The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Strange Finnage...There's More!

After starting a discussion about the turbo tunnel fin in the Aussie windsurfing forum Seabreeze some people posted shots of these fins.    The tubed windsurfing fins and split fins are taken from finmaker Deboichet's website.  I don't know the provenance of the unusual wooden surfboard setup.   Meanwhile discussions about the turbo fin seem to conclude that the fin is good on longboards for noseriding, but creates way too much drag for windsurfing.    So I'm thinking "what about putting one on a windsurfing board and sailing it fin first?"   Bizzarro freestyle possibilities?

Who Windsurfed Into North Sea Harbor Last Sunday?

I was out practicing light wind freestyle in Davis Creek Sunday when I thought I saw the top of a windsurfing sail over the dunes towards the Little Peconic Bay.    It would peak in and out between the dune but I never got a good look.    Then I saw it clearly (blue-green modern sail...looked like a 7.5) pass behind the Towd Point bridge entering North Sea Harbor.  An unknown windsurfer in the belly of Peconic Puffindom!    I wasn't in a position to get to NSH and take a look, but am certainly curious as to who it was.  So if it was you, please leave a comment!   Otherwise remain a mystery, and the Puffins will keep an eye out for you...

By the way, that's the first time I've seen a windsurfer navigate the inlet.   Hope you (he/she) caught the tide right on the way back out.

(Don't know where North Sea Harbor is?   It, along with 50+ more windsurfing locations, can be found on the Long Island Windsurfing Map.)

Strangest Fin Seen In 25 Years…Could It Work?

This skeg was spotted by Jeff out at Montauk a few days ago. It’s called the Turbo Tunnel Fin, and there are surfers who say the thing does many wonderful things…helps maintain speed through turns, improves nose riding, provides lots of drive and so on.

So of course I’m wondering what this design would do for a windsurfer. And if I should plug one into my SUP board (not that I’m remotely good enough to be able to evaluate SUP fin performance.)

Back when I started windsurfing there used to be some experimental or otherwise unusual fins advertised in the back of windsurfing magazine. I remember a fin with small holes running through the fin (to “channel water to prevent cavitation,”) a asymmetrical fin that would change shape depending on the reach it was on, an aluminum fin and so on. But this is the freakiest thing I’ve seen since the football fin, but unlike the football fin, it seems to have some fans.

(Top photo by Peconic Jeff.  Bottom photo from the Turbo Tunnel web site.

Jeff Sneaks In Some Down The Line SUP Sailing

Don't fault yourself if you missed Peconic Jeff's blog entry about his mighty SUP wavesailing session...he is, um, sparing in his blogging activity (better to check out his excellent photo site, but even there the offerings have been thin lately).   It turns out that Jeff caught an excellent SUP surf sailing sesh at Road L on Saturday, which he hogged for himself whilst the rest of the regular gang only dreamed about such things.  Read about it on Jeff's Windsurfing The East End.

Earlier in the day (Saturday) The Wolf and Peter and I caught some 4-6 foot SUP action at Tiana, which was pretty darn good.   I kooked the van packing and forgot my leash, but managed by borrowing the mini leash off of Remy's boogie board and attaching a windsurfing uphaul to get some length.     

Mast Stick In The Soup (Good Photo!)

I'm grooving on this photo.   That's OBX Bill of the mighty Bill's OBX Beach Life blog, bending it most interestingly while throwing a goiter.   Bill tells the Puffin "Yea, the mast is in the soup, and I believe the mast/sail flutter is caused by the loose leech and lighter wind/rig momentum on the inside during the sesh."   I originally thought the mast might be in the sand, as it sure looks shallow to me, but his OBXness says no.

There many more photos worth taking a look at in Bill's post.   The above shot is by Keith McCulloch.

Long Island Windsurfing on TV: Royal Pains

Tonight on USA, if you should turn on the dippy "Royal Pains" (which follows the exploits of a doctor serving the uber-rich in in the Hamptons) you can catch some of the Long Island fleet in the background (catch a few seconds in the video promo.)

In order to capture the Hamptons watersports scene, the producers decided to shoot at West Neck.  Go figure.  Actually West Neck is a beautiful spot (site of last October's Fall Regatta) and has lots of features that made it more amenable for a day of shooting than, say, Ponquogue or Napeague (I know these things.)

Windsurfers on hand adding spice, color, and general windsurfing excitement?  Kevin O'Shea reports the crew included Steve Domjan, Jill Marr, Buddha Mike, Dan, Christina Clement, Joanne, and K-Dog himself. 

The show airs tonight at 10 Eastern.

Redemption In The Waves (in three parts)

When last I reported from the SUP surfing front (my front, anyways) I could be heard whining mightily about what a bad time I was having, the amount of skin missing from my body, and various bits of property and self respect lost to the ocean. Then came last Friday.

Early morning Jon Ford said "meet me at the Cut for an early sesh". Out we paddled at 8AM, heading east into light breeze and minor about a quarter mile until we came to a very nice break. Five to Six foot waves were plentiful and tightly spaced, and twice we had sets of eight footers come through. The first set of 8's landed on our heads (we laughed) but the second set we rode.   I watched Jon do the steepest drop I've seen in my young wave career...the tail of his board was visible above his shoulder, and his face was that of someone who'd just jumped out of a window.  Two waves later I caught the best Left of my life and the best wave of my summer.   I was made whole.

After 90 good minutes of waves it was time to go, and I was so happy with the sesh that I didn't particularly mind getting creamed exiting the water (I timed my exit between beach breakers perfectly...almost.)

Then late in the afternoon I got the call to head to Road L.  Two sessions in one day?!  Yeah!   So I met the Wolf and Peconic Jeff and Jon (again) and George Pav and CD (who was switching back and forth between SUP and longboard with his son) and others on the water for some extremely clean four footers (with the occasional head-high set to catch your attention).   It was a playground.

After 90 good minutes of waves it was time to go.   Standing on the beach talking with Jeff for ten minutes, the ache in my arms started to subside, and then he said "you can't go now...there are still waves."  

So back I went.  Wave playground, yessirree.   After 90 good minutes of waves I was feeling beyond good.  I was back!

(Photos by Jeff.  Top:  The editor, happy again on a clean friendly bit o' Road L's playful swell.   Bottom:  There was the occasional head-high set.)

 

The Ocean: Knotsmith

Waves tied the knot above in my leash line in all of 20 seconds while I floundered in a riptide at the Cut.  That is a lot of threading and twisting for a twelve foot line...pretty cool marlinspike, methinks!  Photo by Remy.

Full report on a three-session SUP day coming as soon as I can get my hands on Peconic Jeff's photos.

Not A Great First Half For Wind

Racer Ted recently posed the question in the Yahoo Long Island Windsurfers Group if this Spring was especially poor for wind, or if this is what we get in New York (Ted's a recent arrival from Chi-town.)   More specifically, Ted asks about sailing days beginning in March (sissypants doesn't care to jibe around icebergs with the rest of us.)   I knew this had been a disappointing year so far, but a check of my own session records underlined it.

Here are my windsurfing day numbers from the last four years, March 1 through June 30:

2007:  36
2008:  28
2009:  32
2010:  16

2010:  So far a real pooper!   But as someone said, "thank god for surfing!"

If only I was any good at it. 

Everyone Has A Good Time SUPsurfing Tiana (Except Me)

"C'mon, it was a great day!"

Not for me.

"You're glad you were here!"

Nope.

"Every day in the water is a good day!"

I don't know about that.

The truth is I did in fact have a good time at Tiana on Sunday...for about 45 minutes.   There were plenty of six foot sets coming in (with the occasional meaty seven plusser that would get everyone howling) and it seemed like a great day was upon us.   But then the inside got choppy and the current fought to keep you in the impact zone, and I am the worst in the world at finding the channel to get back out.  90% of the time I just don't see it.    So after the first glorious 45 minutes, the rest of the day looked like my spending 30 minutes struggling to get back out (and getting pummeled) for every wave I caught.   An inventory of things I lost in the impact zone:

Skin on both knees

Skin on forearms

My hat

Remaining shreds of self respect.

At some point during the day I did catch one memorable ride, sharing a long left with Jeff, but mostly the day left me feeling grumpy.   I'll look back and laugh about it just as soon as I get back out there and have a decent time.   Meanwhile, an inventory of people who either had a good time or whose irrepressible joy was greater than mine includes:

Scott

The Wolf

Peconic Jeff

Peter

Christian

CD

CD's daughter, seen surfing a head high + wave and being ho-hum about it on the beach

CD's wife, whose gift of fried chicken revived me after my Atlantic beatdown.  

My Wife's Latest Speed Sailing Accessory: New Booties

Ladies love their new shoes.  My wife Sally grabbed some brand new Pro Limit booties (the "Global Series") fresh from the windsurfing store and took them for their maiden stompage at Napeague last Sunday, as a gang of us (Lili, Wilson, Dana, Andy, Sally and I) made the most of an afternoon thermal.   The wind was light (me on a borrowed 6.9…thank you Wilson!) but we were mostly planing ,  and after the session Sally couldn’t stop raving to me about her new booties. “I’m much more sensitive to the board than in my old booties, and I was able to make subtle adjustments for speed. Did you see me on the reach during the five seconds when I was keeping up with Dana?”

Dana, if you’ve never sailed with her, is fast. To keep up with her is to sail fast (and if you want to sail as fast as her, you’d best do it from behind. If she sees you matching her speed, she usually puts the hammer down and goes even faster. ) Sally attributes her taste of the Sisterhood of Speed to sensitivity gained from her new booties.   The next morning she was hounding me about the wind forecast…when can she get back out there and rip? 

(Sally's new booties, sans Sally, who was unavailable to model as of press time.)

SUP Surfing Is No Fun At All

Jon Ford of Hampton Watersports struggling to have a half-decent time in the waves at Tiana. Hey if you're reading this Sunday morning come meet us at Tiana...we're headed there for more of the same right now... (Photo swiped from Peconic Jeff's expanding Flickr album "Summer of SUP-2010".

Sunday Wave Outlook: Sweet

Sunday's forecast for wind may stink, but if you take the uni off your SUP board and grab a paddle, outstanding surfing may await you.  Swell Info is calling for clean, shoulder high and bigger.  My fingers are crossed.

(Photo of me kooking about at Road L Friday by Peconic Jeff. Yes, THAT Peconic Jeff, from whom we've had no photos in a long time. He's been too busy getting good at SUPsurfing. Also at the sesh: Scott, the Wolf, Jon Ford and Peter.)

Buddha Mike's New Windsurfing Art

Stonecarver Michael Jamieson is exploring new ways to combine windsurfing and stone. "Sunset Sesh" is ink on polished rainbow sandstone, with a limestone frame.  See how the grain in the stone looks like water, sky, clouds, and an island?  Sweet.

"In My Dreams" is also ink on polished rainbow sandstone, with bluestone, hudson river driftwood, and seashell frame.   I dream of boosting that kind of air myself.  Nice jump, Mike!

("Buddha Mike" Jamieson still brings the Buddhas (and other carved beauties) to Long Island windsurfing events.  Who is doing your statuary?

Photos of the art by Buddha Mike.  Photo of Buddha Mike with Buddha at the East Coast Windsurfing  Festival by the editor.)


 
 
 
THIS SPACE LEFT BLANK 'CAUSE IT WOULD BE A PAIN IN THE BUTT TO FILL IT WITH ANYTHING WORTHWHILE

A Great Poster, A Great Event: Techno 293 Nationals

That's a beauty (the poster).

That's a beauty (the event).

Both the Notice of Race and the registration form can be found on the web site.  Event organizer Nevin Sayre wants you to know the following:

"1/  Racing for the Gold Fleet begins Aug 3 with final check-in 1100-1200, Skipper's Meeting 1300, and first possible start 1330 per the Notice of Race (www.vhyc.org).  The Silver Fleet is welcome to practice Aug 3, but their official racing is Aug 4 & 5 only.  Note that at the US National Championships there are U19, U17, U15, and U13 age groups.

2/ The Silver Fleet for beginning racers is an important part of this event.  It is a great opportunity for new windsurfers to improve their skills quickly in a series of very short courses and to learn from our upcoming hot shots.  Several sailors have graduated from Silver to Gold Fleet in the last couple of years. If you can get upwind, you are qualified for the Silver Fleet.

3/  We have limited housing in private homes on a first come, first serve basis.  We can't promise to put up parents.  Additional accommodations is listed on the NOR.  

4/  If you are reserving a charter board ($75) please contact me directly at [email protected].   The charter includes board, fin, straps, and UJ.  Charter boards are available for purchase following the event.

5/  This event is part of the U.S. Sailing Junior Olympic series.

 Happy windsurfing,

Nevin Sayre"