It was cold on the beach. "Wind chill" said Scott, but I thought it was the humidity. "What works is a long hood that covers your neck," Scott continued, showing me his, which is attached to his wetsuit. Mine doesn't come more than halfway down my neck. Must go shopping...I imagine a hood/shirt combo.
Jeff, the Wolf, George Pav, Scott, a seal and I hit Ponquogue (ESE 18-20, 3-4 foot waves) on everything from 5.3's to my 6.2 (the seal did not rig). The shore break wasn't particularly strong but it came all the way to the sand, so you had to carry your board over white water and get on fast while you still had water beneath your fin. This the Wolf would not do. And so Lord vanderWolf got worked, trying to time the perfect moment (which he did once, took a nice ride out and caught a fine wave back in. Once.) After an hour of abuse, finding himself a few hundred yards down the beach having had to chase his gear, he called it a day.
I myself had issues with arm strength...the lack of. Too little windsurfing over the winter made sailing unhooked a bear, and I had to come in to the beach a lot. Still was having a good time until I heard Scott say something about "it's time for 5.2" when it occurred to me that I was tired from carrying too much sail. Doh! With sand blowing down the beach all the 4WD guys rerigged on the spot. I had to hike to the parking lot, and by the time the 6.2 was down I was chilled to the bone, and so went girlyman, calling it a day as the Wolf drove by. My old 5.5 isn't waveworthy anyway...must go shopping.
Jeff had a waveworthy sail. But in his words he took one wave too many. How fixable is it? We await word. He may need to join me shopping!
All photos and video by Jeff Schultz. Scott goes back side, I contemplate a large seal, Jeff's sail, and Jeff's compilation video of the day.
Hey Michael: I've got a 5.6 Hucker in good condition, $150. + shipping($40.?). You'll never go back! --Spennie
Posted by: Spencer Thompson | April 09, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Hello and thanks for the website! I'm an "old school" Norwegian windsurfer (also interested in improving my longboard or SUP skills), moving to Manhattan in august for a few yrs. I plan to bring my wave windsurf gear (106 fanatic freewave) and hopefully join the L A windsurf comminity. However, I am unsure how the storage and logistics will work, since we will probably live in a small apt. with limited storage space. Do you know if there are any clubs or stores with opportunity to store gear closer to the windsurf spots for a fee? And how difficult is it to get from Manhattan to L-A to surf, with traffic etc? I am probably not the only Manhattan based windsurfer, so if you have any other advise to get me going, it will be hugely appreciated! With all the best wishes for a windy spring, Halvor Saetre
Posted by: Halvor Sætre | May 16, 2014 at 03:54 AM
Hi Halvore! Looking forward to meeting you (I'm half Norwegian myself!) A few things: We Manhattan windsurfers windsurf on Long Island, sometimes referred to as "LI". When we say "LA" we mean Los Angeles...we don't windsurf there, LA being on the other side of the country. Manhattan windsurfers usually either keep their equipment in their car in the city, or rent on location (there is one place to do that...Hampton Watersports) or they have a house or a friend with a house out on the Island. Depending on where you sail, the closest windsurfing is about a one hour drive from Manhattan. The first thing you should do is join the Yahoo Long Island Windsurfers forum (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/LongIslandWindsurfer/info) where you can get all kinds of information and meet the area windsurfers.
Posted by: Michael | May 16, 2014 at 07:00 AM
Thanks for responding so quickly, Michael! Nice to hear that there are some Norwegian roots around, and I cant wait to see our Norwegian hockey hope Zuccarello in the Garden. Sorry for messing up the letters. I was of course trying to refer to Long Island and not LA... I've tried to join the Yahoo group, but there seems to be a problem with the sms authorization to a foreign number. I'll try to fix that somehow. I'm not sure if I'll buy a car, but instead rent when I need to go out of town. So I'll have to keep my gear somewhere - if I cant find a place for that on the island or rent storage space in the city, I'll have to keep it under my bed. Bet my wife will love that:). Hope to see you around in the autumn!
Posted by: Halvor Sætre | May 16, 2014 at 07:13 PM
Brook from the Long Island Yahoo Group sent you an invite. Let me know if you didn't receive it.
Posted by: Michael | May 20, 2014 at 03:15 PM