The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Six Years Ago By Comparison...

...there I am at South Jamesport, chasing the ever speedy Scott in the distance.  In a shorty.  Not a DRYSUIT!!!   I am ready for summer shortboarding.

Skunks and Puffins

The forecast seemed so promising.

Scott and I were at South Jamesport, willing the tiny whitecaps to become bigger whitecaps.  Didn't happen.  Some nice people installed a beach cleaning station (baskets to pick up garbage, a can to dump it in.).  I took a run with it, returning with a soda bottle, a plastic bag, and a couple pieces of paper.

On the phone George reported a breeze on the ocean but unfavorable water conditions.   Artie called with a promising theory of sunlight and wind shifts and a hope of wind at Sebonac Inlet, so off most of us went (George stayed by the ocean awaiting a wind report.)

At Sebonac it was more of the same.   Tiny whitecaps.  Good 7.0 conditions, argh.    A puffin flew by!   Then three more!  Not quite windsurfing but still pleasing to this editor.  (If siting puffins is your thing, Sebonac has been the best spot over the years.)   Cyrus (also spotted at SJ) showed up...he'd never sailed Sebonac.   Dilay arrived too.   I gave up (wife and house guest at home) but Dilay and Cyrus went for it, and got going for a brief while.

George wisely passed.

(Top:  The new clean-the-beach station.  Middle:  Dilay will not be dinied.   Bottom:  Cyrus' maiden voyage at Sebonac.  Sailing photos by Artie.)

 

West Meadow Fridge Session

Me I was on a plane flying from Europe to JFK.  We flew in straight east, so I knew it was still blowing straight west.  But catching it in the first frigid sesh of the year were George Pav, Artie, Chris, Rob and Steve...maybe others in 38 degrees (my cutoff is 40 unless there's blazing sun!)  We honor their bravery, and envy the sesh (it was still well within the Long Island Rule of 100). 

(Photo courtesy Ken the Kiter.  Reporting by Artie.)

 

Meschutt at High Tide is Just Fine

A sunny windy Sunday?  Yes please!    So what that the tide was high when the wind came.  Meschutt’s classic inside ramps may not have been there, but there was fun to be had outside, and some high speed sailing to boot.  With a slight wind hole near shore (5.7 inside, 4.7 outside) good times were shared by Chris, Frank, Dilay, Bruce, Artie, and your editor.  

I hadn’t sailed in six weeks, and just three sessions ago I was in a shorty, and as rust never sleeps, I sucked LOL.  Forgot the threading pattern for downhaul (Chris helped me out) and it took awhile to remember jibing.  Still much fun!

(Top:  Chasing Artie.  Bottom:  Bruce sets the rail...pic courtesy The Art of Windsurfing.)

Big Winds and a New Spot

Let every fall weekend be like this one.

Saturday 4.7 at East Landing.  The swell was rolling, the jumps and jibes off of them were sweet!   “Let’s come back tomorrow” everyone said.

But the winds came up…

Early word from Napeague was of sailors getting blown off the water.   Scott eyed East Landing and said it was too windy.  Too windy?  Okay I don’t want to rig three meters, so where do we go?  Longneck Boulevard!

Say what?

Word is that in days of yore this is where the likes of Scott and CD sailed.  Flanders    Joe and Shelley Christian and Sky Lily (Sky contemplating an Opti sesh), Chip from BK Artie Dilay Pav and more.   Guys were on 4.2’s-5.0’s, and it looked like gust lull gust, but this is where the action was, so rig!   The best among us headed up to Red Cedar Point, where Artie reported “Butter-smooth waist high swell and sick Port ramps.”  This would have been heaven for me, but I kooked the day (forgot to put 4.7 or warm wetsuit in the van). In the 20 years I’ve owned the van I’ve always been fully loaded with sails boards and neoprene.  But not yesterday.  Four runs on a 4.2 and 93 liter board left me miserable and cold  so I went home like a LOSER! LOL. 

I dreamed of buttersmooth waist high swell all night.

(Top:  Jonathan Ford launching at East Landing.  Bottom:  The view of Longneck beach.  Pics courtesy The Art of Windsurfing.)

Honkadelica

Big winds at Meschutt on Friday, and a big crowd to welcome it!    Arrived at 2:30 to find primo Meschutt conditions...picture perfect ramps on the inside and "interesting" jibing a quarter mile out.    Rigged a 4.7 like everyone else, ignoring the warnings of the early launchers saying it might be 4.0, launched on my 77 and had one overpowered run.  

Rerigged to 4.2 and sailed pleasantly overpowered for a little while, when it became apparent that a 3.7 was the call.  I chose to add an inch to my extension and sail super downhauled, which worked...barely LOL.

Can we talk about the ramps?   I caught some excellent first-half-of-jumps...'scuse me while I kiss the sky...but landed almost none of them.   After a particularly awkward splash I thought "this was easier to take 30 years ago" and decided I would take my last run.

Took five last runs.

On the scene:  Natalies Joe and John, Hulse, Artie, Scott, Ken (running a vintage 80's piece of art fin), Jonathan, Dr. Pain, Chris from Connecticut and your editor.   Peconic Jeff showed up to watch, as did Fisherman (who had already caught a sesh at Sammy's with Frank and Bruce.). George brought his new puppy Nash (ie Naish!)

Neoprene note:  Fall is here!  Last weekend I sailed comfortably in a shorty.  Yesterday full 3.2.

While all of this was going on a gentleman down the beach was attempting some wingfoiling.  Suffice it to say that I thought 3.7 conditions obviate the need for a foil...in fact said foil got blown down the beach a couple times when its owner left for a sip of water.   Anyhow more power to him...I suppose in a few years high wind winging could be a thing.

(photos contributed by Artie, Peconic Jeff, George Pav)

 

Sweet Summer Sweat...Flying at Mecox

  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!

Watersport Gear Sale Saturday

Stuff is on sale Saturday at Hampton Watersports.  Wind, wing, kite, paddle, da works.  The store is marking down all sorts of things you want, and they will be selling used equipment belonging to other waterpeople.

But don't call it a swap meet!

Do you know LL Cool J's song that begins "DON'T CALL IT A SWAP MEET!"

Or something like that.  Anyhow Jonathan isn't calling it a swap meet, though if it walks like a puffin and squawks like a puffin it just might be a weird bird if you get my drift.   I'll be dropping off a near-mint wave 5.0 myself, and looking for deals for moi.

Maybe we'll see each other.

Artie as CD? Who Cares...Short Boarding at SJ

I pulled into the South Jamesport parking area to find Artie sitting in a beach chair.   Why wasn't he sailing?   There were whitecaps visible from the road.   "I'm waiting for it to come up" he said.  I told him I thought I could sail now with a five something and big board, and proceeded to rig.  He said he'd do that too.   I rigged my 5.4 as Dilay arrived.   Brought 109 board to beach, walked back for rig to find Artie and Dilay chatting.   Brought 5.4 to beach and launched.   Took maybe eight runs when the wind came up.   Should I switch to my 100?   Took one more run on the now overpowered board.  "Heck I'm going to try the 93.   Sailed in, walked to the parking area to find Artie and Dilay chatting.   Grabbed 93, launched, and was lit.   Four runs later I thought I'd take my 109 off the beach.  Walked it up to the parking area to find Artie and Dilay chatting.   Artie, are you turning into CD?

Finally he finished rigging and joined me on the water, followed soon by Dilay.   Warm winds warm water, not much in the way of ramps but we were ripping in August!    Both Artie and I had family commitments later in the day so we got off the water early, leaving Dilay to soon be joined by Scotto and George.

(Dilay on port.  Photo by Artie.   Hey what's with the headline..."short boarding"?  Remember when "short board" was a class of windsurfing boards...no centerboard, designed purely for planing conditions?   Guess the editor is happy to be planing in 80 degree air temps!)

Happy Birthday to The Wolf!

"Still the Commodore" Bruce says, and who could disagree?  When I started sailing with Jan and the Wind Chimp collective in 2007 he was a spritely senior.  I thought "this guy is tearing it up in the ocean and on the bays in nuking conditions!   If he can do it it at his age it means I'll be able to as well! I thought.    That was then...Jan is still hitting it fifteen years later windsurfing and SUPping, and we all salute his 78th orbit around the sun.  Happy Birthday Jan!  (Photo:  The editor and Lord vanderWolf.)

South Jamesport Delivers...in August!

If we get a five meter day in August we are grateful.   But 4.7!    Artie reports:   "I met Scott-O and the Wolf and when I got there at about 3:30, Scott was coming off the water to rig down to a 4.7; I figured that's my cue to rig at least a sail size larger cause you know me! Well that was a HUGE mistake cause I was waaaaay overpowered! But, like you know, when we get into certain situations, we accommodate; so that's what I did....I accommodated...with MORE DOWNHAUL! Probably 4.2 by the time we left at 6pm. "

It's true Artie likes to sail with a lot of gas, but he must have been flying.   Hot and windy...resort windsurfing!   Now:  When am I going to catch one of these sessions?   I'm hopeful for soon!

(Scott ripping inbound.  Photo by the Art of Windsurfing.)

Mecoxing with Massimo

It was well past time!

In the early aughts Massimo was He With Whom I Windsurfed the Most.   I remember a November phone call "If I buy a drysuit will you sail with me?"  (Hell yes!)   Mass was fast to rig, faster on the water, and a good jiber.

Then he went golf crazy and stopped sailing for a dozen years.

His comeback was slow, our sessions focused and getting him back up to speed.    Monday we went to Mecox, where a tropical warm southerly had me on the 5.4 and him on six meters.   For the first time in ages Mass was ripping!

We need more windy days to lock him in.

Missing it at SJ

Every year there is a blessed 4.7 session in July at South Jamesport.   As good as Caribbean resort sailing!   And I always catch it.

But I think I missed this year's.   Artie reports:

SJ did NOT disappoint; sail range from 4.2 - 5.0 and I was LIT UP on my 4.7; among the very fortunate were: Joe Nat, Scott-O, George, Christian, Wolf, and a couple of other dudes I didn't know; hoping for some wind this weekend!

Ain't nothing in the forecast, but I'm hoping for weekend wind too!

Just when you think you've got it all figured out: Northwest Delights at Sebonac!

The traditional wisdom has been

Sebonac isn't good for NW (Meschutt is)

The Peconic at high tide isn't good (low to mid incoming is).

But it was blowing NW Saturday, and Artie reported that swimming ropes at Meschutt have nixed that launch until the fall.  Christian and I discussed Tiana "but that will be flat water sailing" Christian texted.   "Let's try Sebonac."

There was the issue of the incoming tide well past half way, but what the heck...let's get some terrain.   We arrived to a beautiful field of whitecaps...it looked 4.7 but can it be?   I announced I was rigging 5.4 but another eyeing of the bay caused me to switch to a 4.7/medium board strategy.  Also, did our eyes deceive us?  We were looking at rolling swell coming through!   Christian put a 5.0 on his midsize, I popped the 4.7 on my 93 and we were off to the races.   Good jumping on both tacks, jibing off of swell was workable, and while the wind wasn't steady (the gusts lead me to board down to 77, and the lulls back to she of 93) the fun was excellent.   Massimo joined us for his maiden 2022 session, struggling a teense with the shore break but still he broke the seal.

After two hours I had to leave.  Christian and Mass called it a day about the same time and so we left.   But check it out:  Sebonac on NW at high tide!    

h/t to Frank for the post title.

 

First Attempt at Wing Foiling (with some 5.5 windsurfing on the side)

I had my first taste of wing foiling.   Caught some quality time with Andy Brandt and Jon Ford at Napeague last Thursday...winging is all kinds of new!   Did I get up on the foil?  Three or four times.  Did I STAY up on the foil?   No (not yet).   While catching my breath watched Jon wing jibe, and Andy do all sorts of stuff as usual.

Must try again.   You should too.   Go check out Andy at an ABK clinic.

To remind myself that I can learn these things, I also got some 5.5 windsurfing in.   Sails, fins, longish boards.  Old tech but still fun.

Swap Meet Long Island!

The week-long formula at Hampton Watersports has been working, and they'll be at it again starting Sunday May 14th.  From the shop:

"May 14 - May 20. Week long swap is back. People loved the fact that they could stop by whenever it was convenient for them. Buy or sell used and closeout Foil, Wingfoil, Kite, surf and Windsurf gear.

Sellers - please drop your used gear now thru 10 am 9/18

Buyers - Come by and check it out . Note: Anyone looking for anything specific, please let us know before hand. We can shop for you if needed."

I know I'll be checking it out!