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Jon Ford makes it look easy at Cupsogue. Even I (a nearly skill-free novice wavesailor) managed to pull off my first "rights".
(I'll give you one guess as to who "Peconic Windsurfer" is.)
When it comes to windsurfing photography, using a camera while actually windsurfing is one of the great challenges. Many of us have succeeded in the odd shot of a friend framed by our mast or boom, but beyond that, working a camera with any degree of control is elusive. It eludes me, anyway (which is why I leave my camera in the van and let Jeff shoot!)
One guy who has been making it work for years, however, is Dana Miller. I've been enjoying his on-the-water work for years in Wind Tracks and NEWJ. How does this guy ride a wave AND take photos? I recently stumbled upon the photo here (from American Windsurfer) which speaks volumes...mugging for the camera mid-chophop, while photographing the photographer. Think of the control required...he is good.
I'm getting stoked to try some new shots on the water just thinking about it.
The voting is done, the suggestions are in, and let it be proclaimed from the sand dunes: Jeff is Peconic again! With windsurfers voting from all over the U.S. and around the world (even from Austria, Turkey and Malta came the calls for P-Jeff, while Portugal cast the lone “Jumpin’ Jeff” vote) 60% of you supported Peconic Jeff. Robert felt that keeping things old-school was best, whilst The Mighty Larry Hoff opined that the brand equity in “Peconic Jeff” should not be squandered. Don Spalding drew the connection to an ancient nut tree, and Michael “the "Buddha-maker” Jamieson pointed out that Prince went back to being called Prince. Still, some 17% of you wanted a different name, so let us note some of the better ones, including:
Jill Marr Superstar’s Zephr-Jefphyr,
Jon Sasson’s suggestion that TWFKAPJ adopt a Prince-like symbol for a name
Rich Simons’ “Jeff-O de Gecko”
Still, “Peconic Jeff” is not carved in stone (yet…we are talking with Buddha Maker Mike) which leaves us to consider the possibly sage advice of “Guru”, aka The Meddlesome Andy Brandt. Andy suggests that we wait and see if Jeff’s sailing suggests a new handle. Perhaps “Slippy Jeff” or “Spinny Jeff” might work…in any event Andy says let’s “wait and see”.
Andy can get his own blog to wait and see. Here at the Puffin, every day posting is a great day posting. And never mind that Jeff’s girlfriend hurls accusations (“this whole thing is just Puffin propaganda” to “add legitimacy” to the site’s unbaked nicknaming. To her we respond with the venerable bloggers’ defense: “Yeah, so?”)
And what of P-Jeff himself? Jeff tells the Puffin: ""I am humbled by the will of the people (despite dubious journalistic tactics), and will continue to spread the Peconic stoke far and wide. Please come join us on your next windy day off (may there be many!). There are at least 14 Peconic Bay launches (see LI Windsurfing Map), which include delicious bump-n-jump, flatwater heavens, beautiful scenery and wildlife (including Atlantic Puffins), all of which I'll try to capture in photo and video (no luck with the Atlantic Puffins, they're too damn fast!)"
Jeff does "Peconic" proud, and Peconic he is! Thanks to everyone who voted, and in particular to those who chimed in. Extra credit must go to Andy for starting all the trouble, and to Jeff for not bonking me with a reactor bar for carrying this on so long.
"You should thank me for not splitting your skull in half," said Fisherman.
Seemed reasonable.
"Thank you for not splitting my skull in half!" I said.
I had fallen on the way out through the waves at Cupsogue, and Fisherman and another sailor were negotiating a wave together, fast approaching this fallen Puffin. With so many windsurfers taking advantage of the waves extra vigilance was required. I wear a white helmet to emphasize the presence of my bobbing noggin for just this purpose.
It was sunny and windy (4.2-4.7 for most of us) at Westhampton's Cupsogue beach, with well formed waist to shoulder-high waves rolling along in the southwest blow. Presumably this is why we were graced with the sailing presence of John Natalie,(him of the jump at the top of the post) of whom several have said "only sails when it perfect."
And it was perfect, or at least very, very nice. CD had such a sweet wave later in the afternoon that he surfed himself well down the beach for a walk back. "He's having such a good time that he doesn't care," said the Wolf as we watched him. Chris confirmed this when he returned ("I didn't care if I had to walk back...I wasn't getting off that wave!") He also waxed poetic on the beauty of Cupsogue and loving a life that included such a day.
So yeah, it was a pretty good day. Also soaking it up were Jan and Bruce, TWFKAPJ (Jeff), and Jon Ford.
TWFKAPJeff took a nice set of photos (in addition to those that I've swiped for use here) and some video as well. Check out this clip to get a sense of riding the inside waves at Cupsogue.
(Photos by Jeff. Top: John Natalie enjoying the perfection. Bottom: Did I mention how beautiful Cupsogue is?)
There will be lots of gear at Windsurfing Hamptons besides my Naish 85 liter wave board ($150 with bag and three fins) and Fiberspar 430 SDM mast ($150 with case.) In the words of Jonathan "Let's Sail!" Ford:
"Buy and/or sell used Windsurfing, Kiteboarding, Surfing and Stand up paddleboard gear. Loads of closeout '08 gear avail at huge savings. Sellers: Your used gear must be to the shop no later than 9am Saturday."
Windsurfing/Kiteboarding Hamptons is located at 1688 County Road 39 Southampton, New York 11968 (631) 283-9463 www.w-surf.com.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." -Willie Don Shakespeare
The time has come. Will he be Plain Old Jeff? Jumpin' Jeff? Will he remain Peconic? Will you suggest a better name? (Sorry Andy B,, but "Larry Hoff Jr" has been rejected in order to avoid confusion with The Mighty Larry Hoff.)TWFKAPJ's fate (or at least his nickname) is in your hands.
(Wondering what in the Sam Hill is going on? Read all about it.)
His blog is back! Jeff (known to readers of the Peconic Puffin as Peconic Jeff) was the original Long Island windsurfing blogger. A thoughtful fellow of few words (unlike the thoughtless blabfest perpetrated here) he doesn't update Windsurfing the East End very often, instead letting us know what he's been up to by his excellent photos on his Flickr page. But now in a burst of typing P-Jeff is filling us in on recent adventures like taking up SUPing, the ABK clinic, and recovering from the malaise induced by our windless summer. Peconic Jeff is making noise!
Or is he? Is he Peconic Jeff? In recent weeks the irksome meddling of a windsurfing instructor whom I will not name (Andy Brandt) has thrown a wrench into the Puffinworks, suggesting that I should stop referring to Peconic Jeff as Peconic Jeff. In the ensuing brouhaha Jeff has been seen declaring (both in person and online) that he doesn't mind being called Peconic Jeff.
He doesn't mind.
I don't think that's really sufficient. Does he have any idea how many people out there want to be called Peconic Jeff but can't because he is Peconic Jeff? Wannabee P-Jeffs are lined up outside the Peconic Puffin offices every morning, whom we politely but firmly turn away.
But Jeff himself, he doesn't mind being called Peconic Jeff.
So here's what we're going to do. In the coming weeks we're going to have a poll to rename Jeff. He may end up as Plain Old Jeff, he may return as Peconic Jeff, or maybe we'll start calling him Jeffune Lord of Tides. Keep an eye out for the poll, and feel free to suggest new names for Jeff that will be included in the poll. In the meantime he'll be A Jeff To Be Named Later.
In the meantime, be sure to check out AJTBNL's Windsurfing the East End and his recent photos from The Bowl and South Jamesport sessions.
(Photo: A Jeff To Be Named Later on Peconic waters.)
Heavy weather is going to delay the Windsurfing Hamptons swap meet for one week. Word from Jonathan Ford:
"Due to the current nor'easter, we have decided to reschedule the swap for a week. The Swap will take place at the shop on October 4th from 9-4. Lets hope for sunny skies and warm temps. Looking forward to seeing everyone then.
Enjoy the current high winds - ride safe."
For details, call Windsurfing Hamptons at 631-283-9463...they're also at http://www.w-surf.com
I'll bet someone could have used my 85 liter Naish yesterday!
$150 with bag and three fins (430 Fiberspar SDM mast also $150).
Hopefully we'll sail tomorrow. I'm toasted from yesterday.
While Graham Ezzy was tearing it up at Demo (read about it in the Yahoo Long Island Windsurfing Group) everybody who could manage it further east was tearing it up at The Bowl.
The sail range was 4.7 to 5.2, with head-high waves (bigger further out by the buoy) rolling up big and clean in the morning. Me (the wave newbie) managed my best bottom turns/cutbacks ever on one wave…which was good because I didn’t do very well on most of the others (though one did very well with me...“paid your dues” said Scott.) Sail a little torn, and me spitting sand, but I’d take a session like this any day.
It got messy after a few hours as the tide changed, and the crowd packed up to move to South Jamesport. I was getting laughed at on my 5.0 (‘cause it was much windier) but that’s what I rigged…should have gone with something smaller.
My arms are burnt to a crisp. In the joyous crowd today: Frank, Radek, Jan, Bruce, Scott, the Wolf, Jeff, Fisherman, Bill, John H, George Pav, Joe, and about four more guys I don't know (yet).
(photos by Jeff: Top: We play. Middle: All I see is white. Bottom: The Wolf likes his waves clean. For more photos from this session, check out Jeff's Flickr page.)
(To find the Bowl, South Jamesport, and 50+ other launches, check out the Long Island Windsurfing Map.)
I've wanted to windsurf at Ditch Plains in Montauk ever since I first heard the name. "Ditch Plains" put me in mind of vast stretches of water with conditions so gnarly that ditching one's gear was a standard survival move (I should probably learn the actual origin of the name.) Anyhow for years I've wanted to check out Ditch Plains, which is famous for surfing (Surfline describes it as " Mecca. The most consistent wave on Long Island".)
But when Jonathan Ford called and said "we sail at Ditch Plains" I had to think it over. It would be an hour's drive each way, and I'd only be able to sail for an hour given other obligations. All that driving for an hour at Ditch Plains? "I'm on my way!"
It was Jon Ford, Radek and myself with the sails (me on a 6.2), playing with the waves further out and keeping our distance from the surfers closer to shore. The waves were gentle and long, about shoulder high, and made Ponquogue seem chaotic and challenging by comparison. Given my lack of waveriding skill, the relative ease of catching the Ditch Plains wave was greatly enjoyed. I can only imagine how wonderful it must be on a bigger day.
The Wolf and Scott arrived as I was wrapping up. The wind was dropping a bit, and I suspect they put sails on their SUP boards to play with the swell.
At my first ABK clinic I was wrestling with tacking and jibing. A few clinics later (if sixteen is a few) I’m now pulling off clew first fin first piledrivers, anklebiters, and the whatchamacallit jibe. But I still remember when a planing duck jibe seemed the unattainable fantasy.
Nobody learns windsurfing slower than I. I am no longer (well, rarely) the worst windsurfer in the world, but one thing I’ve figured out is that lesson help, great lessons help a lot, and ABK clinics are the best thing going out there. (I am not sponsored by ABK, though yesterday they let me have a second sandwich with lunch.)
This past weekend’s windsurfing clinic at Napeague was a blast to watch, much less be in. From the adults and kids (we hate the kids…they learn so frickin’ fast) working on the basics all the way up to the freestylers, there was a whole lot of learnin’ going on. Friday (and Saturday AM) had the good wind, but as the photos show we were all working on the water Sunday as well.
The worst things that happened were a broken down car and a stubbed toe, but these were more than offset by all the tacking, jibing, chacho anklebiting etc.
I can’t wait to do it all again. ABK returns to Long Island in May 2009, but more drastic measures may need to be taken.
(Photos by Jeff…
Top: Happy Campers.
Second: The Mighty Larry Hoff goes Gecko.
Third: Una. Una learning to windsurf spells nothing but trouble. It’s bad enough that her mom aspires to be the fastest windsurfer on the island, but the little one has world domination on the brain. When she gets into the footstraps I’m taking up golf.
Fourth: Alex (can’t go home) Hering, The Mighty Larry Hoff, and a windsurfer to be knicknamed later sharing too little water during Sunday’s expression session.
Fifth: The editor is a grinning idiot.
Check out more clinic photos by Jeff on his Flickr page.)
There's no reason for any windsurfer to not go to a swap meet.
1. There's no such thing as having too much gear.
2. There's an excellent chance that it's time for you to upgrade some of your gear, and so sell the stuff that has served you well to someone who can use it (for a reasonable price).
3. It's an opportunity to meet windsurfers you don't know, and see what the ones you do know look like in street clothes.
So come to Windsurfing Hamptons this Saturday, September 27th 9-4pm to (in the words of Jonathan "Let's Sail!" Ford:)
"Buy and/or sell used Windsurfing, Kiteboarding, Surfing and Stand up paddleboard gear. Loads of closeout '08 gear avail at huge savings. Sellers: Your used gear must be to the shop no later than 9am Saturday."
Come buy my Naish wave board...85 liters, 2002 vintage, rather bump and jumpy for a waveboard, and featured in many Peconic Puffin (mis)adventures. $150 takes it with bag and two fins. I've got a Fiberspar 430 mast too...
Windsurfing / Kiteboarding Hamptons is located at 1688 County Road 39 Southampton, New York 11968 (631) 283-9463 [w-surf.com].
High on a hill sits the Tillerman. The Tillerman is the “granddaddy of sailing bloggers.” That’s saying a lot, because when it comes to wind powered watercraft blogs, sailboating blogs are way bigger than windsurfing blogs. They’re the big dogs. And the Tillerman is the big cheese.
(I asked the Peconic Puffin art department for an illustration of an enormous piece of cheese, surrounded by large dogs, at whose feet were little windsurfing bloggers banging away at their computers. As of press time the art has not yet arrived.)
Anyway, high on a hill sits the Tillerman. The Peconic Puffin is grateful to the Tillerman, not simply because he does not squash us like a blug, but because in his magnanimity he has listed the Puffin in the latest of his annual lists of worthy blogs.
Sometimes from his hill the Tillerman hands down assignments. The Puffin has never to our recollection actually turned one in, but as we’re entering the home stretch of 2008 it seems like a good time to appease the granddaddy on his hill. We aspire to his 2009 list, and though our worthiness is in doubt, we can still suck up and fawn with the best of them.
Thus asks the Tillerman: “What innovation, new idea, or invention has been most significant for the sport of sailing or has contributed most to your enjoyment of it?” He even offered up some suggestions. To play it safe (and because I agree with it) I’m going with:
“Mr. Darby's idea for using a handheld sail mounted on a universal joint to steer a sailing craft.”
I hereby give the Tillerman (and y’all) three reasons why it (the component that allows windsurfing to be) most contributed to my enjoyment of sailing:
Reason #1: Apartment dwellers can own a windsurfer, and store it in their tiny homes. I was thirteen when I first sailed in a Sunfish. I was instantly enthralled by sailing, but no small boat was going to be kept in the apartment we lived in, and even though I grew up near the water, there was no place for me to store a boat that I could afford. A zillion years later, my parents actually let me stash a board in my bedroom. Windsurfing allows me to sail.
Reason #2: In windsurfing, the sailor is part of the craft. We are part of the rigging. The sail transmits its power to the boat through three points: Mr. Darby’s beloved universal joint, and the windsurfer’s two legs. The board can not sail without us…not for a second. The sailing magic passes through us.
Reason #3: Windsurfing is affordable. Nobody ever says that a windsurfing board is a hole in the water into which money is thrown.
Here ends my humble offering to the Tillerman on the hill. Other sailing stuff considered as the greatest (including such venerable items as marinetex, the figure-eight knot, and beer) can be read about on the Tillerman’s blog.
"Don't ram me! Don't ram me!"
-Scott, making fun of me on the water just hours after my collision post.
Two days in a row of wind…we’re not in shape for this. After the Windless Summer of 2008 (with three sailable days in the last eight weeks!) this morning’s Sebonac session following yesterday’s southerly had a few regulars suffering from soft hands.
It took me a long time (way too long, longer even than Scott who said he waited too long) to realize that I needed to put on gloves. Only when I saw that both Jeff and Scott had gloves on did the dull gong that is my head ring with the appropriate realization.
I don’t wear gloves. I am too much the macho for gloves. Except today with my hands like tender pink paws.
(Jonathan Ford inbound. Photo by Peconic Jeff.)
I did not crash into Bob today. However my board did. As I jumped off of it half a second before the crash, does that still count?
I think it does. Damn. Okay, I did crash into Bob today. I was in the middle of a wide jibe…I had looked behind me before initiating the turn, but obviously I did not look thoroughly, because a few seconds later I was about to ram Bob. I couldn’t turn and couldn’t stop. Letting go seemed like a way to hit the guy with 20 pounds of gear as opposed to 20 + 165. Nobody was hurt and nothing got damaged. I think we were lucky.
It was a fine day at Napeague otherwise. Sailing alongside the ABK clinic on a 6.2, while Peconic Jeff worked on vulcans, Robert started nailing waterstarts, Jill Marr tackled duck jibes…just a bay full of windsurfers getting better.
Except me. Knucklehead outside the clinic, I should have been in it so someone could slap me upside the head and say LOOK ALL THE WAY BEHIND YOU BEFORE YOU JIBE.
"On Aug. 10 1994 I windsurfed the Hudson river and got a view of the Manhattan skyline that no windsurfer - or anybody else - will ever see again."
-Peter Bogucki, editor and publisher of the New England Windsurfing Journal.
(Photo by Peter Bogucki, from the NEWJ issue published following the September 11th attacks.)
I never get to see the cool stuff.
Just this last Sunday we had a warning that waterspouts might materialize whilst the east end crew were tearing it up at The Bowl. Didn't see any, though. Now we learn that yesterday at Hecksher a waterspout came through about one third of the way across the bay ("Awesome but it killed the wind!" said John Sasson in the Yahoo LI Windsurfing Group.) Mike Burns says "it was so sweet because we actually saw it form. The water just started lifting in a spiral and did make it all the way up to the clouds from the front. The back side of the front looked like the eye wall of a hurricane. Really cool stuff."
Top five questions I hear regarding ABK windsurfing clinics:
Q1: How good do I have to be to take the clinic?
A1: Ideally you've never windsurfed a day in your life, and so will learn the right way from the start. Barring that, people who have tried windsurfing a few times and been frustrated are ideal. After that, anyone from folks working on basic tacks and jibes, through people who want to loop are best suited.
Q2: Wouldn't I be happier with a few private lessons?
A2: Private lessons are great! But a group setting has three major advantages: Watching other windsurfers try to learn the same stuff you're working on, you gain insight. The struggle with windsurfing's challenges are a lot more fun when shared, and you'll make new friends of similar ability with whom you can sail with and practice in the future. Also, Andy Brandt and his team are probably the best windsurfing instructors in the country ("don't forget Bonaire" Andy says!)
Q3: Wouldn't I be happier spending the money on a new sail?
A3: No. (I learned this lesson the hard way, believe me...for years spending my money on better equipment rather than better skills.) Ask any ABK graduate about the value for the money.
Q4: What if there isn't enough wind...won't I be wasting my time and money?
A4: No. ABK has an enormous amount of technique to teach (both onshore on windsurfing simulators, as well as on the water) that requires almost no wind. Whatever the weather is (barring tornados and hurricanes) there will be a full clinic's worth of stuff to learn. Ask any ABK graduate about this.
Q5: Will a harness make my butt look big?
A5: No. Your butt will look fantastic planing across Napeague Bay!
So pick your weekend and sign up now, joining Andy Brandt and company either for this coming Friday-Sunday as well as September 19-21 (which will feature a separate group for freestyle students.) The editor will be skulking around...please don't throw things at him.
We waited all day. The forecast said Tropical Storm Hannah would arrive "later in the afternoon." Windstarved and bitter, some of us began to fear that the wind would never come, or come after dark. Then at 4:30, Jon Ford and the Wolf decided that while there was still no wind, by the time we got to The Bowl and rigged the storm should arrive.
It did, and we hit it hard! Scott, Bill, Jimi, Eric, Bruce, Fisherman, Peconic Jeff, Jon, the Wolf and your editor were on the water fast and furious, getting our first wave day since who knows (May?) and working it for every second we could. Pouring rain? Who cares!
The early call was 5.8's and bigger boards, but as Hannah moved further in there was rerigging and reboarding (by the time it was too dark to sail 4.7 was way too much wing.) The waves got as big as overhead, and the jump ramps were sweet and verticle.
What stuck out to me (besides how utterly fantastic it felt to be windsurfing in primo conditions) was how everybody was on the water all the time. With the exception of two moments (when the wind came up ten knots in ten seconds, and during a brief spell of blinding rain) we were all on the water at once. Between the impending darkness and trying to make up for the windless summer there wasn't a second to waste.
All in all it was a great session that ended way too soon. Let the fall windy season begin!
(Top photo: Running with the waves at The Bowl.
Bottom photo: Fisherman, Scott, Bruce and The Wolf during a squall. Photos by Peconic Jeff.)
Tomorrow begins (hopefully) the Weekend of Hannah. All day today posts were going back and forth about tomorrow...I even ran into the Wolf at a deli (during which I was tutored on how much East we'd need in order to sail the ocean instead of the bays) with full focus on Saturday. But then late in the day whitecaps were spotted on the Peconic. I called Peconic Jeff, and the rush to South Jamesport was on.
It wasn't much (caught about an hour of 6.2 sailing...in the gusts) but if you have forgotten how good it feels to get into the footstraps and plane after a long time without, I am here to tell you it was magnificent. I howled with joy. I was laughing at myself for how stupidly happy I was just to sail in a straight line for half a minute. Not a good session by usual standards, but to a man emerging from the desert, the first sip of water is exceptionally sweet.
I love windsurfing.
August 2008: Worst Windsurfing Weather in 16 years (that's as long as I've tracked it) on Long Island. Number of planing days available to me in Peconica: Zero. Frickin' NONE. While it's possible that there was an hour here or there where if I'd been in the right place in the right time I might have been able to hook in for a minute, this August was a complete bust. My van is bone dry. The Wolf never called to tell me to head to Sebonac or South Jamesport or Ponquogue or whereever. Nothing.
"I need wind really baaaaaad."
-Scott, commenting in the Peconic Puffin.
Me too, bro! Scott's biggest sail is a 5.8...I KNOW he didn't get out if I couldn't catch a ride on my 7.0 (we sail the same sized gear.)
August is usually a weak month for windsurfing, but we got out h dozen times last year, including some wave sailing at blessed Ponquogue. There appears to be a real forecast for wind this coming weekend, but Peconic Jeff has reminded me that they lie...
Yeah, I said it. The cool guys refer to it as the B2BBB3. Even cooler guys (and ABK graduates) call it the Siamese. That's Andy Brandt throwing the B2BBB3/Siamese...he'll be teaching this madness (and lots more freestyle windsurfing besides) during the second week of ABK clinics on Long Island out at Napeague September 19-21 ("regular" windsurfing instruction also goes on this week.) Or catch up with Andy and the funk mob the Friday-Sunday before for a windsurfing instruction extravaganza (WIEX). I know the missus and I will be checking it ALL out. (CiAo!)
He's baaaaaaack...
Most of the time James successfully passes amongst us appearing as a talented but garden variety young scientist and windsurfer. He has a blog in which he chronicles his adventures with windsurfing, the pursuit of a doctoral degree, and his dad.
But there is a Mr. Hyde to his would-be Dr. Jeckle, who sometimes emerges on a windless night with mad ravings about windsurfing minutia and detail that would drive Aristotle to drink. I last chronicled the monster when it appeared in January, but the time has returned to restate the horrible truth: James is crazier than I am.
Behold "Types of Windsurfing Racing" in which Crazy James bombards us with hundreds (or a dozen, give or take) charts, photos, diagrams, and his unique original artwork. A man who has to register his spreadsheets as lethal weapons, James reasserts himself as the bull goose windsurfing nerd blogger. I'm proud to link to him.
Trying to kite in Tropical Storm Fay in Fort Lauderdale, this kitesurfer nearly dies when he's slammed into a building. Imagine windsurfing full speed into a brick wall.
Kites can not be depowered like a windsurfing sail. Kitesurfing is a fine sport, but it is not as safe as windsurfing.
(Video courtesy WKRG. Here's a link to the Miami Herald report about the accident. Kevin Kearny is listed in critical condition.)
The forecast for our Long Island waters:
Today W winds 5 to 10 kt.
Tonight N winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 25 kt.
Wed N winds 5 to 10 kt
The video above is an encore presentation of a clip I shot last November in Bonaire.
P.S. Number of emails I've received from Peconic Jeff since the last time we had planing conditions, identifying potential good days that have failed to appear? Five. It's not Jeff's fault...we're just all desperate.
Anybody who has ever seen me derig has probably noticed that I wipe down my boards with a towel after each session. "That's love!" I've heard more than a few people comment. I reply that I'm not pampering the boards, but that I'm trying to keep the inside of my van from becoming a mildewed rust bucket. The one thing you can't really dry are the footstraps...those absorbent little puppies resist my efforts (I give them a squeeze with a towel anyway.)
I've been fortunate in that over the last few years I've been able to get on the water almost any time it's been windy. Consequently I've always had at least one wet set of footstraps in the van for well over a year. Until now. My gear is bone dry...even the footstraps.
(Photo: "We wanna come out and play!" cries my gear.)
Excerpt from a recent post by Amy in the Yahoo Long Island Windsurfing Forum:
"As I begrudgingly marched into the west wind yesterday past two fields of our home beach of Hecksher, I was brutally attacked by green flies. I was berating myself for getting myself in this position and having to drive my car down to meet my rig. But today I have a new opinion of the whole experience. I don't think of it as so much of a walk of shame, more like a stride of pride. It made me happy to know that I was walking the painful footsteps of all the greats of today."
Damn right, Amy! "The Stride of Pride" is good. I've heard it referred to as The Walk of Pride as well. In order to take that walk, you must get with board and sail and push yourself beyond your capabilities. We've all been there. Many of us will be there again, if we don't play it safe.
The Walk of Pride, the Stride of Pride...maybe there are some other worthy names for it out there.
Whatever we call the walk, it still begins at Bozo Beach. It helps us maintain our sense of humor...
If you've been looking forward to the vintage racing event announced by Windsurfing Hamptons for this coming Sunday (I was!) well...we're gonna wait a bit longer. The date is being moved to early September...specifics tba by Jon Ford (and by the Puffin just as soon as we have them.)
If you've never participated in one of these races, you should. They are ridiculously fun given the details (everybody sails on the oldest board they can find, no matter how light the wind, and races/cruises/shlogs around a short course.) Just joining the crowd on the water is a good time!
(Photo: My high-performance ride for the junk fleet: Mistral Superlight, minted in 1983)
A reader (Marcos) suggested this clip, featuring a tremendous jump (starting at 1:04) by Philip Koester at the PWA event in Pozo. Thanks for the tip Marcos!
"I'm a good jumper. On a windsurfer, I mean. I can't dunk a basketball or do anything like that." -Robby Naish
"It is written:
'If we rely upon mother Tara sincerely and with strong faith, she will protect us from all obstacles and fulfill all our wishes. Since she is a wisdom Buddha , and since she is a manifestation of the completely purified wind element, Tara is able to help us very quickly.'
I hope, been carving a lot lately . Even brought out the vulcan simulator and surfed the lawn as my wife calls it. Possibly a little wind up here tomorrow, better days are coming."
(Photo, blog post, and carved Tara herself courtesy Mike Jamieson, who when he says he's been "carving a lot lately" he ain't talking jibes. Check out more of his brilliant work here. Meanwhile let us see if Tara can put some wind on the water!)
Mayhaps you've heard of Eva The Board Lady, the legendary west coast board repair guru. A recent addition to her site is this simple and straightforward sailing simulator...a giant lazy susan for your board, made with plywood and golf balls. Eva says that the speed with which the thing spins is adjustable, so presumably it can be made forgiving for beginners whilst set wide open for working on Spock 945's.
I think I'm going to try my hand at making one of these.
(Photo: the guts of the turning mechanism. Image swiped from Eva's web site. While you're there also be sure to check out Disasterpiece Theater for some neat before-and-after repairs.)
Worse, it's wasted on this guy. I've never met him, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't deserve to have it so good.
If the wind lightens up, he'll have to rig a 5.7. Me, I'm staring at the Little Peconic. It's a sheet of glass.
There's no doubt about it: Ain't much wind this summer. At first I suspected that it might be all in my head (the water is always windier somewhere/sometime else) but then I checked my sailing logs. Here's the comparison of days with planing conditions in the Peconic region since June first (my biggest gear...JP 109 "Calamity Too" and a 7.0):
2007 25 days
2008: 9 days
That's what I call skunkage. Stinkage. Profound suckiness.
It's definitely a summer thing. As of May 1, 2007 and 2008 happened to have the exact same number of sailable days. May was slightly better last year, but then 2008 tanked.
I am bitter. My gear is dry.
A few days ago I caught a session with Peconic Jeff and crew...I noticed during an energetic crossing from Robins Island to Mattituck that Jeff seemed to be having trouble staying with the pack. Scott wisely guessed that Jeff was probably running his way-small freestyle fin. I went to confirm this, but learned otherwise. P-Jeff was still recovering from a recent Sunday shredfest (a shredfest your editor missed.) Now it's true that we haven't been doing very much sailing of late, and so our windsurfing muscles may not be in tip-top condition, but still! "Jeff," I said..."you are a gurlyman!"
The next day I found myself unusually sore...a lot of muscles were telling me that I needed to take it easy. Apparently I also suffered from Lack Of Windsurfing Related Atrophy (LOWRA to the orthopaedic community.)
I am a gurlyman.
We had some full throttle storm cells today. How do you rig? Your biggest sail for shlogging, or your smallest for smackdown overpowered?
(wind readings from Shinnecock Inlet via iwindsurf.)
"Mattituck stinks, usually," the Wolf said, as Scott, Bill, Peconic Jeff and I took a break on this fine and windy day. "But if it's South-South East, with an outgoing tide and a full moon and at over 20 knots, then it can be good." My one previous Mattituck session was during such an earth/tide/wind convergence, so Mattituck stinking was news to me.
Today we eeked out a good few hours. Sails were 5.0-5.5, and I actually managed to sail my 77 liter Fanatic "Candy 77" (last sailed in drysuit conditions in May). My bone dry board took one look at me as I was choosing between bathing suit and shorty and said "are you sure it's windy enough for me? Doesn't feel like there's a nor'easter anywhere near!" "Don't worry about it...the warm water won't crack you," I replied. "And without winter booties your footstraps won't be so tight."
I launched and didn't get more than a jibe or two in before Scott headed off towards Robins Island. He, Jeff and I crossed (Bill hadn't arrived yet, and the Wolf was otherwise engaged.) Landing on a rock-strewn beach, we guessed at the distance we'd crossed while Jeff tried to coax the answer out of his GPS unit (a map later determined it was four miles on the nose.) The reach back was plenty exciting as the wind and ramps came up.
We got back in time to take a few runs in blinding rain (always fun) before the rain and wind finally petered out. Fingers are crossed for a Sunday session...
A personal day. A mental health day. A "be kind to your sinkers" day. Don't you deserve it? Just be sure to work very hard on Friday to compensate.
(I missed it on Sunday...family obligations had me on dry land. But Peconic Jeff caught it.)
|
"oh man, hate to say it, but you missed a big one
yesterday at New Suffolk - winds well into the 20's, cloudless skies,
warm water/air - the only part that didn't line up was the tide, since
it was outgoing for most of the afternoon. Jon Ford had sent Jimi
Sobeck, Adam and some other young guns to Mattituck Yacht Club, but the
Wolf sniffed out higher winds further East at New Suffolk. Bill Barber
was the other sailor in attendance -- he was driving behind me on New
Suffolk Ave, and said I hit the gas when I got to that house with the
windmill where you can see all the whitecaps on the bay... no doubt!
I started with 5.9 and JP 93 (Bill on 5.8 and Wolf 5.2), but we were mostly fully to waay-over-powered, so I rigged down to 5.2 and was fully juiced for speed runs and the occasional jump. The other guys stayed with their setup, but took more breaks, and ended up leaving early. According to my GPS, I sailed 51 miles (is that even right??) over 4.5 hours. At the very end, the tide had finally turned, so I got a couple moderately sized jumps, but it would have been much better had the tide turned earlier." |
The next day Jeff was all about the new callouses on his hands...how stoked he was to be fried from sailing. He's merciless.
Me: Losing my mind for weeks due to little or no wind.
My wife: She has a new harness, she learned to jibe last fall, but WHERE are the warm summer Long Island winds she's been promised? The along came Saturday, with warm winds and an invitation to visit some good friends at Napeague.
We were in the van pronto.
Met up with Lili and Wilson and hit the water (me on a 6.2, Sally on a 5.5, L&W on similar.) It was beautiful...Napeague at its Napeague-iest...super flat water and smooth winds with nary a gust or lull (yeah I said "nary"...you wanna do something about it?) and the water was practically drinkable*.
We had a great time. Sally hit two jibes (her first non-Caribbean jibes) and I made a spectacular mess of some flip jibes and even hit a backwinded jibe or two. Lili and Wilson were looking good too, and before you know it the time had come to get off the water, admire a spectacular sunset with a glass of wine, and sit down to The Feast:
Scallop sashimi with olive oil and Hawaiian salt (ask Lili...it's red and it's fantastic)
Grilled Salmon
Some crazy good seaweed salad.
Washed down by fine white wine.
It was just about as good as it gets. I'll take Saturdays like this one any time! Big thanks to Lili and Wilson, and to their small but formidable daughters who tried to pinch the skin off of your editor with clam shells.)
*(I love the thermal magnet that is Hecksher, but if I've got to take a swig of sailing water Napeague is my brew.)
Talking about longboards reminded me of when I though shortboards were exotic. I spotted this old thing in an online forum recently. It's a Seatrend 9'4" squashtail, circa 1990...the exact make and model of my first shortboard. It was a wonderous high-performance thing, that replaced my first ever board, a longboard (transitional, really, a hideous Bic Salsa that I named The Leaking Iron Sow.) The Seatrend's name was name was Sparkle Baka Guy (Baka Guy from the Shonen Knife song, and someone's girlfriend added "Sparkle".)
It dissappoints me that more people don't name their windsurfing boards>/a>. The original Peconic Puffins did, Dasher's crew in Aruba did, but these days the only practioners I'm aware of besides myself are the Clew First crew. I'll have to do an updated Names of the Fleet piece soon...
Three reasons I love my old longboard:
1. Cruising in eight knots with speed and grace is fun in wind-starved times.
2. It let me compete in the East Coast Windsurfing Festival races.
3. It's fun to freestyle on.
Three reasons to love a new longboard:
1. Lake sailing.
2. Destination windsurfing (can't beat the centerboard and planing/nonplaning performance to get where you need to go.
3. Konas are gorgeous.
So let's say you lay your hands on a longboard...where can you go to obsess on what to do with it? Currently I'm loving The Longboard Windsurfing Knowledge Base. In particular, I like the freestyle articles by pierrec45 (who occasionally comments here on the Peconic Puffin.)
Windsurfing...it's not just about shortboards anymore.
What do I mean when I say I'm overpowered?
If I'm windsurfing on smaller gear in high winds, I probably mean that there's so much power in the sail that I can't manage it. I lack the skill to stop the universe from exploding when I'm sailing a 4.0 in 35 knots. Better men (and the Moreno twins) may be able to hold it down, but I can not.
If I'm on mid-sized or larger gear (anything from the promiscuous 5.5 on up) I don't say I'm overpowered until the sail's aerodynamics start to break down. You can feel and hear the thing cease to be a wing providing lift as it becomes a tortured and abused shape in a gale. A sudden increase in speed and power that, knot for knot, would scare me off of a given high-wind sail is, on bigger gear...exciting!
If gusts hitting the sail makes the rig feel like a punching bag, I'll opt for lots more downhaul to let the sail spill the bursts of power. If the challenge is keeping the board on the water, I'll swap in a smaller fin (or even a smaller board.) But if I'm afraid to bear off into a jibe or try a jump, it's usually time to rig down.
(I can't remember the last time I was overpowered. We're in a wind deee-rought on Long Island!)
Dana Miller has it pretty good...he's out in Pistol River, where at this very minute the forecast is:
N GALES 35 KT. WIND WAVES 8 TO 10 FT.
It goes on that way for the rest of the week.
But that's not what this post is about. It's about some fine stickers that Mr. Miller has cooked up, in response to some kite stickers that were making the rounds a year ago courtesy of Trip Forman (major kiting proponent, button pusher, and a fine windsurfer, though you don't want to share a go-kart track with the man.)
According to an article in this month's New England Windsurfing Journal, the stickers are obtainable from the Avon Sail House in Hatteras (or find Margaret and Olaf when they set up their summer shop in the Gorge) or you can mail a dollar per sticker to Dana at POB6111, Pistol River, OR 97444 and he'll take care of you directly.
(photos courtesy Dana)
If you missed the Long Island premiere of The Windsurfing Movie, you have another chance to see it on a big screen. The masterwork of Johnny DeCesare and old-school Peconic Puffin Jace Panebianco will be screened Friday, July 11th at the East End Seaport Museum in Greenport at 7:00pm. Admission is $3 (free for members of the Seaport Society.) So be there or be square...Friday July 7th!
If you can't make the Greenport screening, you may want to consider jetting out to Hollywood to catch The WIndsurfing Movie as part of the X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival on July 15th. Admission is free, which will help defray the cost of your flight west. If you'll already be in Tinseltown, then you're golden!
Sometimes praying for wind doesn't work. In my experience, praying for wind rarely works, in fact! So how to become okay with light winds, or the absence of wind altogether? Where might I turn for spiritual guidance? Should I put on a robe?
Michael Jamieson's example comes to mind. Here is a man who brings a personal Buddha on location to the launch (don't even ask if his harness lines are balanced.) When not sailing, he meditates on freestyle fin choice (the adorning fin in this photo is courtesy Tonky Frans. Hey Mike Burns...whadayathink?
(Michael Jamieson is also the sculptor...check out more of his work at jamiesonstoneworks.com.
My cell phone rang.
"Hello Michael, how are you today?"
I was excited, because the forecast called for a windy afternoon, and the trees were beginning to rustle. But who was this stranger on the phone? I asked.
"It's The Wolf."
"The Wolf?" Did I know a Wolf? Are the telemarketers now calling cellphones? Am I Little Red Riding Hood? Then a memory began to piece itself together in my head. A long, long time ago, when it used to blow strong on Long Island, I windsurfed with a guy named The Wolf. This was probably that guy, calling because we were going to have wind!
"I'm good! Where are we sailing?"
By and by it all got sorted out, and New Suffolk was the call. New Suffolk with the split personality--always sailed in S-SSW wind, turn right during incoming tide for bump and jump, turn left for the sweet jibatorium behind the Robins Island sand bar. The tide was wrong for jumping, so we'd be playing in the super flat waters.
I got there and barely recognized the Wolf...he was in a bathing suit and t-shirt. Where was his drysuit? Then a second guy said Hi. I was catching on, and so photoshopped him in my head with a heavy wetsuit. It was Scott! Another face from the past...
Soon we launched...5.8 was the call (me lit on a 6.2, Scott struggling on a 5.2, da Wolf was just right.) By and by Peconic Jeff showed up (we'd sailed Hecksher the day before so I recognized him straight off) but yet another windsurfer appeared, and called out to me as he planed by. It was Seth, former Windsurfing Hamptons employee who'd gone to the dark side ten years ago...I hadn't seen him since. He had brought a windsurfing board and sail with him through the time portal.
With the window to the past wide open and letting in a heck of a breeze (time to rig down) everyone was tearing it up behind the sand bar. While the outside of the jibatorium is flatter than Napeague or Hatteras or Bonaire (pick your well know flat spot) the run and turn right along the bar is the flattest, fastest water I've ever sailed. The big boys in France should ditch the Ditch and go for the speed record here!
Anyhow the fun move is to charge the sand bar, then bear off on a broad reach about six feet from the sand. I always do this behind Scott, who is:
a. knowledgable about the spot, and
b. crazy
to determine just how close I can get to the sand. When you jibe at the end of the run (it's only about a 3/4 turn from the broad reach) you have so much speed and the water is so perfectly flat that you just rocket out of the turn. It's a beautiful thing, as addictive as ice cream, and so there was a ring of about eight windsurfers (Jonathan Ford and Jimi Sobeck from the present has arrived by now) tearing around at breakneck speed in one mad circle, again and again and again x500.
The sailing was so easy that there never seemed a reason to take a break, however after 1500 jibes some of us (me) noted that our hands were falling off. I had to pick up Mrs. Puffin anyway, and the Wolf also headed in to give his paws a rest, when all of a sudden the wind shut off, and the remainder of the mad circle had to shlog or swim back to shore. It was strange wind behaviour, but I have no doubt that the nearby time portal was messing with the isobars.
Before I complain about the weeds at Hecksher, let me say Thank All Wind Gods for a place that blows in the summer. It's been almost two months since I sailed something smaller than 6.2, so the fully powered 5.0 conditions yesterday were a delight. Thanks for the wind, thanks for the air, thanks for the warm water.
That being said, let's talk a bit about the weeds. I've never seen weeds slam the brakes on people sailing weed fins the way I did last night. I've never been so weeded down myself at times while sailing a weed fin (True Ames Surfgrass). It seemed like every now and then they'd just tie themselves in knots around the fin...I was hearing sounds from behind my board that I'd never heard before.
Nothing a good jump or tack didn't cure, though. I'd go back in a minute, though I'm hoping for some east end action today.
The Olympic training waters in China are less than ideal. The story of this mess is all over the media, but when it comes to marine biology and windsurfing I always turn to
James' blog.
The day began with the following comment, emailed from Peconic Jeff:
"Moohoowahaha!"
There were a few other words, arranged in complete sentences, but it was all exposition to support the declaration of "Moohoowahaha". The forecast of planing winds after a month-long drought did this to P-Jeff. I whined back that I suspected that there would never be decent wind again, ever, and that I had sold all of my windsurfing equipment in disgust.
But I was lying, and plans were layed to sail at Peconic Jeff's formerly secret spot, the Red Cedar Point Jibatorium and Trickery Studio. (The bad news about this spot is there's no legal way to access the launch...you must cross the Great Peconic from South Jamesport or find some other way onto the water and then sail to Red Cedar. Jeff and I may not have done that, exactly...)
Anyhow we shared the super-flat waters with a pair of well-mannered kiters, and had all sorts of fun. In the video clip below I can be seen screwing up backwinded jibes and carve 360's (smooth camera work and title graphic by Jeff), whilst Jeff can be seen (barely, thanks to my unsteady hand) hitting a nifty donkey jibe.
I've heard quite a few Long Island windsurfers rave about the wavesailing at Democrat Point, or “Demo”, on the western tip of Fire Island. But every time I hear talk about Demo, invariably there's also a story about someone getting into a jam...if the wind drops or your gear breaks, word is that the currents will take you to Portugal. I asked about this in the Long Island Windsurfing Forum, where (along with encouragement to try sailing Demo) I was told that I needed to read the story of "mikedabaker".
I read it.
Wow. It is as vivid a description of a windsurfer in trouble on the water as I have ever read. I asked Michael “mikedabaker” Vitti if I could run his story in this blog, just to share it with a few more people. Mike graciously said yes, so here it is.
(Note: People I've spoken with who know Mike have stressed to me that he's an exceptionally fit athlete and surfer. In other words, a less fit and wave-savvy windsurfer might not have made it.)
Mike's story:
Oct 13, 2004, 2:00PM. I got to the beach and the wind had just
lightened up. I waited. Soon the sun came out and the wind picked up
and the sand was blowing. Ran back to my van and rigged the trusty
4.7 and the 99 liter board.
Decided not to wear the dry suit as my plan was to make this a quickie
session, so I put on my wetsuit. I was kind of tired from doing trail
work the previous morning and sailing all Saturday afternoon but those
waves looked juicy and I wanted a piece of them.
I sailed straight out, making a bee line for the outer sand bar, jumping all the way. As I approached the impact zone I noticed it looked really gnarly, and contemplated jibing away from them and heading for the inside bar at Cedar Beach.
As fate would have it I decided to go for it. Since the wind was side off the waves were really hollow, and I spotted some really vertical ramps to send me skyward. These combined with the incredible speed I was traveling made it seem like I was getting launched into orbit.
I jibed outside and came into the breaking waves for some down the line sailing. Caught two good rides then suddenly I fell in trying to escape the froth of a previously broken wave. I gathered my gear together to position myself for water starting, then turned to look into the mouth of a freak rogue hollow wave that was sucking and about to dump right on me. As I was sucked into the mouth of the beast I held tight prepared for the mother of all Nantucket sleigh rides.
I had one hand on my foot strap and one hand on the end of my boom as I went through the rinse cycle. It felt like my arms were about to get twisted and ripped off so I let go and tumbled along hoping my board wouldn't get too far away. I popped up and swam for my board as fast as I could before another wave came to clean me up.
I quickly assumed the water start position and out of the corner of my eye I saw a slight looseness to the sail and figured oh well, I got another hole in the sail. “That's good.” I thought, because I was overpowered anyway, but upon closer inspection I saw the whole panel was gone. “No big deal,” I thought, I'll just luff/limp back in with whatever is left of the top and bottom of the sail.
As I tried to waterstart again I noticed something looked really wrong
with this sail. I waited for a lull in the waves constantly breaking
on my head to finally get a good look. Crap! The whole sail was
ripped straight across the top of the boom, including the heavy fabric
seam along the clew edge.
Okay, that sail is useless. I laid the mast on the tail of the board and started paddling towards shore. 45 minutes later I realize I'm not making any headway. I'm still in the impact zone and getting pummeled.
Okay this is a bit more serious than I had thought. Time to get rid of the sail which was now acting as a sea anchor. Time to take everything apart in between wave impacts and slip the sail off the mast. Said a few words to my old faithful friend…"adios amigo" as i watched the sail head south in the outgoing current.
And speaking of outgoing current, I was not far behind.
I was close to the fishing boat when this all happened, but now I was pretty far away. I saw a windsurfer sail out to just about where I was and I gave a wave indicating I was okay and he jibed and headed away. I kind of figured the Coast Guard was going to be called due to my predicament.
Now I am out past the outer sand bar, and I quickly put my one piece mast on top of my board along with my boom, then I climbed on top and started to paddle more earnestly without stopping as I knew I had to get in front of the breaking waves so they could help push me towards shore.
My first attempts at riding the bigger waves in towards shore ended in
complete failure as my gear and I were tossed about. Trying to belly
ride my board with the one-piece mast and boom on those huge waves you
see out by the buoys was a ridiculous attempt in futility.
Numerous times I was separated from my gear and eventually I told my mast and boom goodbye. But every time I got rid of them they would float back to me like scared little kittens wanting to come back on board. “All right, I'll take you along for a little while but if you start to screw things up for me...your outta here!”
As I drifted along I never saw land getting any closer. I was only able to stay in the outside sand bar's breaking waves. As I neared the second buoy…a red one…I decided to tell my mast and boom to get the hell out of here. I just couldn't ride the waves in with that mast hanging to one side as it would always turn me to the side and I'd roll sideways and capsize.
But they always floated back to me...get the hell outta here! I gave in as I was adding up the replacement costs. But I vowed to ditch them if I was still swimming past sunset. I had my eye on the Fire Island lighthouse and was glad to have that beacon to guide me in when it got dark.
Finally I learned how to ride the waves in and adjust for the mast
hanging off the end of my board. Now I had my sights set on demo.
Paddling a little more seriously with head down and deep strokes, I
tried to get close enough to catch a big outside set to push me in
closer.
I'm close now as I could see the jetty. Suddenly I felt the ocean
falling beneath me and looked behind me to see the mother of all waves
about to break behind me. I quickly shimmied my weight to the back of
the board to prevent pearling and felt a rush of white water crash upon
my back. I had a death grip on the rails of my board because if I lost
the board out here I would be pulled out to sea again with no
floatation and that would be really bad.
It was quite a ride in, bouncing along with the white water and
steering myself from a wipe out. Soon the wave flattened out and I
schooched forward to drive the nose of the board down the face of the
wave so I could keep this ride going. Now I'm heading straight for the
rocks of the jetty but I'm not going to let this wave go. I'll smash
right into the rocks if I have to.
The wave reformed and I steered the rig to the left but the waved
jacked and dumped me off. I surfaced after going through the turmoil
and my gear was gone. The current was pulling me out and I'm swimming
towards shore hoping for another wave to push me in. I turned around
and saw another big one behind me. I was able to swim fast enough to
catch it and body surf in, finally touching the sand but only getting
sucked out for another tumble. One more wave pushed me in and I happily
was finally walking on sand. I ran down the beach and gathered up my
gear, then looked back at Overlook. I saw a boat coming out of the
inlet with flashing lights and figured it was the Coast Guard. I knew I
needed to contact them to call off the search so I ran down to a
fisherman and asked him if he had a cell phone to call the Coast Guard
and call off a search for me. "Where did you come from?" he said "Out
there" I pointed.
They wouldn't call off the search until they verified that I was the
right person they were looking for. After they determined I was the
right person they asked how I was going to get back and I said I guess
I'm walking. They offered to send a car...like I'm going to say no?
I looked over at Overlook again and I saw tons of flashing lights on
the beach....I was like uh oh...this is turning into a big thing.
Next I see a Suffolk police helicopter and another smaller coast guard
boat. I noticed that the Coast Guard cutter first went to the last
place I was seen and traveled the same route I had drifted and was soon
off Demo searching.
Boy these guys know there stuff...I would have thought to look elsewhere due to the current.
Finally I see an ATV and two police vehicles coming down the beach and
I was offered a ride. I apologized for getting everyone involved but
they were glad that I was found alive. It doesn't always work out
that way.
Lessons learned:
-Sail with a buddy
-Use one of the strobe lights that strap to your arm. I had mine in
my van...it works better if you actually wear it. The waves were 6-9
feet and you're not visible without the strobe light.
-Stay
in shape or stay near the shore. That was one long paddle...about two
and a half hours of non stop paddling in addition to the numerous
wipeouts.
-Offshore or sideshore winds will make it difficult or impossible to
swim back. Combine that with an out going current and you have a
deadly combination.
Thanks to Stan and Lou for making the right decision to call the Coast
Guard if I was out for a longer period of time it would be good to have
that back up especially if it were after dark.
I've already started to write a thank you letter to the Suffolk Marine Police and Coast Guard."
*****
(Three years later it's still a vivid memory for Mike. After reading an advance copy of this post he wrote the following:)
" The waves that day were about logo to mast high on the outside. Water temps were in the low to mid fifties. Air temps were upper fifties. I made it back to the beach just before sunset.
I was very strongly motivated to reach the beach on my own power, after I saw the helicopters and coast guard boats. I thought they would charge me for the rescue! How dumb was that?
Also an interesting side note:
I wore my light weight wet suit so it would make me colder faster and force me to only have a quickie session...because...I was supposed to pick up my kids from school and I didn't want to be late! If i was snug and warm in my drysuit...I wouldn't want to cut my session short.
Because I never showed up to pick up my kids at school...it set off a whole chain of phone calls, which reached my wife who happened to be on a business trip....I WAS BUSTED!
Instead of being glad to find out I was still alive...my wife didn't speak to me for a week! My kids were used to it though cause I've arrived to pick them up from school late and still in my wetsuit several times. Once I had to go to the principal's office in my wetsuit to pick up the kids, who were being entertained by the office staff."
(Aside from being an avid windsurfer and surfer, Michael Vitti is the president of CLIMB (Concerned Long Island Mountain Bikers) and is busy building mountain bike trails and a BMX tracks. He helped lobby successfully to get the first mountain bike trails in New York City parks. Mike says "These parks had a problem with heroin and crack addicts. We're changing the predominant use in these parks from one type of junkie for adrenaline junkies!" Check out CLIMBonline.org Mike was once a baker at a health food store, and was known to show up at sessions with muffins to share.)
(photos of Mike on better days courtesy Ely Spivack, and h2omen.com.)
Let's see...could that be ME? No, it could not...my hair doesn't look anywhere near as good when wet. That could be Mike Burns at Hecksher, though.
(Photo by Bill Doutney)
I met a fellow blogger today. That’s excitement in my book (I need a better book, I know.) Really and truly, though, getting to talk face to face with someone I’ve been trading comments with for months or years is cool.
Windsurfing bloggers are gregarious and make an effort to meet. I’ve connected with OBX Bill and Lost In Hatteras Andy with ease, and had to screw up pretty badly to miss meeting Mac of Water Turtle and Catapulting Aaron. (Drysuit2 Frank and Peconic Jeff I knew pre-blog.)
But the sailboat bloggers are cut from different stuff.
Their blogs are fun to read (they have so many exotic topics to explore…”vang tension”?) but the bloggers themselves like their privacy. The sailboat crowd generally doesn’t let you get too close. They think they’re so damn superior…
So when I received an email from Adam of Messing About in Sailboats it was a pleasant surprise. First we went back and forth about PJ Harvey (for his “Songs for Friday” series) then a bit about work (we’re vaguely in the same field) and then lunch came up (we’re both working in NYC).
So we did it. It was great fun…the best part being all the trash talking we did about The Horse's Mouth Joe and the Tillerman and Frogma Bonnie Bonnie Bonnie…*
(* I would never trash talk Bonnie Bonnie Bonnie. Besides, she’s a kayak and cucumber blogger and is perfectly sociable. Furthermore Joe and Lord Tillerman have been quite generous to the Puffin, so any bad behaviour towards them on my part is inexcusable. It wouldn't be the first time...)
It's been over three weeks since we've had a good day of wind. There have been a few moments where if you were in the right place at the right time (I was not) you got it for an hour or two, but a righteous session on sails other than our largest is way past due on Long Island.
(to the tune of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way")
"Backside ridin' through the waves you be glidin'The MuFin...a wave fin that doesn't look like a wave fin. James has the story.
It had been 16 days since I planed at all. 21 days since both feet were in the footstraps. Hecksher Park is not close (whether I'm in the city or in Peconica) but since it always has the best odds of getting some thermals, I planned to go. Got a call from Peconic Jeff, who was also losing his mind from lack of planing. He wanted to go to Hecksher too, but then the Cable Guys screwed him up and he had to stay home.
Poor bastard.
Anyhow The King of The East said there would be thermals, so to Hecksher I went...where a dozen or so people (including King Mike, Frank, Ira, George Marr and other faces from the festival) were on the water, mostly planing. I had a good time on a 6.2 for a few hours...not ripping, but getting enough jibe and trick attempts in to feel like I'd done some windsurfing.
I'm still parched, but I'm not gonna die of deprivation just yet, and they're calling for some breeze on Sunday...
Nothing fancy...just a day I would love to have right now. Thanks to Chiaying for suggesting the video. Skip the first 30 seconds to get out on the water.
I worry about gear breaking...in particular anything that would leave me unable to sail back to shore, and expecially anything that might separate me from my board (perhaps you caught my rant about two bolt bases.) I've been fairly lucky in regards to uni breakage (it's only happened to me once...my safety line held, and I didn't trash the deck sailing back to shore) and I inspect my uni's regularly, but after reading a post by Andreas Macke about how he found quite the crack in a tendon, I need to improve my inspection technique.
Check out his story and see for yourself.
(Photo of Andreas' torn UJ swiped from his blog, G-42.)
No gear? No problem. Get thee to Napeague and hook up with Windsurfing Hamptons' trailer. Here's the word from WH's Jonathan Ford:
Jake is our employee who will always be on the beach with the trailer, and we'll have other instructors rotating through as necessary. All new gear in the trailer - boards and sails of all sizes, along with SUP boards. Instruction as well as gear rental is available for all levels for both windsurfing and stand up paddling. Anyone interested in lessons or rentals will want to book in advance either through the website or call the shop (631-283-9463). Booking in advance is key to availability, particularly when the forecast is good! Here are the links for renting equipment and booking a lesson.
The Puffin often receives inquiries about where good windsurfing equipment can be had near good sailing waters. This is a primo opportunity for everyone from beginners to jibemasters. Just add wind.
The Great and Powerful Nevin Sayre (US-9) informs the Puffin of a junior windsurfing event on Cape Caahd, July 16-19. Thus spake Nevin:
"The East Coast Junior Champs will be hosted by the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club on Martha’s Vineyard, MA. This is also a U.S. Sailing Junior Olympic event, and is broken down into Under 19, Under 17, Under 15, and Under 12 age groups. The event is really kicking into high gear with junior windsurfers already registered from as far away as California and Florida. Up and coming junior windsurfers from the East Coast Champs may be eligible for grant funding to the 2009 North American Championships (likely in San Francisco).
July 16 will kick off the action with an optional windsurf/racing clinic to improve your skills. This is a free opportunity to learn from a team of multiple national windsurfing champions. July 17-18 will be the Junior Championship held on beautiful Vineyard Haven Harbor. Vineyard Haven is the breeding ground of such prominent windsurfers as Seth Besse, the Douglas Brothers, Nacy and Platt Johnson, and yours truly. On July 19 there is also a separate Long Distance Race open to all ages and all equipment as part of the Vineyard Cup (www.VineyardCup.com). Junior competition will be held on Techno 293 One Designs with charter boards available on a reservation basis. Per USWA guidelines, there are maximum sail sizes for the different age groups. Limited housing is also available. More information is available at www.vhyc.org.
What’s great about this windsurfing regatta is that all ability levels are welcome. There are kids who’s main goal is to make it around the course for the first time, and other kids who are eager to strut their stuff. We break it down into different divisions and the kids inspire each other. Any one who can make it to the windward mark is qualified. This will likely be the largest group of junior windsurfers in the U.S. in one place at one time, and there is a pioneering spirit that makes it super fun for all the kids. If that's not enough reason to come, we are investing in a dvd of the event to promote junior windsurfing. You could be a staaah!"
(You just know that Nevin is hoping their little shindig goes off as well as Long Island's finest. We wish them well!)
How high would you say that jump is? Taking a wild guess (and estimating that the mast of the sailor on the water is a 400cm...13 feet) I'm thinking Jonas Ceballos has about 28 feet of air under the tail of his board.
I particularly like the acceleration he achieves about half way through the jump. I suppose the winds pick up once you're in the jet stream.
As the glow from last weekend is just beginning to wear off, I have three things on my mind. The first is to thank and share the names of the key people who made the event happen. So thank you:
Mike Burns: Organizer, and King of the East!
Thom Hering: Organizer, and King of the Mic.
Sonny: Official Timekeeper.
Joe Nitali: Race Commitee, and generous provider of the safety boat.
Jill Marr: Official Scorekeeper.
Bill Doutney: Official Photographer.
Warren Anderson (of Bestway Tools) donated the custom screwdrivers.
Dan Lefkowitz provided flags, racing marks and ground tackle.
Ocean Air provided the GPS units and demo sails.
Lee Owens designed the logo and trophies.
Joe and Dave at the Parks department for their support.
Everyone who showed up to participate in the event. Windsurfers are great people, and the sport attracts great people.
From down under we are presented with this photo of Rick, sporting a harness bra. Then there's the bathing suit. As seen on Windsurfing NSW.
While racing was the more popular event (with over 45 competitors) the freestyle action was fast and furious and a whole lot of fun! We were stoked to have Phil Soltysiak and crew join us from Canada, though they had to hit the road on Sunday and missed the final competition.
Freestyle Pro Men
Here are the overall racing results from the East Coast Windsurfing Festival. Note that all racers (guys, gals, youts..."what's a yout?") are combined. Note that Pete Roesch was unstoppable (I even rammed him but still ended up in his wake in that heat!) Note that Bart Kornas is dangerous to crowd near a mark. Note that young Alex Hering smoked an army of adults! And note that we had lots of ties overall (see the duplicate numbers to the left.) On a personal note I'd like to say that the first time I ever raced at an event, I never made it around the course, so mad props to everyone who got out there!
1. Pete (the Eliminator) Roesch
2. Bart Kornas
3. Alex Hering
4. Michael Alex
5. Joe Giordano
6. George Pav
7. Marhn Sszymanski
7. Jim Manta
8. Martin Risner
9. Ian Warren
10. Xavier Campos
10. Dennis Grunbeck
11. Peter Alagha
12. Mike Columbo
13. Kurt Veith
14. Peconic Jeff Schultz
15. Joe Natalie
16. George Marr
17. John Markwalter
18. Kuba
19. Rich Halloway
20. John Sasson
21. Ted Bonner
22. Bluefish Mike
22. Ira
23. Phil Soltsiack
23. Jill Marr
24. Juan Piantino
24. Jesse Waters
24. Tanya
25. Elvin Quezaba
26. Sean Keating
27. Vicki
28. Larry
29. Chip
30. Tom Soltsiak
30. Florian
31. Rich Simmons
31. Robert Mallin
31. Tom Dehan
31. Josh
31. Dean Carbalo
(Photos by Bill Doutney)
As a storm approached from the south with thunder and lightning crackling, the organizers of the East Coast Windsurfing Festival tried to round everybody up to announce the winners and present trophies. But everybody already knew the big news, which was that Long Island could have a successful windsurfing festival. With 45 people racing and 20 competing in freestyle (with many people participating in both) and a healthy crowd of supporting fans and onlookers, the "totally unofficial" event was a hit. Even with the unseasonably light winds (what happened to the thermals?) there was never a break in the windsurfing action, and everybody had fun on the water and made new friends on the beach.
A full list of all the winners and the complete standings from the first East Coast Windsurfing Festival is coming soon (along with stories and more photos.) For now, here are the top finishers of the event:
Freestyle Pro
1. Mike Burns (The King of the East!)
2. John Sasson
3. Larry Hoff
Freestyle Sport
1. Kurt Veith
2. Michael Alex
3. George Pav
Freestyle Youth
1. Alex Hering
2. Xavier Campos
3. George Marr III
4. Katie Pav
5. Douglas Marr
Racing Unlimited
1. Pete Roesch
2. Bart Kornas
3. Michael Alex
Women's Racing
1. Jill Marr
Women's Freestyle
1. Jill Marr (you gotta think Jill's pretty pleased with herself!)
Youth Racing
1. Alex Hering
2. Xavier Campos
Rocket Award (Speed)
Bart Kornas
(Photos by Bill Doutney)
Though the winds were light we had plenty of racing and freestyle competitions. I don't have time to give any more detail...must resuscitate my old longboard so I don't get creamed by Pete and his UltraMegaSupercat again!
(Photos: Once the racers had left the beach, conditions were ideal for beginner lessons. But not during the freestyle competitions, which were just a few feet from the beach! Photos by Bill Doutney.)
How do we get these things to get a higher number on them? First off, move those footstraps out and back. The less board in the water, the faster your going to go. Second, head off the wind!!! You go way faster going downwind than straight out and back. Third, carry as big a sail that you can control. Control is the key. If you're barely holding down your 7.0 and starting to tailwalk, your going to get smoked by someone with a 6.0 that's in control. Also try and pick a path through the chop with as little bumps as possible. Sailing smooth is sailing fast. We have tons of people signed up for the GPS speed competition, so your time will be limited. Get your gear tweaked before you pick up the GPS to make sure you get your best runs on the GPS.
If you're competing in either the racing or freestyle, you need to show up at Heckscher at 10am on Saturday June 7th to sign in. Skippers meeting will be at 11:00. This way we can set up the freestyle heats and get the racing groups together. The plan is to start competition at High Noon on Saturday and continue until about 6 PM then repeat the process on Sunday. We will alternate between racing heats and freestyle heats. Sunday afternoon will be the freestyle finals and the races will end. Trophies will be presented on Sunday evening at the end of competition. We're looking to hold the Pro Men's freestyle in high wind, so the timing on the pro men's freestyle is subject to change with the forecast.
So what's it take to win a freestyle competition? Other than landing the biggest tricks of course. Well first off the judges will be looking for a variety of tricks, so instead of doing the same trick over and over, try and mix it up. Second, it's a lot easier for the judges to spot you close to the beach. You won't score any higher by doing the trick close to the beach, but you'll be sure to get noticed. Watch the start flags to know when the heat starts. You can get that extra move in that makes the difference if you time it right. Third, start off with the tricks you know. Get those under your belt before going huge on something you probably won't land anyway. Keep in mind that you will earn some points by going big even though you might not land it. Go for that first forward, vulcan, whatever. The last secret is to do really short runs out and back. If you do half the length of your normal run, you end up doing twice as many tricks.
Marriott quite unexpectedly cancelled Vela’s contract after almost 13 years in Aruba and has now taken Vela to Aruban Court to remove us from their beach. They have been very vague about their reasons. When they first terminated our lease this past October, they told us it was too expensive to repair our building and we were not worth it. They then stated that they needed the space for construction equipment for their ongoing hotel renovation. During our first court appearance they claimed they planned to remove our building and do some landscaping. This week in court, their plans have once again changed it seems and they now claim they intend to build 'a towel hut' and 'serve drinks' at our location...
If you would like to voice your support of Vela's existence on Aruba, please send an email to SaveVelaAruba@gmail.com
I will be collecting emails there and use them to help persuade Marriott to change their mind and encourage the Aruban government to support our request for a use permit for the land where we are now.
Thanks you so much for your support.
Tony Kardol
Vela Resorts
From NYC:
"If you're thinking about going to the windsurfing festival, Heckscher has been in full swing. The water is warming up nicely, but more important it's been blowing like crazy. Monday there was a large crowd at Heckscher to catch the 20 to 35 mph winds. Pete Dekay of Windsport Magazine stopped by in the morning to see what all the hype was about. After a few spocks and loops he proclaimed Heckscher the perfect spot for an event, tell me something I don't already know! Pete had to head back home to Canada around noon when it was blowing 4.7. Right after he left, the wind kicked up a few notches to a solid 3.7. While it's typically not 3.7 at Heckscher (although this was my fourth 3.7 day since the end of April), I'm on my 4.7 and 5.3 more days than I can count. Yes my fellow wind stalkers, Heckscher is in full swing and has been getting plenty of practice blowing its wind for the event."
A friend had his rig and board separate in the impact zone recently, which got me thinking about my longstanding choice in mast feet and how it would be a good topic for the Peconic Puffin to tackle (or muck up.) Let us sing the praises of the two-bolt mastfoot, which I believe to be superior to the one bolt mastfoot without exception or qualification. There have been plenty of debates on the topic (and as a gearhead I have followed them all) but I believe there is a clear answer that is right for everybody. (I must be a jerk to believe that, yes? So if you're playing at home, please reply with why I'm wrong ASAP so I can learn something.)
Anyhow here is my reasoning:
1. (The big one.) A two-bolt uni is far less likely to separate from the board than a one bolt. The first time I saw rig separation I was a mile from shore, sailing about 100 yards behind a friend in 4.0 conditions in heavy chop. All of a sudden he was sinking...I thought "what a lull!" (He was on a sinker). But actually his board had shot out from beneath him when his mastfoot slipped out of the track. A gust picked up his board and tossed it 50 feet downwind, from where it proceeded to continue away from him. Fortunately I was there to sail to his board and stop its escape. Most single bolt slip-outs can be blamed on the sailor (didn't tighten the mastfoot enough, didn't wash out sand that was holding the foot in place giving the illusion of a tight fit etc) but...do you want to blame or do you want to keep your rig attached to your board? There is also the rare breakage of the mast track nut (I had an industry rep once tell me "it never happens". I told him my story of the nut from my WSH mast foot cracking in half (happily I was on the beach.) With two bolts, if you've somehow failed to tighten the thing and one of the bolts somehow manages to slide out your rig will still be attached, and you'll notice the flopping long before its possible for the second nut to slide out.
2. You don't have to remove the mast foot in order to roof rack or bag the board. Just pop out the uni joint and leave your mast foot where it's presumably dialed in for the board. Speaking of which,
3. The two-bolt mast foot does not limit your useful mast track range. How can I say this when the two-bolters most definitely limit the extreme forward and backward range? Here's how: I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Peter Thommen, master board builder (Bjorn Dunkerbeck's board builder in Bjorn's heyday) about mast tracks and the proper position to set the foot of a mast track. Thommen said that mast tracks offer way more range than anyone should use, that they are as long as they are because they need a long mast track so there's enough material to attach the thing strongly to the board. He said for any given windsurfer on a given board there's only about 3 cm range of mast track adjustment that benefits the board and rider no matter what sail is used on it, and that board designers center the mast track around that ideal area for an average sized windsurfer. I found this a revelation at the time. Thommen continued "so if you ever are out on the water and find the board seems to be sailing in perfect balance, mark that spot, and never move the uni more than 3 cm in any direction from it." If he's right (and having played with this for years since that conversation I believe he is) then all any of us need is about an inch and a half of range. Unless you find that you own a board that is only dialed in when the mast foot is jammed all the way forward (or all the way back) for one sail (in which case if this theory is true then all your sails should be rigged way forward or way back on that board) there's no reason to need all that range. For myself, I own two boards that I sail a lot of sails on ("Candy 77"...a 77 liter freestyle wave, I sail from 3.4 to 5.5, and "Calamity Too" a 109 liter freestyle board that I've sailed 5.0-7.0) I've been able to dial in with two bolt mast tracks.
4. If you own several boards, you can own many mast feet bases but fewer unis. We have 6 boards total (all with two bolt bases) but half as many unis. The newest uni is reserved for wave sailing, the oldest for nonplaning freestyle in the creek, and a "middle" uni for any non-wave sailing (if the Mrs. and I are sailing together she gets the wave uni because NOTHING IS TOO GOOD FOR MY WIFE!)
I know two people who were rescued by boats a mile from shore due to rig separation...they could not swim fast enough to catch their boards as they blew downwind. That will always underscore for me the best reason to choose two bolts over one.
(Photo: A Chinook two-bolt mast base. This one features a rubber U-joint. I prefer the tendon...some other folks opt for the mechanical joint.)
ABK invites its students to bring whatever they need to make learning as easy as possible. Pens and paper, a comfortable chair for lectures, whatever works for you to enhance your mental concentration and insight. Students often rise to the occasion.
(One student came uniquely equipped to center his mind at the ABK clinic on Friday.)
Continuing the windsurfing photos theme, check out this excellent shot of Long Island windsurferess Jill Marr (who, word has it, will be in this weekend's ABK clinic at Napeague as part of her Mother's Day loot.)
The full photo is being used by Isthmus Sailboards, for whom the image of Jill smoking across Bonaire's Lac Bay underscores Isthmus' windsurfing passion, knowledge, and service. Me, I think she's getting ready to jibe.
The first 100 people who bring a copy of this blog post to the ABK clinic will get an autograph from Jill.
(The image above can be seen on the Isthmus web site.)
The title is "Ten Knots".
See it in all it's glory here.
Photo by Garry.
Pointed out to the Peconic Puffin by the blog "Messing About In Sailboats".
While many of us were using Napeague as a shortcut to Gardiners Bay during Monday's epic conditions, there was ample shredding going on in Napeague proper as well.
Excluding a substantial wind shadow down by the antenna to the southeast, the bay was crazy windy! Meanwhile 60 miles to the east the Yahoo mob was tearing it up at C.I.B. where the legendary Mysto wave was in full effect. Would have loved to have been in two places at once...
There's an ABK windsurfing clinic at Napeague starting on Friday (featuring a special appearance by Windsport's Pete DeKay) who remembers a Long Island clinic that had 30+knot winds. Imagine trying to learn to tack in 30 knots...yikes!
With a forecast of big east winds, I thought we might retreat to the inner Peconic Bays for some controlled sailing in 30+knots. But the people I sail with are crazy. The plan was to drive 25 miles east of the Peconic, where the wind would be (wait for it...) stronger! Of course! What was I thinking?
The place was packed. "I am not happy with the parking arrangements" said Bill B. Spoilers of Bill's parking included the Johns (CPU, Hulse, Ford, the Wolf) Bills (Fisherman and Lerner) and the odd Scott, Radek, Bruce, Peconic Jeff and so on. When Jon Ford said he was rigging a 3.7 I knew I was in for quite a day. Rigged my smallest wing (3.4) and went to the races.
On the inside it was a mess outbound though there were waves to ride inbound. Past the red buoy, though, and it was (in the words of the Wolf) "the land of the giants!" Eight to ten foot swell that fortunately broke gently. Mountains of water moving through...when it gets big at Gardiners I often feel like I'm in a scene from The Perfect Storm...tres dramatique! Maneuvering on those swells in 40 knot gusts is no mean feat.
But the story of the day was Jeff's jump. "Did you see Jeff's jump?" I was asked? I had missed his best one. "High, lots of hang time, and a nice clean landing," is how Scott described it. It sounded great. Later Jeff described it thusly:
"It all happens so fast that it's hard to remember the details. But I was charging the big waves like a bat out of hell and kicking the board up in the air in front of me."
Well Jeff, you impressed the crowd!
Last Friday set up big from the east, and The Wolf was at Ponquogue with CD while the rest of us were loading up to try and catch some pre-weekend wind. By the time I got there Ponquogue was done, and the guys were all moving to the Bowl, where it was full-on 4.0 sailing with big wind on the outside. Scott, Bill, Jeff and Jon Ford had joined the crew.
After awhile it died, though, and everyone was packing up and ready to go home when a phone rang. East Landing was nuking! Some of us who had not been satisfied by their Bowl session (ie me...couldn't get comfortable) couldn't wait to get a second chance. The Wolf had already had his second sesh, was "totally spent" but he was going to drive over just to look. When we got to East Landing it was honking. Bill suggested that the gusts were hitting 35. I expressed my doubt of 35, launched on a 4.0, and was summarily flattened by a 35 knot gust.
The Wolf sailed, of course. "My first three location day!" he said.
(Photo of The Bowl by Jeff.)