The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Rich Simons Lands a Vulcan

He's done it.  Chachi posted in the Long Island Windsurfing Group that Rich scored his first vulcan at Heckscher recently, which "took me almost 3 years and well over a thousand attempts."   Rich was looking good and close last fall at the ABK freestyle clinic (photo by ABK instructor Brendon, above) so it should come as no surprise.   I'll be he hits his next one before ABK arrives in late May.  Congratulations, Rich!

Learning from Fisherman, Kooking All By Myself

Saturday at the Bowl…the guys were already on the water when I arrived (Bill Jeff Frank Scott and the Wolf in the 4.7 zone, Hulse on a kite) looking moderately powered.  My gut said “5.3”, and as I launched everyone else was coming in to rig larger sails.  After one run in declining winds I came in too, exchanging the 93 FSW for the 109.   Shortly afterwards Fisherman, He Who Does Not Give Up On Waves When The Wind Drops joined me on the beach with a 5.3.  Determined to not once again derig in disgust only to watch Fisherman have a glory session all to himself, I launched, bobbing and shlogging most of the time, but also getting planing stretches, some smooth jibes off of head high swell, even some decent backside waveriding.  Fisherman came out and for about half an hour this continued, until there wasn’t enough wind to waterstart.  The rest of the gang watched from the beach, and I’m sure to them it looked like nothing, but I was happy, having scored three or four Good Moments, all due to learning the lesson of Fisherman.

Pretty smart guy, huh?  Perhaps this was in compensation for my textbook bonehead move a few days earlier.  At a windy sesh at Sebonac (4.5 on 77 liters absolutely lit) I was the first to leave (exhausted after being first on the water.)  Driving home enjoying some muscular aches and pains my cellphone rang.  It was Frank.  “Are you coming back?”  Not a chance…my arms were toasted.  “Um, do you know that you still have a board and rig here?”

It's Time To Sign Up for the East Coast Windsurfing Festival

It's time!  His lordship Mike Burns (Festival organizer AND Reigning King of the East) has decreed that the hour to declare our intentions has arrived*.  So get thee to the East Coast Windsurfing Festival's registration page, or just email King Burns directly with the following information:

Thy name (all of it).

Thy mailing address.

Thy email address.

Thy age (I myself lie)

Thy intentions to participate in freestyle, racing, or both.

The fourth annual East Coast Windsurfing Festival takes place June 11-12 at Heckscher State Park on Long Island.

Get it on, bang a gong, get on.

*While the hour has arrived, a sufficiency of other hours are also available to sign up.  However it's more fun if you sign up early, as web pages listing the names of the happy competitors shall soon be displayed to the people.

(Photo: Mike Burns doing something cool at Heckscher. Image stolen from East Coast Windsurfing Festival web site.)

Dave Kalama SUP Stand Up Paddle Clinic (Free!)

Legendary waterman Dave Kalama comes to Long Island on Thursday May 5th for some instructional paddling on beautiful Bullhead Bay (behind Sebonac Inlet).  Hampton Watersports Impresario Jon Ford tells the Peconic Puffin "The plan is to get all interested people together to have a fun paddle while having Dave critique and help with stance, technique,  as well as answer any questions. Should be a great time!"

So if you're a stand up paddler on Long Island and would like to tune your SUP technique in forgiving waters, or just wanna meet a guy who rolls/surfs/paddles etc with Laird Hamilton, here's your chance.

Wave Bowlarama

Plug a USB cable into the back of my head and download this image:  Dr. Pain coming down an 8’ plus wave face straight at me, staring into my eyes and vibing “DO NOT CHANGE COURSE!”  (I didn’t, he sail/surfed around me).  Just another memorable moment from Bowlarama…

I rode 4.5 all day, starting lightly powered at 10:30 on the 93, but spending most of the sesh powered to lit on 77 liters of fun, amongst the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen at the Bowl:  Scott, Hulse (windsurfing!) Bill, the Wolf, Fisherman, Peconic Jeff, Christian, Dr. Pain, Jan, Bruce, Jon Ford, Steve Domjan, Air George Marr, Florian, The Mighty Larry Hoff, Jimi Sobeck, Scott Yanuck, Frank and more.   Also an attention-starved seal.   The waves were 5-8 feet, well spaced and beautiful to jibe off of on the outside.   Clean faces for most of the day.  No shore break, little in the way of dues to pay, and rare for the Bowl:  no rain.

The waves were great for jumping, too, and Jeff and George put on a bit of a show.  Jeff went for several backloops, underrotating some and OVERrotating others.  Bringing the gusto!  Mr. Marr is well known amongst mid-island windsurfers for shredding the thin air (also busting boards returning to earth).  Port is not George’s preferred launch, but “I caught a great ramp, and I was looking down at Florian swimming below…I thought I was gonna LAND on him!”  But it all worked out.

Some have said it was one of the great days at the Bowl (for me personally it was top three all-time.)  Others more experienced pooh pooh this assertion.  They surely know what they speak of, but if the Bowl never again gets any better than Saturday, I’ll be just fine.  Please sir may I have another!

(Top:  Jeff backlooping.  Middle:  Bill works a wave.  Third:  George Marr thinks sky.  Bottom:  Formation jibing.  1 and 3 by Steve Domjan, 2 and 4 by Jeff.)

Thinking The Bowl for Saturday

Wind:   E winds 15 to 20 kt...becoming se 20 to 25 kt in the afternoon  

Tide:  Low tide 12:08

hum baby hum baby humbabyhumbabyhumbaby...

(Since this post many of the usual suspects have been cackling with anticipation.  Scott is excited (shocking!) Jeff wants to arrive early enough to stretch properly (he's thinking 10a)...his dream is "launching fully juiced on a 4.2 & 77L wave board by 30kt side-shore winds off of 8' waves."  Frank has the lesson we learned from Fisherman echoing in his head, saying "We will NOT leave prematurely if we think the wind dies! (I'm with you, Frank) Christian is eager for the opportunity to pay dues, and Mr. Ford looks forward (rhymes) to a great sesh!)

Fisherman Shows Us How It's Done

I was the last to arrive at the Bowl for the early morning session.   Bill, Jon, Scott, Frank and the Wolf were already sailing, and Fisherman was rigging a 5.2.    I took a quick look at the action (everybody was planing) rush rigged a 5.3, got into my drysuit and carried my gear down to the water…where everybody was now on the beach, glaring at the suddenly light winds.  Oh no did I miss it?

The Wolf, Frank, Bill and Scott carried their gear off and derigged.   Fisherman said “I’m going to try a bigger board” which sounded like a plan.  Grabbed the 109 and tried to follow Jon out (he on a 6.2).   But Jon couldn’t get planing, and I couldn’t even get going, so I bagged it.  Fisherman, who is relentless in his pursuit of waves, tried launching anyway.

As soon as my sail was in fact in the bag I noticed Bill and Scott staring out at the water.  I joined them, to see Fisherman planing, catching waves, jibing off of outside swell…he was having himself a fine little Bowl session.  Argh, I thought.

“Argh” Scott echoed, reading my mind.

“So rig,” Bill said to Scott.  “In five minutes you could be back on the water.”

“Yeah, well you know how THAT works,” Scott replied.

“Absolutely,” Bill agreed.   If we rigged, the wind would die.   We were experts in meteorological jinxes.

So we watched Fisherman sail some more, until he came in to add outhaul (as the wind was strengthening.)

I left in disgust.  Next time I’m sticking with Fisherman.

The Pain Scale

“Rate your pain right now on a scale of zero to ten,” said the physical therapist.

“Right now I have no pain at all.  But if I go like this (I demonstrate going like this) it hurts.”

“When do you need to do that?”

Thus began an explanation of port side jumping.

“How much does it hurt then?”

“I don’t know…maybe a six?  It’s not that I can’t live with a six, it’s just that I’d like to fix it if possible.”

I thought I knew what I was talking about with my "six".   I’d recently seen “The Pain Scale” (the chart, not the movie) while visiting a relative in the hospital.  It seemed geekworthy so I snapped a bad photo of it for posterity.  On this scale, pain ranges from no pain, through “Annoying” then “Nagging, uncomfortable, troublesome” before the party goes south.  “Distressing, miserable” is followed by “Intense, dreadful, horrible” topped off by “Unbearable, Excruciating.”

The Pain Scale seemed useful.  I googled it to find a clean copy (my photo being miserable on the photography scale) only to discover that there are many different pain scales, ranging from this ridiculous example (using weather metaphors…”what’s your pain forecast” with pain level 10 being “Almost all activity cancelled today due to pain.  You are ‘snowed in’”.  I think if my doctor said that to me I’d cut off his ____ with a ____) to one that combines facial expression, body posture, and vocalization (“screaming” is sensibly associated with high pain.)

In the end I like the pain scale I started with.   Could do without the pain, though.  I have a small labral tear in my interior right hip, acquired by jumping of a planing windsurfing board into what I thought was deep water, but wasn’t.   Half a year later it’s still Distressing in certain positions (landing a decent jump)…I aspire to Annoying.  Hell, getting out of a drysuit is annoying!

(Above:  The Pain Scale I found during a hospital visit.  Below:  My X-ray.  Re the object towards the bottom:  What, yours doesn't look like that?)

The Golden Puffin

RIFF, the Reykjavik International Film Festival, is Iceland's number one film event.   They say they are, so it could be true.  Certainly they're the tops with us at the Peconic Puffin, because RIFF's grand prize is...

The Golden Puffin!

How cool is that?

There are puffins all over the RIFF website...some appear to be silver...and there's a giant (well, man-sized) golden silhouette of a puffin.  Puffin puffin puffin!  Works for us.

(Director Jim Jarmusch displays classic puffin affection as he gnaws lovingly on the skull of a golden bird.  A big shout-out to Jennifer for netting this unusual bit of puffinry!)

 

A Comedy of Angles

I hadn't SUP'ed in over four months.   "Desperation session!" Jeff said encouragingly.  Christian was already on the water, and as I trailed Jeff down to the beach I gave myself a pep talk.  It was okay if I didn't catch any waves.   Don't worry if you fall all the time.  Just get out there.  You forgot your gloves in the van.

Thankfully there was little shorebreak.   On the outside, however, it was bizzaro world.  Three to four foot wind blown waves are fine, but they were coming not only straight on shore, but also at 45 degree angles from both sides.   When waves of different direction met, half the time they would cancel out. Sometimes there would still be a wave to catch, but occasionally there's be a single spot perhaps ten feet wide where a head-high isosceles triangle would pop up.   

There was no knowing what you'd get until the wave was upon you.   You'd spot your wave, position yourself, keep an eye on it until the last moment, then paddle like mad, with no idea whether you'd:

A:  Catch a wave.

B:  Find yourself paddling hard for nothing.

C:  Get tossed sideways by the apex of two waves.

A particularly entertaining aspect was that while "you" wouldn't know what was about to happen, your friends watching did.   I watched Christian line up a nice little wave...all of a sudden there was a spike of water cresting over his head right behind him.  I shouted, which surely was no help, as Christian was now looking neither behind him or before him but at me.  Then at the fish.

"The word of the day is 'apex'" Christian said later on shore.

As the session developed the west-to-east waves stopped, the east to west became more useful (we were drifting east) and occasionally an actual clean wave would come through.  Jeff caught an authentic reasonably long right whilst Christian went left, and for a glorious minute it looked like normal conditions.

My hands were cold, but I was happy.  I caught nine waves (counted 'em), was so happy to be out there that I was cackling like Scott, and loved the site, smell, and especially the taste of the ocean.   Gimme more SUP!

 

Neil Young Rocking Mistral

I've had the good fortune to meet Neil Young several times over the years.  Have had some good conversations with him, too, though I had no idea that I should have brought up windsurfing.  Dang!  I've never heard of Neil Young being a windsurfer, but I doubt he'd choose to perform before hundreds of thousands of people in a random t-shirt. On the other hand, why wouldn't he?  In any event, there it is.

I grabbed this frame from the following video (Neil playing at Live Aid in 1985.)  The song here is Sugar Mountain, but you can also find Needle and the Damage Done if you look around.

Hybrid Boards, Hybrid Gods?

From the talented stone carver Michael Jamieson (known in these parts as the talented windsurfer Buddha Mike) comes Hari Hara, also known as Shankaranarayana. Buddha Mike tells us "he is a combination of the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu from southeast Asia. Almost literally high pressure and low pressure. I call him freestyle and wave, though am not sure which is which."   Ah, the duality of nature.  Yin and Yang.  Life and Death.   Gust and Lull.   Dare I say it...port and starboard?   

Yet these things may well be illusory...reflections from the veil between our eyes and Reality.   Or perhaps we just have water in our eyes.

Look for this fine graven image in the Outer Banks during April.   Contemplate eternity, measure your breath, then take a deep one and shout "Yo, Buddha Mike!" to the guy on the Skate.

(Images courtesy the artist.)