Pity the non-windsurfer's start to the holiday weekend: 30mph wind gusts, 50 degrees, overcast with rain. Bad weather for barbecue. Bad weather for beach sun and fun. Bad weather for golf (though some tried). Etc etc etc.
Sebonac Inlet was packed.
I arrived early, when only a handful of windsurfers were on the water. Rigged the 4.5, put it on 77 liters of joy, and pinched along the beach to get the angle out into the Peconic (the wind was more northerly than is ideal for Sebonac, but Meschutt is closed, so there we were!)
Shred shred shred. Jump jump jump. Every ten minutes someone else arrived. By midafternoon the fleet included Bill Nightingale, Bill Barber, Bruce Feldman, Christian, CPU John, Frank, Jan & Bruce, Jeff Slecta, Joe Natalie, John Hulse, Scott, the Wolf and more (sorry if I forgot you...remind me in the comments!) More were to come.
The ramps were not classic Sebonac while I was there (blame the wind direction) but the quantity of ramps was high (thank you!) to the point that my left knee (I'm a port jumper) was starting to bark after three hours.
Around this time the wind came up more, guys were switching to 4.2s and 3.7's, and as I haven't replaced my 4.0 since blowing it out in December I called it a day. (Subsequent reports from Peconic Jeff suggest that had I stayed, I could have sailed the 3.4.)
About the water temperature: The bay is warm. Certainly much warmer than the air this day. I wore a 5.3 (too much) hood (okay for the cold air) gloves (see hoond) and light booties (definitely the call! I was barefoot in the colder ocean SUPsurfing last week, and that was fine.) If the sun was out 3/2 on the bay would be the call.
(Photos by Jeff Schultz)
The top picture looks like an epic ramp-fest. Glorious!
Posted by: James Douglass | June 03, 2013 at 01:21 PM