The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Ponquoging On A Sunday Afternoon

"We're at Ponquogue, the waves are beautiful and I'm rigging a 5.2.  Where are you?"  (Jeff on the phone).

"I'm an idiot...I'll be there in 30 minutes." (Me.)

With a forecast of east winds we all had Ponquogue on the brain.   And who cares about a little rain when those leisurely, powerful but friendly Ponquogue waves start rolling?   We had quite the turnout, even drawing Mike Burns from the middle of Long Island, who came in search of fat ramps for looping (he found them.)   Also on the waves:   Fisherman, Bruce, Bill, Frank, John Natalie, Jeff, Chris, the Wolf, Scott and Jonathan.

All the best waves were headed into a cut out section of beach to the west that was a bit of a wind hole.  More than a bit...barring a gust it was purgatory (someone dubbed it "the turkey bowl.") 

 I spent plenty of time swimming in said bowl waiting for the elusive gust.   Occasionally a gust would come, but the higher percentage move was to walk your gear 100 yards up the beach and launch in the wind.   Of course an even higher percentage move was to not get near the wind hole in the first place, but it's hard to give up on a good wave.

Around 3PM the wind backed a bit to the north, and with the offshore winds getting holey and the beach break getting serious, it was time to call it a day.   A fine Sunday!

(Photos by Jeff:  On the outside, the editor gets a little air.  On the inside, three guys follow the waves into the windless zone.)

I Needed A Shrink On Friday, or Chasing the Wind Almost For Naught

First the long drive to Cupsogue.     I always have to be talked into Cupsogue.    If Peconic Jeff is calling, his technique is to detail precise information about the wind and waves and tide, enhanced by on-scene reports he somehow always already has, until I have no reason (rational or irrational) to say No.  Jon Ford just repeats my name at different pitches and inflections, as if trying to get a dog to do a trick.  Mike.  MIKE!  miKE etc.

Both techniques work.

Today it was Jeff on the phone, and the word was that 4.7’s were being rigged and the waves were sweet.   So I arrived in the parking lot at Cupsogue an hour later, where Jeff had just arrived and was loading his gear into Bill’s pickup.   Jeff and I depend on the generosity of our 4WD-endowed sailing buddies to get us and our gear the last mile to Cupsogue.     As always, I experience separation anxiety when parted from my van.

“I thought you dealt with this issue,” Bill says to me as I squirm in the passenger seat, thinking about what crucial piece of gear I’m going to need that I didn’t bring.   A backup uni, perhaps?

“I’m here, at least.  Thanks for the lift!”

We arrive.   Nobody is sailing 4.7’s.   An 8.0 is what’s called for, as we meet Scott, John Natalie, and Mssrs Hulse and vanderWolf.   The wind is veering north, and soon we leave for another long drive, this time to the Pier.   

“At least gas is two bucks per gallon,” Scott says.

At the Pier there are whitecaps, but barely.  The Wolf and I end up on 6.2’s while everyone else watches.   At first we’re only planing half the time, but after an hour we’re well-powered, even managing an occasional jump in the unusually gentle waters.   But it’s nothing special and after awhile I come in.   I never sail the Pier without getting smacked down, and this day’s punishment came as I carried my gear out of the water, when a bit of XL beach break threw me + stuff face-first into the sand.

In the parking lot, Scott’s headlights flashed in approval.  I’m always happy to entertain.

Freestyle Video: Caesar's Most Ridiculous Move Yet

You've seen it all before...except for the move starting at 1:14.

Thanks to the mighty Caesar Finies for the video!

The Return of Classic Sebonac Inlet

Yeah it was cold.  Very cold.  So what?   We haven't had a great day at Sebonac in ages!

Frank B, the Wolf and I shared the bay with the first puffins of the season, on sails from 4.2-4.6, and we were LIT.  With the tide low and still ebbing, the ramps were beautifully spaced with inviting clean patches in between, so you could really wind up and hit 'em hard.   And if you wanted to surf the rolling swell, whatever they lacked in height was more than made up for in length and smoothness.

I love a good day at Sebonac Inlet.

Did I mention how cold it was?    The water was fine, but with air temps around 29, it felt like we skipped a few months and went straight to February.  I had some slush form on my sail, and the Wolf reported ice on his harness.  Strictly drysuit conditions.

Small Craft Advisory: A Windsurfing Definition

Small Craft Advisory = We advise you to sail

                                          
We have a fine small craft advisory for Saturday...game on!

(inspired by a post on Talkin' Sh** About A Pretty Sunset)

Redistribute the Wind (or Why I Hate Andy)

Lost In Hatteras’ Andy’s post in iWindsurf:

“My year to date windsurf log stands at 154 sessions, with almost 70 rest days attributable to travel/injury/flu/etc.   Combo the sailing with surfing and SUPing, and there's been something fun to do virtually every day this year!”

He then went on to tell us that according to his records, 2008 presented him with 11 days in which he could neither sail nor surf.

I hate Andy.   Same goes for his friend OBX Bill (who just became a father, btw.)

Jibe! Crash! Projectile Vomit! Jill’s Excellent Adventure

Jill Marr’s account of her day at West Meadow last weekend is the most spirited tale of windsurfing I’ve read in awhile.  Originally posted in the Yahoo Long Island Windsurfers Group, it got me howling, and Jill has graciously allowed me to share it here.  Okay Jill…let it rip:

“What a day! Started out on the 4.5- need I say more-too much! Came back in, after a long time of trying to just get back in! Headed back out on the 4.0-Access denied! I was rudely projected, spit out right back onto the beach! My rig was spit out on the first wave, landed gracefully up on the beach…I was deposited onto the beach with the second wave. I now know exactly what projectile vomit feels like!   Time to re-group!

After waiting for the shore break to dismantle-which from what I could tell, it did not, I decided to give it another go! Made it out this time-and IF YOU MAKE IT OUT-YOU STAY OUT! So I did, but way south down the beach, where it was much more manageable for me. As I was still overpowered, the only place to go for me is straight upwind-but I was WAY too upwind and having trouble getting back downwind. I think the current toward the south was starting to head out fast, thus my difficulty. After a while of playing down South, I decided that I was too upwind and evasive action was necessary! Head off, jibe crash, head off jibe crash... you get the picture. Before I knew it I was back in a respectable downwind territory-but oh oh, too downwind, actually approaching and heading fast into the crunch zone again!

Two waves later, after the conditions decided for me A SECOND time that I should beach it, I found myself carrying my rig onto the beach-not exactly what I had planned, but hey, I was no longer in danger of heading out to sea!

As I caught my breath, Jeanne came running down the beach. I decided to call it a day and DO THE WALK OF SHAME rather than attempt that shore break launch once again!

 Lots of great jumps today, both voluntary and involuntary, and more port jumps than ever before! (those were the involuntary ones! ) I am happy to have sailed in November WITHOUT GLOVES! Woohoo!   Thank you may I have another!

 Would do it all over again in a heartbeat!
Jill :)”

(Top photo:  Air Jill.  Courtesy Blueharborcat.   Bottom photo:  Jill working the East Coast Windsurfing Festival.  Courtesy Bill Doutney.)

Iron Pier Pounds Hard (Big Winds Weekend, Part Deux)

Driving down Pier Ave, still several blocks from Iron Pier Park I could see explosions of spray twenty feet in the air as the Long Island Sound came into view.   Jeff had told me on the phone that he was rigging a 3.7.   Which meant I'd be rigging my 3.4.   Which meant it was nuking at Iron Pier.

The Pier always commands particular respect.  I tend to take a beating here.  So I was happy to see John "he only sails when it's perfect" Natalie, along with Chris, the Wolf, Fisherman, Scott, Jan and Bruce and the aforementioned P-Jeff on hand (though  Fisherman and the Wolf soon left to check out Mattituck's Sound launch.)

With three foot waves breaking twenty feet off the beach, launching was a hit-or-miss affair of tossing your board over the whitewater, jumping on no matter what the direction of your board (because you're now in the impact zone) and hoping you could snake a path through the next waves.   It was doable, but definately not happy time.

The winds were gustier than usual for the Pier, and I went from shlogging to lit every thirty seconds or so.   The ramps were less than ideal, but in that much wind all you needed to do was lift up with your front hand and your board's nose went into the sky.

During one massive lull while shlogging back well outside the wave zone, I suddenly found myself surfing down a steep face extending four feet down in front of me.   I looked behind and found myself face to face with more wave...an eight foot rogue had come up on me and was giving a hell of a shove.   I managed to carve out of there before it broke, and fought my way through some chaotic lumps overpowered before I managed to get back to the beach and tell Scott about my surprise wave.

"You need to be aware of your surroundings," Scott said helpfully.

I was particularly aware of my surrounding a few minutes later, when I was thoroughly rejected by the beach break during an attempted launch.  During a brief moment when my eyes came above the surf (me with a mouth full of churning beach) I spotted an onlooker pointing a camera at my rolling torso...perhaps he meant to submit it to the Darwin Awards.   Alas it was not Bill Doutney (who was on hand to document the day) though he did capture Peconic Jeff in similar straights.

John Natalie's nickname is now amended to "he only sails when it's perfect (or nuking)".

(Photos by Bill Doutney.   From the top:  Good air on starboard, there is a pier at Iron Pier (though you'd have to tack like a lunatic for half an hour to sail to it) good air on port, the shore break says No to Jeff.)

Big Winds Weekend, Part I: Mattituck

The Mattituck Yacht Club launch on the Great Peconic needs a lot of wind to work (such is the wisdom of the Wolf and company) but when it blows very hard from the south, then it is the place to sail.  Steep starboard ramps in shallow water are its signature, and such it was on Saturday as the wind starved were treated to part one of a high-wind weekend.    I started out on the 5.0, but the winds built so fast that I thought I was being clever when I bypassed the 4.5 and went straight to a 4.0 and my smallest board.   When I shot off the beach like a rocket I felt like a genius.

Q:  How long did that feeling last?
A:  About five minutes.

The great fear in taking out a very small board (me on my 77 liter Fanatic, nicknamed “Candy 77”) is that you’ll be forced to shlog it, which could well mean swimming along side it.   Such was my genius rewarded when the winds dropped that when a gust would allow me to waterstart, the ensuing lull would have me back in the bay within 30 seconds.    As I was drifting well down wind I took advantage (I thought) of a sustained blast by heading back out into the bay, that I might somehow sail upwind and make my way back to the launch.

This was an error.

After shlogfest II I ended up about 200 yards downwind of the launch, deep into Bozo Beach territory.  Mattituck bay beach front being what it is I had to do a fair amount of trespassing with gear to get around some piles before emerging from the shrubbery to the east of the launch parking lot, where everyone else was eating lunch.

The winds did come back up, but having been burned once I put my 5.0 on the 77 liter board and sailed overpowered (but relatively secure) along with the crowd.

One potential highlight during my walk of shame...I came upon a windmeter  that reades waterfront southerlies on the Peconic (it was shielded from anything with a northern component.)   I can't speak for its accuracy, but it may be worth your time to check out EastEndWeather.com.   I'll be taking a look at it during future southerlies to see if it is useful to windsurfers.

(Photo by Peconic Jeff: Scott inbound and upbound.)

The New York Times Shows Some Love to The Peconic Puffin

It had nothing to do with windsurfing.   But to be in New York City the night of Election Day...to hear the sound of the city when Barack Obama was declared the next President of the United States...it was so overwhelming that I took some photos and wrote a quick post.

To my jaw-dropped surprise, The New York Times website included the post in their list of blogs whose coverage they were reading.

It made me proud.   I imagined historians in the future poring through the Times as they research that night in New York.  They'll click on "a sea of exuberance in Union Square".  They'll read my humble little piece and nod.   Then they'll scroll down a few posts and see me wearing my puffin mask and realize they're in the belly of a goofball beast.

Chuck Berry and a Formuline Update

In a previous post I went on about how spending $2 more on downhaul line makes a ridiculous difference in how easy any sail will rig and tune. No less than the ghost of Chuck Berry (posting as JB Goode in an iWindsurf forum) recently echoed the call:

"I can't believe how much easier it makes downhauling - I can now correctly downhaul my 10.7 race sail w/out using a downhaul tool. It has completely changed my experience of rigging and using this sail! Furthermore the line seems to be holding up well."

Make rigging a windsurfing sail faster, easier, and more accurate. Switch to the good stuff! Puffin regular Scott tells me that he's using the white line for outhauling as well as downhauling. I haven't tried this yet, but it makes sense...aside from the easier tug with those new sails that take a lot of outhaul, it might also reduce the occasional snag when derigging. This could be a good use of Formuline downhauls once they start to fray past the point of prudence (puffins love their p's!)

Recently on an older mast base extension I've noticed that if I don't make sure the line is 100% jammed into the cleat, at the end of a session there will have been a little slippage...letting out a cm or two of downhaul. So I make sure I'm all the way in there!

Grants for Junior Windsurfing Instructors

I know Dan Weiss (Northeast somethingorother for US Windsurfing) from back in the early days of the windsurfing newsgroup (probably the first windsurfing thing on the Internet.)   Anyhow these days he is indeed with US Windsurfing, and he has asked me if I would publish the following information in the Puffin:  a program which makes training fleets and trained instructors more affordable for junior sailing clubs.  Seems worthwhile, so here it is:

As some of you already know, US Windsurfing recognizes the Bic 293 as its official hybrid junior class and works with U.S. Sailing to build junior fleets at as many clubs as possible. Over 40 yacht clubs and sailing schools in the last three years have purchases fleets under the promotional program. Our Team USA kids also love to sail and race the Kona, too. We encourage the kids to get out there and do it, whether on Bic, Starboard, Kona -they're all great!

There are lots of terrific windsurfing boards for kids out in the market. The Bic 293 appeals to traditional sailing clubs because the 293 has the largest junior racing fleet in the world, is a stepping stone to professional and Olympic racing and is available at generous fleet discounts.

You may also know that BicSport North America offers U.S. Sailing affiliated schools and clubs a substantial discount for fleet purchases of the Bic 293 One Design.

This year, Bic, in their effort to promote junior windsurfing is offering grants of $450 for instructor training if the club or sailing school secures its fleet before December 1, 2008 and takes delivery prior to May 1, 2009!

BSNA offers the ISAF approved Techno 293 One Design Board in different packages: 4 boards + six complete rigs for $6,240. 8 boards + 12 complete rigs for $11,600. 12 boards + 16 complete rigs for $16,880.

Here is video of T293 boards in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xirq4uZ5Z6A&feature=related

For more information, you can contact Bic Sport North America at their website.

Again, the $450 instruction grant opportunity is the reason I share this with this group and why I hope you will pass it on.

E-mail to Peconic Jeff: Sunday Sailing at Cupsogue

To:  Jeff
From:  Michael
Subject:  re Cupsogue Sun Morning

Very nice day!   I was on 5.5 and 5.0 (most of the day 5.0)  the Wolf
5.2 & 4.7.   Also there Scott, CD and Jon Ford.   One other sailor that I didn't know
was also sailing...he wasn't very chatty (but he could windsurf!)

Warm, steady winds, very friendly water (no real shore break).   The
waves were neither big (4 feet) nor  particularly long,  but they were
fun.   You could chases them all the way into that little bowl to the
east of the launch without fear of being unable to get back out.
Good jumping.   I hesitate to use the word "improve" but I had several
of my all-time best starboard jumps today.    There was a seal hanging
out for awhile, and overall it was a beautiful, comfortable day, and
we sailed to exhaustion (which coincided with a fine sunset). 

Bizarro World at Shinnecock County Park East

Imagine you're sailing across a bay.  The water is fairly flat, so you sail along casually...or you would except for the spot of the bay where 3 foot high waves come barreling through in sets...from straight downwind!  They don't appear until about five seconds until they're upon you, so you practically  have to press your face against the monofilm to see if a wave is coming for you.   

So you're sailing across a bay, eyes riveted downwind hoping for advance notice of a wave.   All of a sudden you feel seasick as you start bobbing up and down...those occasional three-footers are coming through with so much power that echo swell pops up unexpectedly big enough to bank off of, if you were looking at it (which you're not...you're looking for those waves.)

The Wolf said "you can feel drunk out there."

The waves are coming through Shinnecock Inlet.  On the outside (immediately east of The Bowl) the waves are said to be twelve feet high.   The remnants coming through and running across the bay have nowhere near that size, but they pack plenty of power.  The good news is the waves are plenty of fun to ride...I've never wavesailed in offshore conditions before, but loved carving straight downwind onto the wave faces.   The increase in apparent wind  was huge...which was fortunate because of the bad news.

The bad news was that the wind was so fluky this day that oftentimes you'd fall off the plane as those sets appeared.

It was strange.  Bizarro World.   But I'd do it again in an instant, particularly with a bit more wind.

(Shinnecock County Park East is at the very end of Dune Road, driving west from Southampton.  Permits are required in the summer.   Watch out for rocks when you first launch.)

Bowl Wave Sailing: The Video

 
Witness Peconic Jeff's finest video work to date:  "Bowl Wave Sailing, October 25th, 2008."   Featuring videography by Jeff's brother Keith, still imagery by Bill Doutney, all set to "Bro Hymn" by Pennywise. I've been raving about this session for at least a week. Now you can see a bit of it.