Webbies was sweet. Solid 4.7 or 4.2, neck high water, smooth with the occasional easy ramp. T’was me, Scott, Cyrus, Dilay and pilot Frank hogging it to ourselves. Scott lead me across to the other side, at which point I turned around and A: saw nothing through the rain and fog, and B: Even if I had this was only my second session at Webbys so I had no idea where the launch was. “Wait for me!” I told Lord Scotworth, who laughed then launched back. In less than I minute I spotted Frank’s red sail in the distance and so had my bearings.
P.S. Such a better session than my last (which was my first in a third of a year.) I almost remember how to jibe!
Meanwhile...
“Well I would drive 500 miles…” said Artie, who wanted the same conditions, sans drysuit. In Avon OBX he was, also catching some big wind too and wants us all to know he's wearing summer booties! Get it Artie!
(Video: Me chasing the Earl of Kielt, Frank heading outbound)
I don't windsurf solo much, but conditions were so good and my time was so limited that I opted for nearby Mecox Bay. Shallow, flat, dependable on SW. 5.4 on a 93 beautifully lit (and sunlit!) One huge jibatorium. Will this be my last session of '22 on a shorty? Who knows...get 'em while it's hot!
Laurie from Toronto is back! The Peconic Puffin's favorite on-camera correspondent for explaining stuff presents the findings of a Danish study, looking at which is more dangerous, who is most likely to get hurt, and where will that happen? Of course with Laurie (one of the ten most earnest people on the planet) half the fun is just listening (you haven't lived until you've seen her comparison of wind speed measurements.)
Saturday a crowd formed at Sebonac Inlet for 3.7-4.2 conditions. Partial list of the shredly includes Artie, Christian, Fisherman, Frank, Massimo, Joe N, George Pav, Scott, the Wolf (there were more). The gusts were nuts.
Sunday the crowd was dispersed at various launches...South Jamesport, Webbies etc. Massimo and I caught it at Mecox...4.7 conditions and even some ramps. Fifteen years ago Mass was my regular windsurfing partner, but he took a long golf detour whilst I fell in with the Wind Chimps. Now Mass is back in the hunt. More adventures to follow...
(Top photo: Artie eyes the sky. Bottom video: Chasing Massimo.)
I hate Mike Burns. The number of things he can do on a windsurfing board that I can't is greater than the number of things I can do with one, period. These days he's living down in Hatteras (reason to hate him #483) with Chrissy and the kids, and he's recently posted a video of him throwing a Shuv-it Spock, which he describes on Facebook as "one of my favorites. Very technical and difficult to pull off." Yeah no kidding. Apparently his new board (a Psycho) is facilitating this. For me (who still can't hit a duck tack) it's worse than when he learned how to leopard loop.
One more reason to hate Mike Burns. He's so good.
(Video: There he is, doing his thing at a recent session at Canadian Hole. Catch up with Mike on the water and he'll give you tips on just about anything Windsurfing!)
In addition to being a brilliant windsurfing instructor (and the reason I can jibe) Dasher is a wonderful creator of water videos with soul. He posted this gem earlier today, and I'm quick snatching it up to share. Enjoy.
A dozen years ago I got out of big sails. If I couldn't do basic tricks with it, I didn't want it. I thought that meant 6.0 was about the limit. Good bye 9.8 and 8.8. Yeah I'd miss some planing days but this was my thinking. Dumb. Fortunately one day in Bonaire I met a guy named Steve who I knew liked freestyle, and also had a 7.5. What gives? Can you duck it, Steve?
"Duck it? I'm gosh darn donkey jibing it!"
So I returned to the 7.5 fold. While I've never made anything but the ugliest donkey jibes with it, I'm pretty good at ducking the thing. The trick I've figured out is to break the rule (guideline, really) that you must throw the boom so that your "new" front hand catches the boom in front of the harness line. Break the "no shuffling your hands down the boom" advice. I love the pure duck jibe with the single elegant throw, but with the big sail it disrupts the mast base pressure too much, and keeping the board planing becomes a challenge.
So I walk my hands for the 7.5 duck. And I plane out, happy.
End of screed.
(Please excuse the "Ha Ha!" after the jibe. I'm basically an eight year old.)
"I can't remember the last time we had such great summer wind" texted Chimply Lord Scotworth to the crew. The Earl of Kielt has been getting it big and regular at South Jamesport, and I finally managed to tag along with him and the Wolf. What can you say about 81 degrees air and 4.7 conditions (gusting to 4.2)? You can say more! Flat enough water for speed runs, the occasional ramp to get goofy with. The natives were friendly, and Scott claims to have found a rare bit of Long Islandia: A sign that says Free Parking. I didn't see it. Great day!
Good times, this move. One of my favorite nonplaning transitions, taught to me by ABK's Andy Brandt back in 2000. I saw the move, pointed, and said "teach me that!" He told me I wasn't ready, that I needed to learn the building blocks first. "Teach me all of them right now!" Within a few months I had it. What's particularly fun about it is you can not only use it as an exotic tack, but you can also use it to spin from nose first to clew first, so if you're coming into shallows on your way to shore it's a showy way to get to fin first for the finbuster shallows.
In short, from regular sailing you step to the nose with your back foot, then execute a fin-first backwinded pivot jibe. Once the board has turned 180 degrees flip the sail to head on your new tack, or sail clew first on your new tack, or step to the nose (pulling the mast hand in and letting the clew hand out) to sail in your original direction fin first. It feels great! Shot in Bonaire during an ABK clinic by Tom Lepak.
My wife loves windsurfing in Bonaire. She’s the one who suggests the vacation each year. I say (I really say this) “we could take a non-windsurfing vacation.” I swear I actually say that. And she always replies “I want to windsurf in Bonaire.”
What’s not to like? We rent a casita right next to the windsurfing beach, take a waterfront yoga class before breakfast, then drift on over to the ABK clinic to see old friends, make new ones, and get better at windsurfing in 80 degree crystal clear thigh deep water. It’s sweet.
The wind was uncharacteristically light…three seven meter days, one six (or mad pump to a plane on a five), but with ABK they have more sailing exercises for you to do nonplaning than you can shake a stick at, so we were on the water every day. Between the guided windsurfing (which you can bail on and freesail, or take a rest and go snorkeling or shopping or get a massage) and the friend making (we have new buds in Vancouver, San Francisco, and ten blocks away in NYC amongst others) we’ve resolved to always ABK it in the future. It’s just too good not to.
How did we sail? Where did we eat? How were the digs? How were the instructors? Does Caesar really take the sail off his board, throw it into the air and catch it? Read on, pilgrim:
Windsurfing
Sally worked on her planing jibes when the wind was up. Nonplaning she was also a jibe machine, with pivots, switchstance exits, clew first jibes, and linked them all together in some tricky S turns. Also refining her short board tack, and she learned a trick beach start dubbed “The Mallin”, named for Long Island windsurfer Robert Mallin. There is an aerial component!
Me planing I worked on duck tacks (never got close to hitting one, but progressed from “not a prayer” to “it may happen.” Wildly optimistic, I think this is the year. Also did some stay-in-the-straps duckjibes and duck 360’s (thank you Derek Rijff).
Nonplaning…did you know that there are eight (EIGHT!) nonplaning upwind 360’s? There are! For the uninitiated, an upwind 360 starts out as a helitack entry (rounding up to backwinded) followed by a backwinded pivot jibe. Here are the eight versions:
Regular (nose first, mast first)
Duck
Fin first
Fin first duck
Clew first
Clew first duck
Clew first Fin First
Clew first fin first duck
Andy Brandt says there may be a ninth…I believe with a double duck at the end of one of the clew first versions, but I was so dizzy after the eight that I called it a day. Also got some tips on donkey jibes from Radar Tom, and some seditious duck tack advice from Brendan (not in 100% alignment with Guru Brandt. I love it when this happens, like back when Andy and Dasher would dispute the placement of molecules for a planing jibe. Miniscule yet helpful.) We are grateful for all of the instructors’ advice.
Digs (aka Accomodations)
We stayed at Sorobon, right on Lac Bay, and next to the windsurfing beach. It’s rustic (very rustic) but oh so convenient. If you require lux (ie a door to the bathroom) stay at the Bellafonte, an easy eight minute drive from the beach.)
Windsurfing equipment rental
ABK partners with Jibe City so we went with them (lovely Fanatic, JP and F2 boards, Severne sails. ) Great service, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mentioned Windsurf Place just down the beach, which in our experience has been just as good. There’s no mistake to make booking gear in Bonaire other than to not book in advance.
Caesar Finies
This never gets old. The video below is not a select from a bunch of failed attempts. I was down the beach when I saw a rig 20 feet in the air, which he caught. Ran down with my phone just in time to shoot him doing it again. It’s impossible to be consistent at this, right? It must be. But he’s consistent. Caesar has a whole raft of sail handling tricks, but this one is always the show stopper.
Restaurants
There’s a new star on Bonaire: La Cantina. For foodies. The menu is a little complicated, but the help helps and the meal is worth it. It’s where Appetite used to be. Will go there twice on our next trip! We also hit Cappricio…still outstanding, still with the great wines at whatever price you want to pay. Oh yes, seriously good food. We skipped two of our usual favorites…At Sea and Mona Lisa…in favor of being lazy and eating at Sorobon (in retrospect we should have gone out, though Sorobon’s food is decent) and the ABK group barbeque.
It was our tenth trip there. We’re already looking forward to next year.
(Top: Sally displays her trademark form. Bottom: Hail Caesar.)
This is GREAT! Note how the little girl holds on to her phone with one hand whilst riding that door like a pro. Catapults will mean nothing to her. #futurechampion.
Why, oh why President Obama are you not windsurfing?
I guess because Richard Branson is his host, and Richard likes the dark side. :) This is quite cool. The premise is: whilst these two gentlemen are on vacation, can Richard learn to ride a foil board (kite powered) better than Obama can learn to get up on a kite? Watch and enjoy.
Newman Darby invented the windsurfer. He wasn’t successful at marketing it, and his design needed refinement, but he up and invented it. There are people who quibble over this fact, but Jim Drake (the design half of Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer, who manufactured and successfully marketed the original “Windsurfer” thus launching the sport) always acknowledged that Darby was the original inventor. As does the Smithsonian. Darby passed away on December 3rd, 2016.
I can think of nothing to say but Thank You, Mr. Darby. Rest in peace.
It had been two years since my last sesh at Gardiners Bay ("Goff Point!" Scott says). I was intimidated...Gardiners gets big (we don't call it Land of the Giants for nothing) and I'm out of windsurfing shape from a summer of waterly indolence. But who can pass up the drama, the excitement? Gardiners wasn't huge but it was solid medium, and so I joined Scott, Jonathan, the Wolf, Fisherman, John Natalie, Jan and Bruce, and (in a special return engagement, straight from Cape Hatteras) Bill Barber. Regular sized guys were on 3.7's and 4.'2's, with larger specimens on 4.7's, and whatever Jan was on it was working (3.3?)
I could only manage about 90 minutes of water time before arms were fried, but I'm looking forward to getting back out somewhere today (if I can sheet in.) Saturday looks windable too...get out there!
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