The perfecto forecast for Ponquogue (ENE building to 30) turned out a nice morning crowd. I took a 4.5 out into shoulder-high waves with Frank, the Wolf, Jon Ford, Bruce, Radek, Bill, Scott, and John Hulse. George Pav stopped by to watch (he’s recovering from a ding), and conditions were reasonably sweet until the wind shifted a bit onshore, helping the incoming tide kick up some beach break. I got worked, pogoed my mast with the board three feet out of the water, but luckily nothing broke.
Not so lucky was the Wolf, imitating my pogo a few hundred yards down the beach from the site of my humiliation. But he carries spares, and so was ready to rig when we all moved down to The Bowl.
At the Bowl the wind was building fast, and we were joined by Fisherman, Jeremy, and Jimi Sobeck. Everyone launched with their Ponquogue-sized sails, and shortly came in to rerig (me I just stepped off the board before clearing the inside, so brutal were the gusts pounding my 4.5. Jibing was out of the question.
Rigged the 4.0, got pounded again, then brought out the downhaul crank to try and make the sail work. The futility of this effort was spelled out by my 77 liter board, which was picked up by a 45 knot gust and thrown into the back of my head.
“Good thing you’re wearing a helmet,” Bill said. There would have been quite a bit of blood otherwise.
As I carefully reconnected board and rig (my daze necessitating extra care) the Wolf came in. “I just got blown off the water” he said, walking by with his 3.7.
I wasn’t sure I could hold down my 3.4, so I packed it up and went home.
yeah baby that was some double sesh !
Posted by: scott k | April 21, 2009 at 05:55 PM
Dang...be careful what you ask for...too much wind!
Posted by: Mac | April 21, 2009 at 09:42 PM