The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Gigantic Horseshoe Crab Washes Ashore Out East

Okay, not really.  Bt this thing is going in the watahs of New Joisey, no kidding!  Extra Extra read all about it!

(Photo courtesy of NJ Fish and Wildlife)

And whose nephews would these be?

Alec and Jack (my nephews in Oregon) hanging out with the Great Puffin of Portland (or so I shall refer to him.)   Alec is a seagull man himself, so I'm glad to see him accepting other seabirds, as Jack's t-shirt recommends.  Jack has good taste in all things.

Previous niece and nephew sighting at the Oregon Puffin can be found here. 

(Photo courtesy Aunt Jane)

Hurricane Names

For the foreseeable future I'm one of very few windsurfers I know who gets a hurricane named after them.   No Jeff, John, Scott, Fisherman, or the Wolf.   My bro Alberto in the Canary Islands gets some love, and my wife scores, but otherwise all I see is Bill and Chris (whose real name is CD but we'll give him a pass.) Hurricane names for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.   Read 'em and imagine.

(Hurricane names courtesy the National Weather Service)

John Kerry Dressed to Shred

John Kerry, dressed to windsurf and or kiteboard.  Circa 2002 in Puerto Rico, according to James, who sent a link to the photo while commenting on the Romney Dressage post.  James wrote "Kitesurfers & windsurfers, republicans & democrats, dogs & cats, all getting along. What is this world coming to?"

Shark (587 lbs) caught off Long Island

How would you like to see a shark like this while you're windsurfing?  How about when you're waterstarting?  Makes a man want to uphaul.

Thresher sharks are beautiful.  But that doesn't mean I want to see one in situ.

(As seen on Field & Stream, credited to Kristofur18)

My wife is a blonde, but this is not her.

This fine photo of a tufted puffin is by Chris Dodds.   Peconic Jeff spotted it.

Mojitos, a la the Reef Warrior Rum Cult

In February The Peconic Puffin reported to you about the Reef Warriors of the great white north, windsurfers of Lake Erie (say it the way Brian Talma would, mon) and their rum cult of sacred imbibations. This summer a fine mint plan in our garden whispered to me "take of my leaves, and sacredly imbibate thyselves" (I had water in my ears)  I thought "cool...must check with the Rum Cult to see what they recommend.

They said "Mojitos, my son.  Mojitos made with either Oronoco rum (call Enya?) or Pyrat. 

Arrrrrrr...

First we made the mint simple syrup, then one jigger each MSS and Pyrate rum (arrrrrrr) on top of some freshly plucked mint leaves (they gurgled "imbibate" whilst being muddled).  Then juice of half a lime, ice cubes, fill the remaining space with San Pellegrino.  Sit in an adirondack chair, grab your imbible, and sip.  Sally says "give it a swirl, first."

A winner.  Puffin advice:  Heed the wisdom of the Reef Warriors Rum Cult.  They be on a quest.

(Photo of our cultly imbibations by Sally.)

Windsurfing Elitist? The Dressage Dressdown

John Kerry took a beating in his presidential bid over being a windsurfer.  Of course the leader of the opposing campaign allowed himself to be called "turd blossom" in public, so hopes for dignity...what were we thinking would be said about windsurfing?

A few days ago a television commentator opined that dressage was almost as "hoity toity" as windsurfing.  The horror.   Turns out one of the presidential candidates like dressage a lot, for which he's taken to task by MSNBC's commentator Lawrence O'Donnell.

The best highlight is towards the end, talking about Jim Drake.

 

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We Deserved It: Warm Windy Sunny Sunday!

It's about time!   Yet we are thankful.   A half dozen windsurfers brushed off the cobwebs to see if the Yacht Club was still the place to windsurf summer southerlies.  I found OG Puffin Eileen (who 21 summers ago used to sail over to my floundering ass to make sure I wasn't drowning, back in my first season) on a 5.0 semiplaning, so I rigged the new 7.5 (Maui Sails Switch) for its maiden voyage.  Lovely it was on my 109, but within 30 minutes too big for the building winds.  You know the drill:  Rig the 6.2, enjoy that for awhile.  Then downsize the board (Skate 99!) and the fun really got going.    It's been so long since I've sailed (a few minutes of underpowered windsurfing in early June, a 4.0 day in April) that it took me awhile to remember how to tack.   By the end of it I had scored a few shaky duck jibes, backwinded jibes, and a carve 360, but the most wonderful thing was simply to hike out and skim across the water without a care.  It was Mecox at her best!   The only not-great news was how out of windsurfing shape I am.  My hands hurt.  Puffin and wind chimp that I am, my hands haven't hurt from windsurfing since...the 90's?  I gotta get back out there.

Quoting Eileen from her Facebook post:  "Too good to take a break. I'm on land, but still feel like I'm sailing. What a gift from the Universe. So grateful that I had the opportunity to get on the water and fly."

She says it much better than I.

Sunday Big Tease. I'm not biting.

Thus Spake NOAA:

Sun

S winds 5 to 10 kt...increasing to 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 25 kt in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 ft. A chance of showers and tstms in the afternoon with vsby 1 to 3 nm.

It's all a pack of lies.   But I'm loading the van anyway.

My Niece and Nephew. 'Nuff said.

Maddy and Zac in Portland.