The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

A Little Bowl Video and a Blue Moon Wrap Up 2009

I'd been hoping for one more session this year, but I was (happily) landlocked with relatives these last few days and it ain't blowin' today.   84 sessions it is (was) and here are a few moments from my last session, as shot by the Wolf at the Bowl last week, and assembled by Jeff.   We see Frank, Scott, Jeff and myself.

There's a Blue Moon tonight for New Year's Eve.  See you on the water in 2010.  Maybe a SUP sesh tomorrow and Meschutt or the Pier on Saturday?

Oh CD Where Art Thou? You Missed a Fine Day at the Bowl!

 

We missed you, CD.   More importantly, you missed “it”…a classic Bowl session, and without rain!  What happened to this, bro:

"Sick puppies you have lost the true meaning of ChrisMasT thats Chris rigging up his mast with a 4.2 SAT CD"

        -CD's comment on "Visions of a Saturday Morning Sesh".

I shot out from the city at 6AM with it all timed perfectly to get me on the water at 8:30 (low tide was going to be 9:12).   But I’d forgotten that my van had twenty feet of unshoveled snowy driveway to cross, so by the time I arrived George Pav was tearing it up, the Wolf was reporting being overpowered on a 4.2, and Scott was rigging down (whilst somewhere in ‘Rico, Bill and Hulse were getting it too, sans drysuits.)

 The waves were peeling off nicely just at the end of the jetty…lots of four-footers with the occasional five and six to keep you focused.  A few hundred yards further out there was beautiful swell to jibe off of, and jibe there we did, as just past that a large, gnarly-looking barge was pitching and rolling.  It looked like trouble to me.

“Have you gone and checked out that barge?” Peconic Jeff asked?
“I have not, and I have no interest in doing so.  I don’t like the looks of it,” I replied.  

I of course then went closer than I had on previous runs, but that sucker was rolling and bouncing and no good could come from it, so I kept a 100 yard rule in place for my sesh.

The gang was on quite an assortment of gear…the Wolf and Scott were conventionally rigged and boarded (on 4.2’s) but then you had Pav on a big Joker, Jeff carrying a 4.7 (he had to be nuked) on a 77 liter board, me sailing a 4.0 on my 93 liter (I left my 4.5 home) and Frank was showing off his new RRD twin fin, which is my current choice for Coolest Looking Windsurfing Board In The World.  A seal popped up occasionally to express confusion and wonderment at our choices.   Seals don’t know much about windsurfing gear…they know about fish…so when Fisherman showed up later, rigged appropriately AND knew about fish, there was nothing left for the seal to do but leave to go eat, which he did.

We continued to have fun with the waves, which all but disappeared at one point before returning with gusto (I had to leave early, but Jeff reports seeing Fisherman jibe off some huge outside swell.)  Speaking of which I should report that Jeff had one of the tastiest cutbacks I’ve ever seen, right off the top of a pitching lip maybe 50 yards from shore.  T’was nice!

So that was my first official winter session.  Most of us hadn’t been on the water for a few weeks, and we were griping about tired arms.  We need more sessions to stay in shape!     At one point Scott was sitting on shore, telling me how run down he was from a cold, on top of the sore arms from the lack of sailing, painting a picture of how beat he was.  Then he picked up his gear, walked to the water like an exhausted laborer, got on his board...and boosted a six foot jump off the first bit of chop he encountered.

It was a fine day.  Lord Chimpleton...you missed it!

(Top: The dredging barge helped define where our "outside" ended. Middle: George Pav rides one in. These and other photos by Peconic Jeff are on his Flickr site. And there's a rumour that Jeff might even update his blog with his version of the day, which will be more complete than mine as he arrived earlier and stayed later!)

Merry Christmas!

To everyone I sailed with this year,

To everyone I paddled with this year,

To anyone who wasted five minutes of their time on this blog,

from Puffins to Wind Chimps, from the guys in Hatteras to Napeague ABK'ers, from the Yahoo gang to the water bloggers, from Heckscher to San Francisco, from Mecox to Malta, I say Merry Christmas!

(and try to be at Ponquogue on Saturday...)

(The image is from the best Puffin Christmas card I've ever seen, designed by Roz Davis. I meant to take a photo of me in my puffin mask wearing a santa hat, but two of my nephews have made off with the mask...I may never see it again!)

My Vision of a Saturday Morning Ponquogue Session

Or maybe the Bowl.  One of them, please.  Even Scott is optimistic ("oh yes a balmy 40 degrees" he says, but he longs to howl the cry of the wind chimp:  "itspickinUUUUPPPPP!")

The editorial board of the Peconic Puffin is making a mess of wrapping Christmas presents, as we salivate over these forecast items:

Saturday air temp:  A high of 48.
Saturday wind forecast:  E winds 20 to 25 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft.

I am optimistic.

(Photo by Jeff from a fine Ponquogue winter session when it was authentically snowy and cold.  So let's not have any candy-ass whining about sailing on Saturday!)

We Fail To Score a Blizzard Sesh/What Constitutes Crazy?

Were we unlucky or just gurlymen?   I don't know, but we didn't get out today, and that is le bummer.  Jeff and I encouraged each other throughout the day (mostly by questioning the other's manhood at times of thermal capitulation) but it never came together.     It was really frickin' cold (iced spots on the bays, air temps never cresting 30 degrees) and not properly windy until well into the afternoon, but I feel like I'm whining.  

Scott suggested that I was crazy to consider sailing.  I'm clinging to that, because to be called crazy by the crazy seems like a good thing (and I've sailed with Scott in preposterous conditions!)  

But I was one-upped by a guy in the parking lot in town, who was walking around loading his SUV wearing shorts.   I watched him for awhile before finally walking up to him and asking "not cold enough for you?"

He replied:  "Hey I was in the ocean a few days ago."

Of course.

So we talked for a bit.   Perfectly sane guy.

(Top:  The view at North Sea Road...not enough action to make it worthwhile.   Bottom:  The Guy In Shorts.)

Can we pull off a blizzard sesh?

Even by the standards of the...um...most enthusiastic of us (I was gonna say crazy) it's a bit cold out.   But a blizzard AND WIND are coming at the same time, which could make for some tasty photos.  Also, at this time of the year you never know when the last sesh of the year will be, but I know I want at least one more.   So Jeff and I are talking...maybe North Sea Road, maybe Mecox, maybe Towd Point, maybe Iron Pier.   It won't be a long session, but it will be a session.  If you want in, call me/text me/email me/post a comment soon.

(9:40 AM radar from NEXRAD)

Taking A Knife to a Neil Pryde Harness, Part One

When my DaKine Thermoform bit the dust a few months ago, my good friend and OG Puffin Steve gave me his waist harness.   He’s a seat harness man, but found himself harnessless in Bonaire and bought the best thing he could find:  a Neil Pryde FreeSurf waist harness.   Now its mine.   And it drives me nuts.

The thing has too many bells and whistles.  Furthermore these bells and whistles (by which I mean straps and flaps) not only do absolutely nothing, they squirrel around and get in the way, popping out from behind the bar after an hour of windsurfing.   After several sessions I joked that I was going to start cutting all the extraneous crap off of the thing, but after a few more sessions I actually resolved to do it.  

So I am.

In the interest of science I’ve decided to do the amputations as a series; I’m not lopping off every offending part at the outset, in case I discover that some of them actually are (or were) valuable.

The first doohickey marked for death was the little strap that attaches to the harness belt, and all the associated clips and rings that hold it in place.   Understand that as the belt holds the harness on the windsurfer when the hook is disconnected, and even if this harness had no belt (or if the belt failed) this strap is too flimsy to hold the harness in place, it is utterly redundant.    So I cut it off a week ago.   Here are the sad little pieces:

I have sailed with the modified harness once, and no ill effects were noticed on the water or on land.   I showed my handiwork to Peconic Jeff, who couldn’t figure out where the strap had been.  When I showed him, he took a long puzzled look and then said “what did it do?”   

And so on.

So the first stage of cutting the nonsense off of the Neil Pryde harness is complete, and appears to be a complete success.   Unfortunately the removal of that silly strap did not alleviate problems created by another extraneous part…worse than extraneous; really…perhaps it’s a factory error.   I’ll be cutting that off next, and then we’ll see if the harness is just ridiculously designed, or if I’m a fool.  (Okay we know I’m a fool, but maybe not about this harness…)

Stay tuned.

SUP Bozo Sticker Controversy Resolved by SUPerDave?

Man I have been hearing from all quarters about the No SUP Bozo sticker post.   There are SUP'ers who are offended.  Kayakers who are hoping the sticker means SUP'ers will take some of the heat formerly directed at surf kayakers.   A kiter/windsurfer/surfer I sail with who suggests hypocrisy on my part because my van has an "if it was easy they'd call it kitesurfing" sticker.  And another guy wants me to buy some for him...I don't even know where he stands (rimshot!)  I should have been clearer in the original post:  I took the sticker as being anti-bozo, not anti-SUP, and that was what I got in conversation with the sticker's owner (Bill).

And that is also what I so gloriously get from the rear window of SUPerDave's ride...behold:

And a Montauk man to boot!   Pro-SUP, anti-SUP Bozo.  Works for me.   Meanwhile I'm never going to say "Stand Up or Shut Up" but I do like the "Wag more, bark less" sentiment.   I wonder if I'm gonna hear from cat people now...

(Photo by SUPerDave, as posted in the Stand Up Zone SUP forum.)

Predator Wave

No way would I want any piece of that thing.  It is magnificent, and I have much respect for the people who surf Mavericks.

This photo is from a collection on Facebook by Frank Quirarte.  The album of photos (taken at Mavericks on December 9th) is outstanding!

Return to Iron Pier

I hadn't sailed the Pier since January (nor had the rest of the crew, though a few of the guys caught a sesh there last week.)   It's not my favorite spot...for West wind I prefer Sebonac Inlet, and for NW Meschutt.   Iron Pier is chaotic on the outside, and on the inside there's no way to exit the water without abuse.   But in between the shore and the outside is some of the best jumping on port you can find on Long Island, so if you're in the mood to grab a piece of sky, Iron Pier works.

It was Frank, the Wolf, Scott and myself on smaller four meter sails (me 4.5 and 77 liter board) absolutely lit.   After a few hours the wind strengthened, and that was the cue to derig and call it a day.   Had the wind lightened a bit we might have seen Franks beautiful new RRD twin tip in action.  It's the coolest-looking board I've seen in awhile...the photos on the web do it no justice at all

Stand-Up Paddle Bozos Get Our Own Sticker

Big Bill Barber showed up at the last Sebonac Inlet windsurfing session sporting this "No SUP Bozo" sticker on his pickup truck.   I make it a point to agree with Bill on everything at all times, so given that I had just pulled up with a SUP board on my van's roof (and the certainty that whatever qualifies one as an SUP bozo I must surely be doing) I inquired delicately.  Bill takes his surfing quite seriously.

Happily it turns out that SUPing does not automatically confer bozo status...hogging waves, plowing through areas where regular surfers are down in the water, and letting a runaway SUP board threaten the lives of everyone else in the water get you that ticket.   Given that I keep my distance from surfers anyway, and that there are enough decent spots to paddle so we're all reasonably spread out, I am (so far) not an actual SUP bozo.   A clown, on the other hand...

The Cut Earns Its Name: Mecox Gets Dredged, There Be Seapoose Here

Last week Peconic Jeff and I went down past the Flying Point side of Mecox Bay to check out the surf at the Cut... the Cut so named because Mecox Bay is only an actual bay when the barrier beach that seals it off from the ocean is cut by the town (to lower water levels built up by rain over the months) or by the ocean (a big storm often does the trick.)   The water that runs one way or another is called (I swear) a seapoose.  Before you pooh pooh the seapoose you may want to check out that link...they've been seapoosing all the way back to the 1600's and beyond.

OKAY LET'S BRING THIS BACK TO WATERSPORTS!!!

The gentleman operating the big yellow digging machine stopped digging for awhile and came over to talk to us.   He explained that they weren't simply draining Mecox like they usually do, but instead were trying to deepen the channel to the middle of the bay...what he called "deep water" (what we call "six feet" there) in order to improve overall circulation, which should improve the health and mood of the resident shellfish (until they're boiled alive in fine kitchens.)  When we told him we windsurfed Mecox Bay and had noticed how it had been weedier and somewhat stagnant this past season he brightened considerably...we were people who actually noticed and appreciated the water state in the middle of the bay! So for Mecox windsurfers this is entirely good news...fresh perky water to shred from the Yacht Club and Flying Point launches. How about the ocean...how will the surfing break known as The Cut fair? For now we must wait and see, but the Puffin has been told that historically outflow from Mecox has improved the outer sand bars.

(Video: From Mecox to the Atlantic, watch the seapoose (and Jeff). Map adapted from Google Maps.)

OPW: Other People's Windsurfing

Missing a weekend session is terrible.  Ridiculous.  Bring the ridicule!   Yes I had to go to the wedding of a good friend, but still...it was blowing 4.7 at Meschutt, and I missed the previous day at Iron Pier.   Who am I?

(Top:  Air Wolf, Side:  Christian tears it up at Meschutt.   Photos by Peconic Jeff.)

I Sure Do Like Me The Look of This Wave

Peconic Jeff managed to get out through the shorebreak, but it looked to the Wolf and I like it was damn near impossible at Old Town Beach.   After watching Jeff catch an excellent ride on a seven foot wave, I decided to subject myself to the abuse one more time.   I made it through, the Wolf left, and about ten minutes later the shorebreak mellowed, and Jeff and I had a great afternoon in what we both declared to be the best SUP surfing conditions we'd ever had...generous, powerful waves 5-7 feet coming in nicely organized sets.    There were so many good waves that at times we just had to let them pass in order to rest.   Even the dues weren't bad!  

Jeff has more photos and a video montage of my ineptitude here.   Next time I'm going to wrench his camera away from him so I can capture his surfing...he was slashing and carving up the waves beautifully.

Andy Brandt Reveals Spring Windsurfing Clinic Dates for Napeague

"Reveals"...sounds like we took a course in marketeering.  Okay how about Andy Brandt just "told" the editors when he was planning to stop by with his merry crew of ABK windsurfing instructors, whip out the fairy dust and make us all better windsurfers?   'Cause that's what he's gonna do May 21-23 at the beautiful Lazy Point launch at Napeague.   What better way is there to prepare for the summer 2010 windsurfing season?   And for the advanced windsurfers out there, how else should you get ready for June's 2010 East Coast Windsurfing Festival?   

Mark your calendars.

(Make new windsurfing friends and see your old ones at ABK.  Photo by Peconic Jeff.)