Steve's Windsurfing Journal - 2001 |
This was a very fun session, though I wish I had lower winds to warm up with because I hadn't sailed for two months. I was doing things incorrectly enough sometimes that I strained my lower back and quit sailing after an hour or so. But when it worked, it was great. A lot of the stuff I learned at Calema was working, especially the stuff about hanging from the boom, driving the mast into the board, and sheeting in by rotating the body and sail together so that the angle between the sail and my navel was maintained as I sheeted in. Sweet! Zoom.
I was planing nicely, and for the very first time got my foot into a foot strap!!!! Just the front one, though, and admittedly Calvert had it set up much further forward than Tinho had the straps on the Ultralight II's. I was reaching between the shore and the channel, and at the edge of the channel was some quite shallow coral I didn't dare hit. (Giles was very clear: "Steve, you look like a smart guy, but remember, until I get this $1400 board back in one piece, you own it and there's no insurance.") So, by the time I got going nicely on each reach and my foot into the straps, it was time to turn around. I only sailed the 6.5. The Bump'N'Jump gear was nice; very uncomplicated. Giles says it is manufactured or at least designed and sold by Calvert. Also, I was using Giles' own ProLimit seat harness, which even though a medium was very comfortable for me. I tried to buy one from him, unfortunately he said he doesn't sell them "in the US."
I was sailing in the same spot as another Calvert customer, who very nicely bequeathed us with 3 Coronas on his way out. Thanks, guy!
I asked Giles about the fire and whether the windsurfing shack would be replaced. Without going into the details here, he said that his company wouldn't be doing it. Holiday Isle has rebuilt the much-missed Rum Runners bar here (which is not quite open yet but they say Real Soon Now). But, with no onsite windsurfers and no place to store the rented ones, I doubt I'll be hanging out here like I used to. Kudos to Calvert Sailing, though. The gear was in great shape and the service very accomodating. In some ways, this is nicer as they will deliver to you once a day to whichever spot in Islamorada you want, depending on the wind direction. But in other ways, it's more of a hassle since you have to plan a bit in advance and they may be busy when you call.
Sunday was windsurfing day. Hit Sunset Park around 10:00 am, no wind was there until 11:30. Consulted with Jack Bushko about the strap position, and of course he recommended putting them further forward. Tried to move them up, but found they interfered with lightwind sailing and didn't feel I really needed them that far up. I don't have much trouble controlling a plane at that speed and haven't ever had much trouble actually putting my feet in the straps on other boards -- I have much more trouble with the harness. So I left them back, even though I know Jack is always right. Wind came up a little at 11:30 and I sailed until 2. Never planing speed, but it was fine to be out on the water, especially as the day cleared. Worked gybes a little. Of course, the wind picked up nicely about 20 minutes after I left, but no sour grapes -- it was great to be out on the water.
Monday dawned foggy but with a decent breeze. So, after trying and failing to convince Dad to launch the runabout and after no one else wanted to commit to anything else, I went sailing again. Good choice; the wind was a good planing 10-12kn and lots of fun. Got a thigh-deep beach start off. Lots of planing reaches until my arms gave out. Board felt like the tail was dragging more than usual, but probably I was just out of practice. Was wearing the seat harness, but didn't manage to hook in. Never got in the straps. I'm taking too long to ease up onto a plane, and by the time I get into harness position, it's time to turn around.
The Sunset Park crowd was out today: Jack, Jennifer from Brielle who got a nice F2 Phoenix 320 and seems to be hooked on sailing now since the May 2000 ABK, Fred the neurosurgeon looking good on his carving shortboard gybes. Good day to be on the water.
I went purely as a spectator on Saturday, and sat on the beach all afternoon and just watched folks do all manner of light wind tricks a few feet of the beach. The Bonaire kids stole the show, as a whole, but it was fun to watch Brian Talma, Jace Panebianco, Web Pedrick, Martin VanGeenhoven, and Petra Kanz. I enjoyed most watching Mike Burns in the men's amateur division, and Nevin and Solvig Sayre on their two-masted board, as well as all the other little kids sailing. I think the "name" pros were for the most part out-classed, but I imagine if there had been serious wind that things would have changed on that front.
Watching the novice division was most stoking of all because I realized with a good summer's worth of work I could show up, compete, and not be too embarassed. Not that I really want to compete, but it might be fun and give me something specific to work on.
Most fun for me was just being at my first competition, checking out the scene, eyeing all the serious equipment I'd previously seen only in the magazines. The crowd on the beach was having great fun. The informality of the sport, where the pros and the novices all intermingled, is really great. The CCWA did a great job organizing the event; I wish there were more like them!
Cape notes: Lighthouse Inn was a bit expensive for what the room was like, but location, location, location! David spent 5 hours in the pool over three days, so he was thrilled, and the West Dennis beach snack bar made for a fun family beach picnic on Saturday. Highly recommend the Kream'n'Kone in Harwichport for fried flounder (best I've ever had in a restaurant) and the coffee frappe. Cute little bookstore in Brewster. Wish the whole place weren't so far from home; it's really got a lot to offer.
Wind dropped around 3:30 back to a reasonable level (15? 12?) and I spent the rest of afternoon working on getting the seat harness hooked in, which I had never accomplished before. Jack had me lower the boom to about 2 inches below nipple height so I could hook in without having to be up on a plane. It was very unnatural, but gave me time to learn how to feel how to steer with the harness without all that high speed anxiety going on. Key is to head a little downwind before hooking in, don't look at the hook, lean back and bend knees after hooking in, and letting the navel/hook point to the COE. Steering is by slight, slight, slight leaning/swinging. When hitting a gust or lull, lean back (I was pulling in on the boom). Got catapulted a few times all in good fun, except once when my hand got caught between boom and harness hook. Owwww. Not so good for the sail either. Worked with the Neil Pryde seat harness I got in May. It's quite comfortable, though I wish the release were easier.
Speaking of the sail, I moved up to a North Rave 4.9 after I got more comfortable with the harness. It was the sail Jack had been sailing in the gusts, and it was an incredible sail. He had it tuned just so. Taut, balanced, and powerful. The difference between racing a mule and a thoroughbred, I imagine. Responsive, smooth. What a sail.
Sunset Beach crew: Jack, Lisa from Manayunk, her friend Raquel (thanks for chasing my sailbag!!), Fred, a few Russian tourists, and around the point there was a kitesurfing clinic going on.
Had a couple little perfect moments, one in the harness on starboard tack out, water all glistening yellow on grey, dark clouds streaming horizontal. The other was after the hand incident, just backstroking to relax in the warm water. Exhausted and smiling.
My pivot jibes were getting sloppy so I worked them for a while to whip them back into shape. Got into a bunch of clew first sailing coming out of the jibes. On one particular turn the clew first position felt so good I decided to stick with it. It was great! I could have held that reach all day. Then I got ambitious and took that clew-first reach up onto a plane. Nothing really tricky about it, just do the same things as on a normal reach. That was a rush and wasn't hard to hold onto at all. After a while though, I got to thinking how weird it was, tensed up, and fell over. But while it lasted it was good freestyle fun.
Beach crew: Jack, his three never-evers, and Jen from Brielle, who, uh, went over to the ocean beach, fell asleep and missed the best wind of the morning (Doh!).
Saturday I got on the water by about 2:15 and quit at 5 with a half-hour rest. This is where the Thursday night forecasts were happily wrong: After predicting very dead winds, Saturday was quite respectable, though not as good as Friday. No matter, I was out planing nicely, today with the waist harness. Lots of big boats in the main channel; it was scary to cross, but there was plenty of wake to challenge. A few times I got going fast enough to outrun the wake itself -- chop, chop, chop -- with a great sensation of sliding fast down the fronts the wake-waves. Tacks were back in good shape today with a bit of work; jibes still sloppy but workable. Did a "board 360" for fun, and took off fin first from the beach. Spent a long time working on deep water beach starts and trying to waterstart. I don't think there was quite enough wind to waterstart; either that or I was doing it wrong. The sail seemed to not be able to pull me up, though the couple of times it did I couldn't keep the board from rounding up. Anyway, it felt like progress to me, and I pulled off quite a few waist high beach starts and nailed the concept -- usually! -- of stepping up and kissing the sail. One fun drill I did was to beach start and then not stand up, just hang from the boom crouched down with arms straight, trying to get used to what looks in all the pictures like the final piece of the water start. Not quite butt-sailing; I couldn't figure out how to drag it in the water without tipping over the board. Lots of folks at the site today, most notably a Techno 283-sailing guy named Ken who I chatted with quite a few times.
Went sailing instead. A light wind day, so I worked on the little freestyle things Jack showed me last week. Short session, maybe an hour.
A really good sailing day anyway. Probably 2 or more hours on the water. After I got tired I stripped down the board and just paddled and floated around the bay for a while, hanging out with the Canadian geese and the gulls. There was absolutely no one else sailing with me all day. After I packed up, I went over to the Harvey Cedars surfing beach (south of E. Hudson street) to watch the surfer guys there and wade into the ocean in my wetsuit. A pretty wild ocean with strong currents. Surf was maybe 2-3 feet, mushy with lots of closeouts that piled up on each other, and an offshore wind.
My season actually outlasted Panzone's, so I had to stop at George's for the post-session snack.
I am sad to have missed all the great sailing days in September and October this year. There were probably five good wind and weather weekends in a row, and I didn't sail any of them. The WTC attacks shifted priorities around for a while, plus I got run down and was sick with colds a couple weekends, and numerous family commitments kept me away.
Packed up all the gear for winter hibernation. Even that was fun to do, just to be standing on the dock rinsing things out in the fall air.