The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Three Days Napeagueing

There were several reasons for me to have Napeague on the brain last week:

-My dinged knee would fair better on flatter water than in Meschutt/Iron Pier/West Meadow conditions,

-Wilson had acquired a bunch of exotic foiling gear,

-A reprise of a wonderful session with Wilson and David last October was past due.

So with knee brace and loaded van I was Peaguebound.

Friday afternoon winds were west and moderate…me on the 6.2, Wilson rigged a bit bigger, and we were on Reach and Jibe patrol. Nothing fancy, just a good lead in to the weekend. My bad knee didn’t like having its attendant foot in the front strap much, so I babied it.   Nothing like trying to coddle an injury while committing to a jibe to induce mediocrity, but still it was fun to be out there on flat and friendly water.

Saturday winds were southerly and light, but to a bunch of ABKers it was catnip.   Wilson took out a foil and had his longest foiling reach yet…I’d guestimate it at 75 yards fully elevated.   I was out on the 6.2 and managed to pump to a plane a few times, jibe once, otherwise it was mostly helitacks and pivot jibes. David, Lili and Dana were also out for various stretches doing the nonplaning thing.   Followed by gin and tonics and a fine dinner, it was a good day of sailing.

Sunday it nuked.   Eyeballing it I thought a 4.7 was the call, and despite Wilson and David's local advice to rig smaller I went out with too much sail. After two runs rigged down to 4.2, where I was again lit to overpowered (note to self: always defer to local knowledge!) David somehow made a 4.4 work, while Wilson took a few runs and thought better of it.   It wasn’t just the wind (3.7 would probably have been perfect)…there were uncharacteristically sets of waves coming into the beach. If you hit them right on port they made for nice jumps, but generally speaking beach break is not what Napeague is known for!

It was punishing but good fun…I bagged it early for my knee, and David wanted to return the harness he borrowed from Lili (on account of she said she’d kill him if he left with it.) Top:  Michael outbound.  Middle:  David inbound.   Bottom:  We shall live to sail another day (Lili got her harness back).  Photos by Wilson.

Eye High Chop at Meschutt (with Knee Brace)

"Eye High Sir" said Scott.   Aye Aye and soforth.   The chop was big at Meschutt Friday in the first big NW blow of the season, and the jumping was sweet for those who could.  Scott, the Wolf, Jonathan, John Natalie, George Pav, Diane and Arty all took their shots at the sky.

Your humble editor not so much.   I hadn't windsurfed in a month, since spraining some knee ligaments, but today I thought I'd see how recovered I am by sailing with my knee brace.    I know I know, 4.2 at rampalicious Meschutt was less than ideal, but I go where the fun is.

Three runs and I was done.   I could sail, even jibe dry, but the knee started chirping, the big beautiful chop was unusable by me, so I chose to get off the water and get back to healing.   Soon behind me came Arty, whose face had interacted with his boom, and between the blood and the need to catch the Orient Pt. Ferry he too wrapped it up.

C'est la knee.   Maybe next week.

 

 

Robby Naish and Puffins

Forgot to work this into my last post about Robby, so here it is solo:   Back in the early 1990's when the "puffins" were a group of windsurfers, their SO's, children and friends living in summer share houses and sailing on the Little Peconic Bay, the "Puffin House" was the center of activity (at least in my demented mind) while The Peconic Puffin was a weekly three-page newsletter about our exploits.   Somewhere along the line OG Puffin Steve managed to bend Robby's ear about the Peconic Puffins, and get his puffin t-shirt autographed.  Twenty plus years later Steve wore the shirt to an ABK after-clinic dinner, where I snapped this photo.  Me being the guy I am, it didn't even occur to me to include Steve's mug.  Still...the shirt!   

How Great Is Robby Naish #531

Robby Naish.   From Naish Sails' Instagram feed.   A brilliant natural windsurfer.  THE brilliant natural windsurfer!

I Love My Knee Brace

What I didn't mention in my First Foiling Experience post was that I was out there with a tweaked left knee.   "Tweaked" is a technical term I learned from old time ABK instructor Scott Kreiser, which means "put out of whack".  It can apply to individual body parts or the entirety of the windsurfer (as in "Doc, I'm tweaked!")

So I was out there with a tweaked left knee.  But it wasn't THAT tweaked, and I'd never tried foiling before, so to heck with it I went out and pumped the board with my tweaked knee...foiled a bit...and left very happy.   But by the end of that day I was in limp mode, and a week later wasn't improving.   So I reached out to the major sports medicine centers in the city for an appointment, and NYU Langone said they could see me "tomorrow".   Went in, got examined, was told I'd probably torn my meniscus, and that the question of the need for surgery and so forth would be resolved by MRI.  Got the MRI and Lo, I did not have a torn meniscus...no surgery!  Instead I had sprained the MCL and "medial patellofemoral" ligaments (plus a whack to the knee bone for good measure.)...all I needed was a knee brace and a good attitude about four weeks of pain.   "Pain shmain" I said, "no surgery YES!!!!"

They brought me to the Brace guy who set me up with the hardware pictured.   I walked home in it, thinking it really wasn't doing anything and it felt slightly annoying and maybe I would skip the brace.   Until I got home, removed it, and took a few steps.   Where did this wobbly less than secure knee come from?   Back on went the brace.  For the last week I've been wearing it for any walking longer than a block, and I 

A: feel good.

B: am aware of my knee improving.

C: walk around with impunity.

I love my knee brace.   Looking forward to not needing it though!