Had a nice sail yesterday. I actually couldn't make up my mind. I had to choose sailing vs. windsurfing."Well La De Da" I wish all of lifes choices were as difficult.
The wind; still out of the NW was about 10, but gusting to the high teens. Turns out that the boat was a better choice. I started out with 100% Jib, and the first reef in the Main; [that means I could have clearly been on my 6.5]. As the day progressed I ended up with the full Jenny and Main. It was just gusty, and that would have been frustrating on a board. I know Andrew sailed the ocean at Long Beach. I wonder how he did.
I saw someone horseback riding on Half Moon Beach. How cool is that? Sands Point is so built up, I didn't even think that people still kept horses there. 15+ years ago, when I used to ride my bike there, you would see people riding, but I haven't, in at least 5 years.
There must have been a dozen Frostbiter's out. Also saw a few sail and powerboats, in addition to Garry on Winds of Change. We shared a great broad reach, from the eastern tip of Kings Point, to the buoy in front of Louie's.
As I docked at Gulfway, I heard the telltale sounds of folks getting their boats ready for launching.
I think Spring is coming.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Segue is free
Light breeze. 8 mph from the NW, with gusts to 12.
42 degrees, partly cloudy. Sailed to Execution Light and back. No pics. I was all alone. Saw one other sailboat, two duck hunters, and a barge.
Brook took some shots of Florian and Kevin at Towbay yesterday. Gusts were to 50. I'm kinda' glad I couldn't sneak out of work early. That surf looks pretty VAC.
The photo's below, are from last summer, on my parents boat, Malabar.
They blogged their sail down to Florida from Chatham last year.
42 degrees, partly cloudy. Sailed to Execution Light and back. No pics. I was all alone. Saw one other sailboat, two duck hunters, and a barge.
Brook took some shots of Florian and Kevin at Towbay yesterday. Gusts were to 50. I'm kinda' glad I couldn't sneak out of work early. That surf looks pretty VAC.
The photo's below, are from last summer, on my parents boat, Malabar.
They blogged their sail down to Florida from Chatham last year.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Feb 8
Sometimes a warm winters day isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's been pretty cold this winter. While that has been great for ice sailing; I still prefer soft water sailing. So when this weekends forecast was for the low 50's we couldn't help but get excited.
On Saturday I tried to take Segue for a sail, but could not get past the ice that blocked her path to the open water. Sunday the wind was expected to be NW, 15-20 with gusts to 25. So we were all pretty psyched. Kevin left me a voicemail the night before..."I'm going out early, and hitting this thing"
The problem as pointed out by Mustang Steve is that a cold north westerly might not touch down to sea level if it gets too warm. Too warm!
Well we did get to sail. But not all day. Early on site reports from Pete R. and Kevin O. on Gilgo, and West Meadow, were that both spots were not filling in. I received a call from Steve D reporting that Rich who was at CIB, was rigging a 5.0. But it didn't look hopeful. 20 minutes later he called again "I had to leave. My sailing window was only till noon, but now it looks like it's picking up again." “ I didn’t want you to miss a session because of me” The word was out. I headed for Centre Island Beach.
As I arrived I noticed I was driving behind Mustang, and Pete R. I didn't notice that Peter L, Florian and Brook were right behind me.
We all rigged 5 something’s and headed for the water. The first of us out had about a half hour to 45 minutes of sweet 5.5 wind, and hip high swell. Then it just stopped. You would not have been able to plane with a 7.0. Next the outgoing tide pulled all the water away. Since CIB is usually sailed on a Nor Easter, low tide is usually not a problem. The NE wind piles all the water up in the western sound. But now, with the wind shifted a little more west, the opposite was occurring. It looked like it just wasn’t going to happen. After a half hour of bullshitting on the beach, someone; I’m not sure who, made the call to go to Stehle.
Stehle doesn’t really have any waves. But it can be sailed in WSW through NE. Plus it has decent chop and swell. We all de-rigged as fast as we could,
It must have been quite a sight. A convoy of 10 trucks pull up. Out swarm 12 drysuit clad men. A mad rigging frenzy ensues. We are all rigged and out on the water, within 10 minutes. Blue Harbor Cat is snapping away to record the event. All is good. Until the wind starts to get sketchy again. It’s about 4:30 now so most of us pack up. It’s been a long day. For some of us, this is the third spot we have driven to in hopes of a session. As I get ready to leave I notice that Kevin is still out sailing. Sometimes on a Northwesterly, as the sun goes down, and cools the land you get a nice wind surge. And K dog is counting on that. But I never like to leave a man out solo. Especially in February.
I decide Kevin is competent enough to solo, and I start to leave. My cell phone rings, it’s Steve D. “Hey Frank, what size sail is Kevin on?”. “Where are you?” “You just drove right past me”. I turned back to find Steve hoping to get some sort of a session in before dark. I checked the back of Kevin’s car to confirm he was on a 5.8. Helped Steve rig his 5.6. and drove home knowing that they both would have a nice sunset session, and a full moon to de-rig by.
Here's one from BlueHarborCat.
Sometimes a warm winters day isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's been pretty cold this winter. While that has been great for ice sailing; I still prefer soft water sailing. So when this weekends forecast was for the low 50's we couldn't help but get excited.
On Saturday I tried to take Segue for a sail, but could not get past the ice that blocked her path to the open water. Sunday the wind was expected to be NW, 15-20 with gusts to 25. So we were all pretty psyched. Kevin left me a voicemail the night before..."I'm going out early, and hitting this thing"
The problem as pointed out by Mustang Steve is that a cold north westerly might not touch down to sea level if it gets too warm. Too warm!
Well we did get to sail. But not all day. Early on site reports from Pete R. and Kevin O. on Gilgo, and West Meadow, were that both spots were not filling in. I received a call from Steve D reporting that Rich who was at CIB, was rigging a 5.0. But it didn't look hopeful. 20 minutes later he called again "I had to leave. My sailing window was only till noon, but now it looks like it's picking up again." “ I didn’t want you to miss a session because of me” The word was out. I headed for Centre Island Beach.
As I arrived I noticed I was driving behind Mustang, and Pete R. I didn't notice that Peter L, Florian and Brook were right behind me.
We all rigged 5 something’s and headed for the water. The first of us out had about a half hour to 45 minutes of sweet 5.5 wind, and hip high swell. Then it just stopped. You would not have been able to plane with a 7.0. Next the outgoing tide pulled all the water away. Since CIB is usually sailed on a Nor Easter, low tide is usually not a problem. The NE wind piles all the water up in the western sound. But now, with the wind shifted a little more west, the opposite was occurring. It looked like it just wasn’t going to happen. After a half hour of bullshitting on the beach, someone; I’m not sure who, made the call to go to Stehle.
Stehle doesn’t really have any waves. But it can be sailed in WSW through NE. Plus it has decent chop and swell. We all de-rigged as fast as we could,
It must have been quite a sight. A convoy of 10 trucks pull up. Out swarm 12 drysuit clad men. A mad rigging frenzy ensues. We are all rigged and out on the water, within 10 minutes. Blue Harbor Cat is snapping away to record the event. All is good. Until the wind starts to get sketchy again. It’s about 4:30 now so most of us pack up. It’s been a long day. For some of us, this is the third spot we have driven to in hopes of a session. As I get ready to leave I notice that Kevin is still out sailing. Sometimes on a Northwesterly, as the sun goes down, and cools the land you get a nice wind surge. And K dog is counting on that. But I never like to leave a man out solo. Especially in February.
I decide Kevin is competent enough to solo, and I start to leave. My cell phone rings, it’s Steve D. “Hey Frank, what size sail is Kevin on?”. “Where are you?” “You just drove right past me”. I turned back to find Steve hoping to get some sort of a session in before dark. I checked the back of Kevin’s car to confirm he was on a 5.8. Helped Steve rig his 5.6. and drove home knowing that they both would have a nice sunset session, and a full moon to de-rig by.
Here's one from BlueHarborCat.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Open Ice
I tried to take Segue out for a sail yesterday. Her hull is totally free from ice. Her engine started up on the second pull. So while the water around the docks of Gulfway Marine are flowing freely, there is still an ice bottleneck at Sheet Creek's narrowest point. As I was removing the cover over the cockpit, Gary C. came by. He wanted to go out as well, but his Commander; Winds of Change only has his small two point something outboard. My Merc is a nine horse two stroke. I was glad to have the company of another competent Alberg sailor. Gary worked the bow with a boat hook, as we attempted to break through the ice.
Like a mini Shackleton, we could not get through it. The ice was maybe three inches thick, and spanned the 70 foot creek, shore to shore. Open water was literally 100 feet away. It was clear we would not be sailing.
Today I am headed to CIB. It is supposed to hit 50 degrees this afternoon, so I wont have to worry about icing. Also the North Westerly is expected to be 15 to 25; perfect for windsurfing. Segue will have to wait.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
More Ice shots
Here is some more pics and vid from Peconic Jeff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcWSoTFR0gc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peconicwindsurfer/sets/72157613265425443/
Plus, some Ice at the Puffin
http://www.peconicpuffin.com/the_peconic_puffin/2009/02/looks-like-lipstick-tastes-like-blood-my-face-goes-ice-sailing.html
And here we have some more Vid by Pete R
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKYGLG1ZImA
see ya'll soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcWSoTFR0gc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peconicwindsurfer/sets/72157613265425443/
Plus, some Ice at the Puffin
http://www.peconicpuffin.com/the_peconic_puffin/2009/02/looks-like-lipstick-tastes-like-blood-my-face-goes-ice-sailing.html
And here we have some more Vid by Pete R
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKYGLG1ZImA
see ya'll soon.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
East meets west.
It was great to meet up with the Eastenders Saturday at Bellport. Some pic's by Steve D.
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