The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Winter Windsurfing Spirit...These People Have It

When it comes to winter windsurfing, the community of lunatics I sail with is about as stoked as any out there.   I just stumbled over a photo collection of these windsurfers in Norway, who appear to be true brothers and sisters in cold weather spirit.   Found it on The Horse's Mouth (a most excellent blog for all things wonderful or weird on the water...also pretty girls and fish.) Thanks, Joe!

Scott Looks Mahvelous, and a Meschutt Fashion Review

Five of us sat in Scott’s pickup, eyeing the conditions from the Meschutt parking lot.   Every time there was a lull Scott whined that it was dead.  Every time there was a gust Jon Ford said it looked like 4.2.   The Wolf noted how grumpy Scott was, I made dumb jokes, and Peconic Jeff took it all in.

After about five minutes of this I noticed Scott’s hair.   It was looking quite good.  He appeared positively coiffed, and I was moved to comment.

“Scott, your hair is looking exceptionally good today.”

“What?” Scott replied.

“Your hair IS looking good,” Jon agreed.

“I got a haircut,” the Wolf interjected.   The Wolf did indeed look clean cut and keen, but there was no doubting that on this particular morning, Scott was taking the spotlight as a very handsome man.  Even Jeff agreed.  I began taking photos of Scott.

“What’s wrong with you people?” Scott demanded.   Then Frank pulled into the parking lot, a big gust shook the pickup, and the Scott Admiration Society disbanded to rig.

I went with a 4.5 and the 77 liter FreeWave, and was first on the water, pleasantly lit.  The freshly shorn Wolf followed soon after on a 4.2, which was the sail call for everyone else save mighty Jon on his 4.7. 

Someone noted that in this wind range Scott, Jon and the Wolf were all on blue Maui Sails (what my wife would call a “blue story”) which seemed nice except that yellow Jeff and the red contingent of myself and Frank were left out in the cold.  Speaking of which, both Scott and I were sporting some new heavy winter booties (warm, comfy, and lending a pleasing line to the drysuit legs) whilst Jeff sailed with new gloves and a personalized twist to his facemask.   The air was 34 degrees (water temp 41, for a “hundred rule” total of 75…pretty frickin cold) so our winter wear needed to be both fashionable AND functional.   When snow started to blow I donned sunglasses (Scott grabbed construction goggles) but these both fogged pretty quickly, so off they came.

The tide was near high, but before high tide the ramps were quite jumpable, and some faux backside waveriding was to be had.   During our frequent breaks to warm hands we’d huddle around Scott’s propane heater and wave our mitts in front of it, making sure to remove them before steam started to rise or plastic melt.  Jon sat in front of the thing at one point and began to lean back before Scott and I shouted, preventing a three inch hole from being burnt in.   Finding a tailor who could have mended that attractively would have been a bitch.

(Photos from top: Scott and Frank tear it up and mix colors, Scott is mystified by the crowd of admirers, Jeff sports new gloves, nose protection, and the cutest black bow atop his helmet, the editor warms his hands whilst Scott rigs.  All photos by Jeff except for the Jeff shot, by the editor.)

Perfect moment in a windsurfing video (and a history lesson, too.)

I first saw the jump sequence in Robby Naish's R.I.P. video back in the 90's. I thought then (and still think now) "that's all I want to be able to do. That's all I ask for." A humble wish. Yeah. Jump like Robby. This video opens with the sequence, and just for good measure at 20:55 Robby goes sky again. The video is "Wind and Water, the Invention of Windsurfing" by Bill Weir, or a demo reel of his documentary. Bill fell to cancer in 2009, meanwhile this video is making the rounds. I found it on the NC Paddle Surfer blog. You will not regret watching the whole thing. Much stokage and good feelings to be had. Thank you Bill Weir for making this.

Wind & Water - the Invention of Windsurfing from Joseph Schuster on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas!

My favorite Christmas card, naturally, which says "original design by Roz Davis".   Thanks again Roz!

Can Sparkles Help Us Get Air?

There's an eight year old out there who knows the recipe for the secret food of Christmas reindeer.  "I feed the reindeers sparkles—sparkles and oatmeal," Jory Atkins says. "Sparkles help them fly and oatmeal gives them something to eat."   I eat plenty of oatmeal...maybe what's between me and Big Air is a spoonfull of sparkles.

From the Ministry of Silly Walks

What say ye, John Cleese?

Thank you Mark Paine for hooking me up.

Possible Weekend Nor'easter

Weather.com (the Weather Channel online) says there's a chance of a nor'easter hitting Peconica on Sunday.   They're also calling for highs of 37 degrees on Sunday.  

My usual cutoff these days is 38 degrees, but it's been over a week since I've sailed or paddled (okay five days but it's GONNA be a week come Saturday) so I may have to call Peconic Jeff and appeal to his inability to say No to any water time.

Let's see what the wind and wave gods bring.

New Guys, Early Birds and Good Times in the Rain

It was the Bowl, of course.  Bowl=rain. Scott was there early…I was contemplating coffee in bed at 8AM when I got the text. And he called Bill even earlier! But Sally was sick in bed, so I did the Good Husband Dance for 25 minutes before leaping into the van.

Arrived to find Scott and Frank on the water, and Bill, Peconic Jeff and the Wolf watching S&F’s underpowered antics (Frank on a 5.0, Scott 4.7 and 85 liters planing on the outside, on the inside not so much.) I rigged the 5.3/93 liter plank and joined them, while Bill/P-Jeff/Sir Wolf still watched.  I planed off the beach as they got rigging.

The waves were 5-7 feet , crumbling instead of breaking (“like Gardiners,” Frank noted) and made for great backside riding and big-swell jibing. I finally broke my mechanical wavesailing approach (jumping heading out, wave riding heading in) by following Bill outbound and working the waves rolling into the belly of the Bowl (fortunately there was enough wind in there to get out with no trouble.) It was like that for about an hour.

Folks kept arriving while many of us came in to rig down...me to a 4.5, “folks” = Jon, George, Christian, Fisherman, Jan and Bruce, Florian (a Mighty Man of Demo come east) and three ocean newbies: Guy, Gavin and Casey.   What Guy, Gavin and Casey lacked in experience they sure made up for in enthusiasm and camaraderie…they launched as a pack, jibed as a pack (or fell as a pack) and learned as a pack. I look forward to seeing them again!   

Jeff blew a tophaul (“ya gotta keep an eye on those,” noted the Wolf) about 500 yards from the launch. Jon Ford pulled up, provided some valuable tips on derigging at sea, and later met Jeff on the beach and assisted with the shlep. But it was time for Jeff to rig down anyway.

I had to leave at noon (for The Good Husband Dance, Part II), but most of the gang sailed on well into the afternoon while the waves got even bigger (Jeff calling them 9-13 feet.) Last man off the water was Bill.

I want another day just like it, ASAP.

A Bowl Game on Sunday?

Thus speaks NOAA:

Se winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt

Air temps forecasted for the balmy mid 40's.

Low tides are before dawn and after sunset, so methinks an early sesh in the morning.

What say ye, men of wind and waves?

Catherine makes a drysuit joke

Recently while socializing with some non-windsurfing friends named Catherine and Anthony, the question of how I stayed warm while winter windsurfing came up, and I explained  about drysuits, how they worked, and how we could actually be hot in our drysuits.

Later, discussing a home improvement project, I noted that doing carpentry work in our unheated barn can get quite uncomfortable in the winter months.   This caused Catherine to say “Why don’t you just put on your DRYSUIT when you go to the barn?”  and then burst out laughing at her own joke.

Ha ha very funny.

(Photo of me dressed to shred Meschutt or cut some wainscoting is by Jeff.)

Yin Yang, Hot Cold, Loose Tight

I’m thinking about polarities today.   About a beautiful warm wave session in the rain, and a fine bump session, freezing under a brilliant sun.  And about the correct tightness of certain fastenings.

Twelve sails were on the water Wednesday morning at the Bowl!  Classic Bowl conditions…waves 5-6 feet high, sails generally 4.2-4.7, and the inevitable Bowl rain keeping us warm.   To spectators who drove up to watch it looked like howling misery (“you guys are crazy!” was oft heard) but the swell made for sweet jibing, the waves were friendly, and we were frankly warm if not hot in drysuits and 5/3’s.

Saturday at Sebonac Inlet was another story.   Under a perfect blue sky the sun was so blinding that we needed to squint on starboard.    It was beautiful, and it was cold…the first day of the year I saw anyone do the cold hand dance, the first time I needed to take a break to let my paws acclimate, and the first time the hole in my left bootie caused me to cut a session short…new booties and sunglasses are called for!  Still, we caught several fine hours of 4.7-5.2.  

About strap tightness:  The Wolf didn’t tie down his boards quite tightly enough Saturday…one of them is still out there on Rt. 27.  Oops.    And I failed to adjust the back footstrap on the FSW 93 for my heavy (if holey) booties…pulling up to the shore at Sebonac I stepped off with my front foot, and then fell sideways with my back hoof stuck in the strap.   Five comical seconds of floundering later I managed to carry my gear on shore, at which time Jeff proclaimed my performance “a real Puffin landing.”

Such is the standard I set.

(The Wolf outbound at the Bowl...photo by Thomas.)