The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

48 Gusting to 59 Nuker

The sail call was 2.7 to 3.0, but we didn’t own anything that small.  So instead Scott, Jeff, the Wolf and I got blown apart on 3.2-3.7 rigs.   When Scott (wind tester this day) told me he’d had his rig (3.7) blown out of his hands twice, I moved the harness lines on my 3.4 an inch forward of the balance point.   I wanted the sail to naturally trim to sheeted out.  Sheeting in for power was strictly for lulls.

I launched.  Being overpowered on a three meter sail is its own special madness.  You have to turn your head a bit downwind in order to keep your eyes open, and the wind on your back actually becomes a factor.   I went for a jibe (certain to fail) and lucked into a lull, meaning that the relatively light 30mph winds felt like hands on my back shoving me through the turn.  Jibes were a triumph in this chaos (everybody scored.)

I watched Scott catch some nice air on his Acme Rocket board.  At the jump’s apex he was annihilated by a gust.  I thought:

“And the rocket’s red glare!  Scott bursting in air!"

It was bananas windy.  Liquid smoke, of course.   Once during an insane gust I decided to bury the tail and fall backward…as soon as the rig was parallel to the water the wind generated so much lift that I caught air…from shlogging board speed.   Do you ever find yourself sailing and thinking “the perfect sail size right now would be an X.x?   I do.  This day I kept thinking 2.8.  I would have ripped on a 2.8.

(From top to bottom: Scott and the Wolf work to keep their boards in the water. The editor jams the boom down to keep the board from blowing out of the bay in a jibe. Jeff lays the rig down in a 50+mph gust. The Shinnecock wind meter tells the tale (we sailed from about 10:30 to 1:30). Photos by Peconic Jeff and the editor.)

Can you meet Gale for Lunch today?

Thus spake NOAA:

S winds 20 to 25 kt with gusts up to 35 kt late this morning...then becoming SW 25 to 30 kt with occasional gusts up to 50 kt this afternoon.

The place to be could be Mattituck, or South Jamesport, or New Suffolk.

 

The Sand Was Blowing (great photo)

The Wolf and Scott look for sand blowing on the beach before they rig.  How does this look, gentlemen?

This fine photo was taken by Janis Markopoulos for her husband George's blog Live to Sail at his session last Saturday in Deleware.   Nice shot Janis (I liked all the others too!)

 

Windy and Well Chilled Saturday

The actual inlet at Sebonac Inlet connects Bullhead Bay to the Great Peconic Bay.   Driving to Saturday’s session I saw that Bullhead was still largely frozen over.   The water may be liquid at the inlet, but it was going to be frickin’ cold.

No matter.   The wind was honking (“4.2?” Scott guestimated) the air was above 40 (by a degree) and the sun was out.  We wuz going windsurfing.    I rigged the 4.5 while Scott noted my lack of socks, stuck it on my 77 and took off like a happy shot, soon followed by Frank and Mathias (newly arrived from Europe).  Scott, Peconic Jeff and Christian got rigging.  

After about 90 minutes (and the arrival of the Wolf and CPU John) I was on shore warming up, exchanging ice-cream headache notes with Frank (two seconds underwater was enough) ramp discussion with Jeff (large clean ones to the west by the clubhouse) and wind notes with Scott (“No holes!” Scott insisted over my protests.)

Scott and I launched and sailed down to the beginning of the bluffs, at which point the wind jumped a sail size and a half.   Following a half hour of strong gusts a number of us got tired of survival sailing and went in to rerig.    By the time I got back on the water with a 4.0, I had two issues:  shot arms (not enough windsurfing this year) and whitecaps having their tops ripped off by megagusts.    Not quite liquid smoke, but it seemed like an excellent opportunity to call it a day and perhaps save some energy for tomorrow’s sesh (the sesh that was frozen out.)

As I derigged Fisherman and Jeremy from Montauk arrived to try their hands at the bay.  Jeff reported that within the hour everyone was getting blown off the water.

A fine day.  Any day you catch a session in February is a fine day!

(Top:  Christian catches his first 2011 session.  Bottom:  Mathias catches his first Long Island session...we look forward to seeing him at a hundred more!   Photos by Jeff

The Sound of Wind vs The Gleam of Ice

Woke up to the sweet sound of 30 knot gusts.   Looked out the window...in the distance the Little Peconic was covered in whitecaps...good!   Looked closer...the creek was covered in ice...not so good!   Looked closest...the thermometer read 19 degrees...not good at all.

No windsurfing for me today.   Fortunately there was plenty yesterday, but I'm still working on that post.

Time to do the chores...

Saturday? Think Sebonac Inlet

NOAA is calling for big time westerlies:

     Sat:  W winds 25 to 30 kt with gusts up to 45 kt. Seas 4 to 7 ft.

I'm thinking about rigging the 3.4 and my smallest fin, strapping on a helmet and heading for the sand bar.   Just drive down to the end of Sebonac Inlet Road.

Cry of a Waterman in Misery Answered!

I hadn’t windsurfed or SUPed in over a month, and I’ve been whining.   So when last weekend’s forecast foretold wind and thawing temperatures, I sent the following email to my brethren, crying for aquatic companionship:

"I have not had a boom or paddle in my hand for over a month.    My calluses are nearly gone.  When I hear "Wave" I raise my hand and move it back and forth.  Sail?  A chance to save money!

I am a pathetic quivering mass of THE NEED TO GET ON THE WATER!

It's true.  Of course that's always true, but it's especially true now.  Please help!"

Scott replied immediately, others soon after.  It was on!

Saturday

After a brief bit of ice sailing at Mecox (thank you Jeff Slechta for the borrowed board) Scott, the Wolf, Pete Roesch and P-Jeff headed to Tiana.  5.3 sails, side-off conditions, and windblown waves 4-5 feet…let the good times roll!  Jon Ford and Fisherman came by too but stayed in their vehicles.  They were gurlymen (or they’d been getting their share over the last month and were not as desperate as me, as habitually obsessed as P-Jeff and Scott, or as much a fan of side off conditions as Pete.)

While the sailing was fine, the currents were such that several walks back to the launch were required.   After a particularly long walk I was met by a wind chimp chorus (Fisherman, Jon and the Wolf) who proclaimed “It is time for you to learn the overhead carry!”

And so it was.  I’d tried it before but it didn’t work for me.  Because I was doing it wrong.  Jon gave me a demonstration, and now I’ve got it (Thanks guys!)

Other highlights:  some fine waveriding by Pete and Jeff.

Sunday

We returned to Tiana…5.3 again (but side-on) with fast moving current at the shoreline.  How fast?  About as fast as the wind…the moment you dropped the board’s tail in the water you had to jump on, and then once up you needed to bear off and pray for a gust to get you through the shorebreak.   I tried for 30 minutes to get out, failing miserably (though I did get to try out my spanking new head carry a couple of times after being washed 100 yards down the beach x2.)  Then I swapped out the 93 liter board for the 109. After 15 minutes of continued failure I was so disgusted I decided to leave.   THEN I was so disgusted with the humiliation of being rejected (everyone else had managed to get out) that I continued the battle.   And finally made it out.   Even had a good time.

I’m back.

Top Ten Reasons For Women To Date A Windsurfer (Valentines Day encore)

Ladies, are you still searching for that special someone?   Consider looking amongst the windsurfers:

10. The ratio of men to women is 4 to 1.
  9.  They can talk about something besides football.
  8.  They don’t smell too bad because it’s a good bet they’ve gotten wet recently.
  7.  They have another interest besides sex.
  6.  You know they’re rich enough to afford windsurfing equipment.
  5.  You always get the latest weather report, several times a day.
  4.  They are capable of commitment, at least to their sport.
  3.  They have no issues about wearing rubber.
  2.  You always know where they are, at least when it’s windy.
  1.  Windsurfers are generally fit, tanned, and have cute butts.

Non-windsurfing men should NOT...repeat NOT...pursue windsurfing women, unless they are prepared to immediately throw themselves into the sport.  Otherwise such men will be surrounded by angry windsurfing men who all seek the great and rare prize:  the girlfriend or wife* who windsurfs.    To squander such a find on a landlubber is an offense to those of us who sheet in!  

(There is the opinion held by a small minority that it is a drag to be a man whose significant other windsurfs...you probably have to rig for them, they use your equipment etc. but generally speaking the willingness of such wahines to make every vacation a windsurfing vacation, to understand why the garage needs to be packed with tons of expensive wet gear etc. outweighs the rigging/sharing concerns.  Discussion of such matters is encouraged.)

(Since running this feature two years ago, the Romance department at Peconic Puffin HQ has received additional reasons to consider :

11.  Ladies, if your man isn't home during the day, you'll know where to find him.
12. He'll be on the water so often won't have time for anybody else besides you.
(#'s 11 and 12 submitted by Ian of www.hudsonwindsurfer.blogspot.com)

*I myself have scored the prize:  My wife and Valentine Sally.

Compensatory Avocado, Invisible Tugster, and Other Mysteries from WaterblogFest III

It's the third time we've done this, and it gets weirder every year.  The gathering of so many water bloggers in an ancient watering hole created a metafactual vortex that left me adrift in uncertainty and doubt.   But it was a fun uncertainty and doubt!    Still, what the heck?

-Will has told Christina that he’s already at the bar.   But he’s nowhere to be seen.

-TQ is seen at the bar, but any time someone walks up to him and says “Hi TQ!” he is mystified. 

-Carolina can not get her ships under way.

-I am confronted by a shark.

-Adam has a secret I have sworn a blood oath not to share.

-Christina (eyeing the menu) wants to know if the Nile Perch is fresh.

-An unspecified crime against TQ’s burger requires compensatory avocado.

I understand none of it.   Will, Bonnie, and Adam seem to know something, and surely John, Vicky, Carolina, Christina and Rick have a better idea than I.

There we are, photographed by a woman I've never seen before. Who was she?

A Weekend Sesh?

Saturday and Sunday's forecasts call for SW 20-25 in the afternoons.  Air temps around 40 degrees.   To quote Scott:  "oooohhhh tiana!!!!!!!"

Let it be so.   I haven't been on the water in a month.  I am a fraud.  Meanwhile some of the guys have been ice sailing at Mecox.

 

(Top: Chimply Lord Scotworth, the Earl of Kielt, approaches as across the bay an ice-kiter enjoys Mecox Bay.  Photo by Peconic Jeff.

Bottom:  The Wolf, inbound to Flying Point, whilst Jon Ford's rig crouches for employment.  Photo by Mr. Ford.)

Hydrofoil Windsurfing Boards You Can Actually Buy

  I’ve been hearing about them for years, but it looks like this year you can actually buy a hydrofoil windsurfer.  AHD is introducing the AFS 1.   Check out the massive vent in the nose!  And the Xtra-cool looking foil!

It seems to me that the big thrill must be in straight line reaching.  Most articles and speculation I’ve read suggest that the hydrofoil means greatly reduced wetted surface, and therefore the potential for more speed.  But I look at that foil, and there’s a whole lot of surface to it that is underwater.   And a conventional board, when ridden back on the fin, doesn’t have much surface in the water at all.

I think the benefit is the smoothing out of  bumps.  The surface “carrying” the rider is no longer the hull bottom (which slaps into every irregularity on the water’s surface) but instead is cruising below the water like a submarine, where presumably le disturbances are far less.   Smooth sailing (unless you broadside a bluefish.)

Check out the video (particularly if you speak French.)

Scott's post-nuke report

The forecast called for huge westerlies yesterday.   I couldn't get there but new Scott was going ("Starting to nuke!" he texted.)   The meters showed more and more (and more) wind, and Scott's post-nuker email painted the picture at Sebonac:

"Just me & the Wolf. 20 mins. of 4.7, 20 mins. of 4.2, 20 mins. of 3.7...then blown off the water & went home.  Liquid smoke!" 

Another session missed (by me).  Argh.

Shark Circling SUP Video Blows Me Away

A SUP surfer named Chuck Patterson shot this last summer at San Onofre in San Diego. It’s your basic “stick a gopro camera in the water and enjoy footage of great white sharks circling you” deal. I would have bugged out. Oh yeah, and paddled back to shore toot sweet. But Chuck was in awe of the moment, and kept shooting. He’d actually seen a shark there the day before, and returned this day with his camera HOPING to get footage of the sharks. He tells the story of the experience on his blog.

Me I’ve only seen a shark once ever while out on the water, and that was enough. More than enough. It suffices. Peconic Puffin Contributing GoPro Nature Boy Peconic Jeff hasn’t caught anything like this. Something tells me he might like to. I don’t want to be there if and when… Nice work, Chuck!

Misery (Saturday's forecast has turned to mush)

Just a day ago, the Saturday forecast called for 20 from the east...with rain!   That spells wavesailing at the bowl, homeslice!   Peconic Jeff texted me with the same thought.  There's nothing like a bowlful of Bowl to set me right.   But this morning the call is 5 from the east.  Five.  What the heck...in February it blows 5 indoors!    Argh.

I'd text P-Jeff my misery, but the spell-fix thingy on my iPhone will not let me type "skunked".

Jeff, we've been skinned again.

As Scott would say, "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa".

Meditation for a Spring Day (Remko’s How To Loop Video)

 

I first posted this about a year ago, but took it down at the request of the creators of the DVD from which it had been stripped (the Peconic Puffin had no part of that!)  Now it's back on youtube, and so here.

Remko de Weerd's approach to learning the forward loop seems lower impact than most approaches.   And if you've ever tried looping (all I've done is tried) then you know lower impact would be a nice way to go.