggers banging away at their computers.   As of press time the art has not yet arrived.)

Anyway, high on a hill sits the Tillerman.   The Peconic Puffin is grateful to the Tillerman, not simply because he does not squash us like a blug, but because in his magnanimity he has listed the Puffin in the latest of his annual lists of worthy blogs.

Sometimes from his hill the Tillerman hands down assignments.   The Puffin has never to our recollection actually turned one in, but as we’re entering the home stretch of 2008 it seems like a good time to appease the granddaddy on his hill.  We aspire to his 2009 list, and though our worthiness is in doubt, we can still suck up and fawn with the best of them.

Thus asks the Tillerman:  “What innovation, new idea, or invention has been most significant for the sport of sailing or has contributed most to your enjoyment of it?”   He even offered up some suggestions.  To play it safe (and because I agree with it) I’m going with:

“Mr. Darby's idea for using a handheld sail mounted on a universal joint to steer a sailing craft.”

I hereby give the Tillerman (and y’all) three reasons why it (the component that allows windsurfing to be) most contributed to my enjoyment of sailing:

Reason #1:  Apartment dwellers can own a windsurfer, and store it in their tiny homes.     I was thirteen when I first sailed in a Sunfish.  I was instantly enthralled by sailing, but no small boat was going to be kept in the apartment we lived in, and even though I grew up near the water, there was no place for me to store a boat that I could afford.   A zillion years later, my parents actually let me stash a board in my bedroom.  Windsurfing allows me to sail.

Reason #2: In windsurfing, the sailor is part of the craft.  We are part of the rigging.  The sail transmits its power to the boat through three points:  Mr. Darby’s beloved universal joint, and the windsurfer’s two legs.  The board can not sail without us…not for a second.  The sailing magic passes through us.

Reason #3:  Windsurfing is affordable.   Nobody ever says that a windsurfing board is a hole in the water into which money is thrown.

Here ends my humble offering to the Tillerman on the hill.   Other sailing stuff considered as the greatest (including such venerable items as marinetex, the figure-eight knot, and beer) can be read about on the Tillerman’s blog.

 

The Well-Read Puffin

"Don't ram me!  Don't ram me!"

             -Scott, making fun of me on the water just hours after my collision post.

Gloves? We Don’t Need No Stinking Gloves!

Two days in a row of wind…we’re not in shape for this.   After the Windless Summer of 2008 (with three sailable days in the last eight weeks!) this morning’s Sebonac session following yesterday’s southerly had a few regulars suffering from soft hands.

It took me a long time (way too long, longer even than Scott who said he waited too long) to realize that I needed to put on gloves.   Only when I saw that both Jeff and Scott had gloves on did the dull gong that is my head ring with the appropriate realization.

I don’t wear gloves.  I am too much the macho for gloves.   Except today with my hands like tender pink paws. 
(Jonathan Ford inbound.  Photo by Peconic Jeff.)

I did not crash into Bob today

I did not crash into Bob today.  However my board did.   As I jumped off of it half a second before the crash, does that still count?

I think it does.  Damn.   Okay, I did crash into Bob today.    I was in the middle of a wide jibe…I had looked behind me before initiating the turn, but obviously I did not look thoroughly, because a few seconds later I was about to ram Bob.   I couldn’t turn and couldn’t stop.   Letting go seemed like a way to hit the guy with 20 pounds of gear as opposed to 20 + 165.   Nobody was hurt and nothing got damaged.   I think we were lucky.

It was a fine day at Napeague otherwise.   Sailing alongside the ABK clinic on a 6.2,  while Peconic Jeff worked on vulcans, Robert started nailing waterstarts, Jill Marr tackled duck jibes…just a bay full of windsurfers getting better.

Except me.    Knucklehead outside the clinic, I should have been in it so someone could slap me upside the head and say LOOK ALL THE WAY BEHIND YOU BEFORE YOU JIBE.

Windsurfing The World Trade Center

 

"On Aug. 10 1994 I windsurfed the Hudson river and got a view of the Manhattan skyline that no windsurfer - or anybody else - will ever see again."

-Peter Bogucki, editor and publisher of the New England Windsurfing Journal.  

(Photo by Peter Bogucki, from the NEWJ issue published following the September 11th attacks.)