I was whining like a bad Cabernet…
“I hate Iron Pier. I’m having no fun at all!
They looked at me with scorn and derision.
“I can never get comfortable here. I’m going to Sebonac Inlet.”
Scott had had enough of my nonsense. “If you’re not having loads of fun right now, something else is wrong.”
I hate Scott. But it was possible he had a point. All around me people were shredding the living daylights out of the incredible winds blowing from the northwest. Frank, Bill, Jan, Bruce, Fisherman, four Johns (Ford, Hulse, CPU and Natalie) Dr. Pain, Peconic Jeff and Scott were all having a great time. Heck, the John Natalie rule is he only sails when conditions are perfect, so what was wrong with me?
I decided to futz with my sail (a 3.4). Maybe it needed another inch of outhaul? An inch of additional outhaul on a 3.4 is like a foot of outhaul on a 5.0, but I was crazy overpowered. So I yanked, then launched, mostly to prove to myself how much I hated Iron Pier…and found myself suddenly in control…as much control as one has overpowered on a 3.4. I jumped some jumps, jibed some jibes, banked off of the five foot swell on the outside, then came back to shore to make a few minor adjustments.
“I LOVE Iron Pier,” I told Scott.
What a day Friday was! It was nuking…definitely one of the windiest sessions of my life. Besides needing the extra foot of outhaul, Jon Ford and Bill Barber were on 3’s…which meant I should have probably been on a 2.8. I had two jumps in which I hit the ramp heading slightly upwind, when gusts hit me mid-air and turned the jumps into back-loop attempts. I bailed on one, and stayed with the other (in which I got more than ¾ around)…I found sticking with it a much more comfortable landing.
So as I was saying the winds were big (a photographer from RiverheadLocal.com came out to document the craziness) people were jumping and leaping everywhere, and through it all the mad chimp cackle of Scott could be heard. At about 3PM the wind strengthened (really) and everybody came in. 40mph gusts are a bit much.
Saturday the wind was a bit more onshore (bad) but it was lighter (the same 3 meter sails from Friday were no longer overpowered) and I was loving Iron Pier again, along with many of the same folks from Friday, plus CD. I wrote “bad” after “more onshore” above ‘cause that’s what all the good guys were saying, but personally I found things to be quite agreeable. Perhaps it was the light winds…at one point I had to rig up to (gag) a 4.0. When 4.0 is for the lighter winds, you know it’s blowing.
It was a great pair of days at the pier. You know I love the Pier!
(All photos except for Jon Ford ripping a jibe are borrowed from Riverheadlocal.com's photo essay of Friday's sesh, taken by Peter Blasl. Great shots...thanks for stopping by, Peter! Jon's jibe photo by Jeff Schultz.)
witnessing everyone blasting with floppy top 3's is really something. Nice pics. Looks like yet another fan of newer sail range!
Posted by: ralph | October 18, 2010 at 08:01 AM
Awesome post - thanks for sharing and the pic really make it.
Tom O'Brien
@tomob
Posted by: Tom O'Brien | October 18, 2010 at 11:29 AM
VERY NICE. We all scored off this one
Posted by: G Markopoulos | October 18, 2010 at 08:19 PM