I'd been out of town for a week, visiting relatives. My Blackberry spoke of sessions missed back home, including a rare winter visit by Andy Brandt and a fog wavesailing session at the Cup So I didn't care what it was blowing on my first day back, as long as it was blowing.
It was blowing. Honking. Nuking.
I arrived at Sebonac Inlet just in time to see The Wolf launch on his 3.3. He took off like a shot, and was barely sheeted in. Jon Ford was rigging a 3.7. I don't think I've ever seen Jon on his 3.7. So I rigged my smallest sail (3.4) and put on my storm fin (a tiny slotted True Ames) and joined the crew (Scott, P-Jeff and the aforementioned, later joined by Fisherman, CPU John, Frank, Jan, and Bruce) on the water.
It was kinda nuts. The gusts were consistently hitting 50 (Jon Ford talked about a 60-pluser measured at Shinnecock...apparently I'd missed when it was REALLY windy) and the challenge was to not sail upwind. Any lull was to be used for jibing or shooting downwind.
Also challenging was the cold. The wind chill was too silly to calculate, so we mostly concerned ourselves with the water temps...any sustained head dunking was good for an ice cream headache.
Not challenging was jumping...or more particularly, hang time. Get some wind under your board and hovering was not a problem.
The wind (mad gusty all day) lightened up after a few hours, so the crew rigged up to 4.2-4.7's, which were frequently way too big/too small as gusts and lulls came through. Still I was having a good time when I went for a big jump on starboard (starboard jumps rarely work for me). Between a fortuitous gust and a half decent effort I got medium high...and then my front foot came out of the strap.
Hard flat landing.
I do a painful split as my front leg slides towards the nose.
To reduce the weight behind the painful split, I smash my face into my 4.5.
Sliding slowly off of the gear (head goes underwater, now an ice cream headache accompanies the pain in my right leg and taste of blood in my mouth) it occurs to me that I've had a fine last session of the year, and perhaps I should call it a day. So I did.
(Top photo: Sebonac Inlet was often liquid smoke. More photos from the day are on Peconic Jeff's Flickr page. The graph is courtesy iWindsurf from the Shinnecock meter. I missed the gust of 63 but caught plenty of 50.)
Awwwwwwwwsome!! That kind of wind is so beautiful and powerful. I don't blame you for inventing a new word to describe it.
Posted by: James | December 31, 2008 at 06:04 PM
I got cold just reading about this session!
Glad you got some!
Posted by: F Messina | January 01, 2009 at 11:39 AM
yep-twas an epic new years eve session down here as well. 3.6 full power nukin storm conditions. bring on 2009
Posted by: george markopoulos | January 01, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Happy New Year and glad you closed the year with a bang! Hope your injuries are not too bad.
Posted by: Bunty | January 01, 2009 at 05:06 PM
You guys have some serious moxie. That's real winter windsurfing. I'm awestruck just thinking about being out there. Considering my recent blog post about winter sailing, I feel like a serious chicken.
-Ian
www.hudsonwindurfer.blogspot.com
Posted by: Ian Berger | January 02, 2009 at 12:36 AM
Ian (and everyone) if you're with a good group of sailors it's more fun and less punishing than it sounds. The main attribute of the Puffins is enthusiasm (and quality neoprene!)
Posted by: the editor | January 02, 2009 at 12:42 AM