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.

Comments

[ralph]

dang. lucky. I'm jealous- I want one too. We haven't had any weekend waves in a while down here. Anybody get any vids or pics?

[bowsprite]

the Good Puffin Dance!

[Ted Bretter]

What's a tophaul? The plug at the top of the sail?
Oh, speaking of derigging at sea, I have an old article that is criticial and everyone show know it for derigging at sea as I learned the hard way, what not to do. The key to the article is always keeping everything attached so you can't lose anything.

[Michael]

The tophaul is the strap that holds the plug or cap at the top of the sail. On smaller, high wind sails the tophaul is often adjustable (this is when you see the mast sticking up from the top of the sail) On a closed top (most sails over 5.0) there is no tophaul, just the cap or plug that joins with the mast tip.

[PhilMcPhilly]

Derigging at sea, a bit of an art form. I learned before and during an instructor training course in 198? Still managed to lose half a mast to the bottom of Manhasset Bay during a long paddle home, through not having the whole thing tied up snug enough, one time back in the day.