The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

NYC Waterblogger Fest II: The Mini Version

Twas nearly a year ago that about a dozen bloggers interested in all manner of watercraft convened for introductions, conversation and beer at the venerable Ear Bar in downtown New York City.  Last Friday night a subset of that bash returned to the Ear, where we discussed the sacred (clean oceans) the profane (Coney Island whitefish) and our blogs, and we all generally had a grand time.  In attendance:  Frogma’s Bonnie, Bowsprite’s Christina, Tugster’s Will, and your editor. (Adam of Messing About in Boats) was a co-conspirator who had to drop out at the last moment.)    Pix below…




(Photos from the top: Tugster Will, Bowsprite Christina, the editor and Frogma Bonnie shout out two great waterblogs far far away, Proper Course and The Horse's Mouth, Christina and Will disagree on the size of Coney Island waterfauna seen on the beach, the editor will tell his shark story to anyone who'll listen, Bonnie's drawing of the shark chasing me, and my iPhone's trippy low light shot of Bonnie, who took all the rest of the photos but the top one.)

Jeff’s Fantastic SUP Photo

When Peconic Jeff sent me this photo I was blown away.  What did he do…bring a cinematographer with him?   The light was amazing at Ponquogue as the sun got low that day, and this photo captures the color perfectly.

The image a frame from some video he shot with his camera mounted on his paddle.   He’s edited that material together into a new piece you can see on his blog. He's also got information and links on how he set up us camera if you want to try this yourself.

Chores Kill Windsurfing

I have now officially gone a month without windsurfing.   It’s been three years since that last happened (Feb 06).  If you are not part of the Long Island lunatic cold water fringe (of which there are many)  this may not sound like anything to complain about, but it is.  Even Mike Burns was bitching about the lack of conditions (and when does Mike complain?)

But there was undeniably windsurfable wind on one day.  Last Monday.   Scott and CD and I don’t know who else caught it at Mattituck (Mike caught it mid-island) but I was tied up with chores.  Not even work..CHORES!  It was so mind-boggling that Scott hung up the phone on me in complete baffletude.   But it was true.  And I wasn’t the only one victimized by chores.  Peconic Jeff was off the water too, suffering from a strained leg and hip, as well as a tweaked knee, all inflicted on him during a bout of housecleaning.

Chores=bad for windsurfing.

My Latest, Greatest New Bit of Cold Weather Gear: Earplugs

I’d heard of Swimmers Ear, Surfers Ear, whatever ear…some problem with too much cold water in your ears.  It never happened to me windsurfing in winter…maybe a few drops would get beneath my hood but it never seemed like a problem.   Then two weeks ago I got rolled mightily by some waves during a SUP session, and the 41 degree water was a real kick in the…ear?   I’d get back on my board with my ear in some pain and a vague feeling of nausea.  After about fifteen seconds above water the badness would pass but I resolved to try some plugs for my next session.

So I wore a pair of wax disposable earplugs (the kind for sleeping) while SUPing a few days ago.  And while once again I got rolled in some very cold impact zone water, my ears were fine.   Yes they slightly reduced my ability to hear, but not so much that I'd consider not wearing them for cold water wavesailing or surfing (when the underwater experience is most intense.)  Also it seemed that the plugs helped keep the rest of my head a tiny bit warmer (that was probably just in my head...like the plugs) but hey I’ll take imagined warmth along with the real.

Nantucket Sleighride

We scored a solid SUP session yesterday.   The other guys had been scoring them all week, but I’d been in the city so yesterday’s 4-6 footers at Ponquogue were a big treat.

T’was me, Peconic Jeff and Jon Ford (Scott and the Wolf showed up too, but a pressing conversation kept them off the water.)  Both Jeff and I had video cameras mounted on our paddles to capture the excellent action to be.   The waves were mostly peaking in a single spot, but every now and then a big set would come through, and they always seemed to form about 50 yards further out.   The biggies were great to catch, but as often as not they caught us too far in, so there was plenty of mad paddling to clear them before getting rolled mightily towards shore.

Several times yesterday I had the new (and alarming) experience of being in the water as a large wave approached in which I’d manage to clear the wave but my board would caught, be pulled over the falls, and then drag me by my leash line, fast.   So fast and hard was that pull that I could not get to the surface, and instead was being trolled like some gigantic fishing lure at high speed.   Or an underwater Nantucket sleigh ride.    Shortly before I was going to call it a day my leash wrapped around the camera mount after a fall…

Then came a big, meaty wave…

Sleighride began with a mighty yank…

And when I finally got back on the board, I found the camera mount had been pulled apart.  No camera.

Somewhere in the watery sands at Ponquogue is my little sports video camera.  It’s got some great footage on it, but truth be told the thing was distracting me from surfing, and I suspect I’ll be quite happy only thinking about catching waves (and avoiding sleighrides.)

I’ll bet Jeff got some exciting footage, though!

(Photo:  Jeff on the good side of a wave, as captured by his paddlemounted camera.  How cool is that?  He has more great stills (and video too, I'll wager) and when he puts some online I'll link to whatever I can't steal.)

The Minardi Beach Cam Has a Great View

It must not be "search engine optimized" or whatever, but I've never come across the Minardi Beach Cam in my searches for an eye on the water.    But back on Monday when a few of us were wondering if the surf would be worth checking out, I was struggling to divine swell conditions from the Cooper Beach cam when the Wolf suggested I try the Minardi.

"The what?" I asked?

"The Minardi cam," said the Wolf, looking at me (as he so often does) like I was an idiot.

So I did.   And it not only showed us waves, but it did so with better perspective and clarity than the other available cams, in my opinion (three angles helps!)  So I've added it to the list of local windsurfing condition links in the right hand column.  Check it out.   It doesn't update anywhere near as often as the Gilgo and Cooper cams, but it's a fine view when it does.  Heck, use them all.

iPhone Wind Meter Update

I've previously mentioned that the iPhone's 99 cent Wind Meter App is about as accurate as some $70+ hand held windmeters (though you don't want to get your iPhone wet.)  The creators of the app are now proud to announce that they've updated it to work on the new 3GS iPhones as well (it always worked on my 3GS but apparently that was unusual.)

So the update is out there.  It now has a display that swings around to point at you if you hold the iphone horizontally and point the bottom of the phone into the wind.  I find I get more accurate (ie more like what everyone else's windmeters say) results if I hold the thing perpendicular to the wind, though.

In any event, nothing else in windsurfing costs a buck (what's a downhaul running you these days?  And don't be cheap...get the Formuline!)

(The editor gets best results holding the iPhone like so.  Photo by Peconic Jeff.)

Denied by Sailing Launches, We SUP Ponquogue in the Wind

I can’t believe we didn’t windsurf yesterday, but that’s how it went.  It was blowing about 25 from due North, and the plan was to sail Meschutt.   I hadn’t even left yet when Scott called:  “The Wolf says Meschutt is iced out…we’re heading to Sebonac!”

Fine with me.  Who doesn’t like Sebonac Inlet?   But with an already high and still rising tide, Sebonac Inlet had “no conditions” according to the guys…it was blowing, but the water was flat with some disorganized chop.   “Let’s go to the Pier!”

The Pier isn’t iced.   And it has plenty of wind.   But it also has the gnarliest shorebreak I’ve ever seen.   Do I have to launch, or can I just walk my rig over to the dumpster and toss it in?  Worse even than Mattituck Inlet’s beach break (actually it looked just like Mattituck, except while Mattituck’s demonic churn only extends about 8 feet out, the crazy scene at the Pier went for 30 yards.

Note to self:  Don’t go to Iron Pier for North Wind on a rising tide.

The Wolf still wanted to try it, but we also had the afternoon in mind, which was forecasted to feature some fine ocean swell around 3pm.   So we saved ourselves, which was wise, and caught a few hours of five (with the occasional six) foot swell.  It was Jon Ford, Peconic Jeff and myself stand-up paddle surfing, Scott doing his “SDS” (sit down surfing in a surf ski) while the Wolf (still nursing a knee tweaked at our New Year’s Day SUP session) decided to watch instead.  Also watching were some seals, one of which had a head the size of a basketball.

This was my first experience paddlesurfing into an offshore wind.   If you’ve never done this, the problem is you need to paddle extra hard to match speed with the waves, and even when you’re just upon the wave you need to put more weight forward to stop the wind from holding the nose of the board up.   And every once in awhile the wind just grabs the edge of the board (with you on it) and flips it, for fun.    It makes you realize how much we windsurfers depend on mast base pressure to trim the board.

Water temp was 41 degrees, btw.   Getting rolled by a meaty five footer in 41 degree water was not a treat.   Even worse if you were rolled into sand as you could bust a board...Peconic Jeff commenti:

"That board was a loaner with a crack across the nose from a previous owner. Jon had graciously (foolishly?) pulled it from "flat-water only" status while repairing the tail of my own board. Somehow I safely managed over a half-dozen sessions, including many overhead bombs from the Old Town session and the New Year's Day Spectacular, as well as yesterday's. Unfortunately, all it took was a nose-plant on the shore in front of some psycho cross-waves for the crack to re-open. Not quite "snapping the nose off" as first reported by the Puffin, but still a bummer.

Fortunately for me, the Wolf graciously (foolishly?) lent me his board for the rest of the afternoon."

Graciously, methinks.

Sunday or Monday May Happen (Ambitionous Unreasonablus?)

Some wind and swell may be headed our way.  Maybe light wind wavesailing or SUP Sunday (low tide 3:30) and perhaps Dawn Patrol for Monday AM's NE 25?   I'm probably suffering from a case of Ambitiounous Unreasonablus, compounded by a chronic case of Water Time Deprivation.

Help the Red Cross Help Haiti

Haiti and the Haitians are in a world of hurt.  I fantasize about being a doctor and joining Doctors Without Borders, or flying a helicopter for the Red Cross, or doing some other heroic thing to help.  But those aren't my skills.   The Red Cross says what they need are donations to "The International Response Fund" so it was a no-brainer to do that.  I found the phone to be faster than the website.  Here's their contact info:

Red Cross website:  https://american.redcross.org/
Phone: 1-800-RED CROSS  (1-800-435-7669)

I also mentioned Doctors without Borders:
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/
Phone: 1-888-392-0392

Cold Blue Sails

Peconic Jeff has the eye.  He points the camera and out pop photos like this.  That's Scott and the Wolf, with their Maui sails at Iron Pier picking up the blue of the Long Island Sound.  Very nice.  From a late December session that I missed.

  

I Live in a Windless, Waveless, Frozen Hell

It's been a bleak January so far.  And looking forward, the forecast calls for light winds, subfreezing temperatures, and flat surf conditions.

By this time last year I’d scored three count’em three wavesailing sessions.  The same for the year before.   Now even with the addition of SUPsurfing (wind?  we don't need no steenking wind) I only have one day on the water…and that was ten days ago.

I used to ski.  CD says I should snowboard.   But I’m obsessed with wet water.

2010 Windsurfing Resolutions

Another year, another set of goals:

Better wave riding.  Catching the waves (more), bottom turns (on the wave, not in the flats), cutbacks (with some velocity from better bottom turns).   That goes for SUPing as well as windsurfing.

Jumps…more attempts on starboard still, and on port be more Pilot than Projectile.

Freestyle as conditions warrant.  If I can plane on 5 meters, then loop and duck tack.   If it’s lighter, then other carving freestyle.  If it’s nonplaning, then get an anklebiter.

Stay healthy.  A lot of the guys had down time this year due to on-the-water injuries and tweaks, and I’ve got an old shoulder injury that’s been complaining to me lately.  As I have no interest in sailing less aggressively, this means taking plenty of breaks/advil/ice packs as needed.

How’d I do on my 2009 goals?  I made 3 out of 5, but the big misses (and one success, let’s be fair) were due to the confluence of conditions and the calendar):

Sail Demo.   Failure… Never got there.  One day the stars will align for me (and Pete says I'll like it more than the Bowl!)

Sail Hatteras (ocean side).  Success!   The wind and waves were nothing much to write home about, but I scored (and there were dolphins!)  Next time will be better, though.

Jumps (better control and height on port, any jumps at all on starboard.)  Success, though no exclamation mark.   The big gains were on starboard, where I’m jumping with more frequency and occasionally getting some modest height.   On port the gains were small.

More sessions with my wife.  Failure.  Blame the wind (again.)  Summer was terrible for wind.

Improve on freestyle.   Success.   Got my first planing exit out of a backwinded jibe, but more importantly making serious efforts to loop.  

Here's to the New Year!

(Photo:  Contemplating 2010 after a wintery sesh.)

Taking A Knife to a Neil Pryde Harness, Part Two

As previously discussed here, I've been taking a razor blade to my Neil Pryde FreeSurf harness, cutting away apparently useless (and certainly annoying) flaps, straps and tabs in an effort to make the harness more user-friendly.   The original harness appeared to have pieces that not only served no purpose, but which would work their way out from under the spreader bar during a session, looking bad and sometimes interfering with hooking in.

The first procedure (removal of a meaningless strap and its support loops and thingamabobs) worked so well that I went ahead and cut off a flap sewn into the middle of a section of velcro.   I could not figure out what this flap was intended to do, nor could anyone else I showed it to, so off it came.

The harness performs much better now.  I wouldn't say I recommend purchasing one, but if you already are in possession of a Neil Pryde FreeSurf, I encourage you to lop all this stuff off.  It's worked for me!

(Top:  Peconic Jeff (a clever guy) stands mystified by the offending flap.  Bottom:  Closeup of the flap, which prevents a solid velcro connection while protecting nothing.  My new theory is that this harness might be from a batch of factory errors, though the mighty Mike Burns says this isn't the first harness he knows of that couldn't be improved with a knife.)

A Most Excellent SUP Session on New Year’s Day

This was the way to start the new year.  Oh yes.  I hadn’t even had time to write up my list of things I want to do in 2010 before I was doing one:  catching some fine waves on the SUP board with friends.

T’was Jeff (going left in the photo*,) the Wolf Jon Ford and your editor (along with two dozen surfers) at Ponquogue, enjoying set after set of 4-5 footers.  What some lacked due to slight mushiness was more than made up for by the long rides (Jon Ford caught one epic left that took him halfway to Cupsogue,) the waves were setting up all over the place so there was plenty of room for everybody, and there were so many good waves that at times I had to let a few beauties pass just to rest.  In other words, we had a blast.     

Just about the time the Wolf and I were going to call it quits (obligatory New Years Day events) the Wolf tweaked his knee.   Jeff towed him in while stayed alongside.*  Back on the beach John was fine, and it was time to pack up and go home (except for Jeff, who made up for a late arrival by surfing all afternoon!)

 *I learned a significant difference between windsurfing and surfing when it comes to helping someone get back to shore.    In windsurfing it’s a good idea for someone to sail behind the struggling sailor, to keep an eye on things and generally have their back.   With this instinct I began paddling behind the Wolf as Jeff towed him…until a wave came along and almost dropped me on top of both of them!   So I pulled up along side John instead.

Here’s some video shot by the Wolf and Jeff, and edited by Jeff:

*I previously and erroneously identified the leftbound SUPer as the Wolf.  Alas it is Jeff.   The red board should have been all I needed to see (the Wolf surfs blue).  I blew it.  Blue it.  Bloo...