Finally

Finally, finally was able to windsurf tonight. The weeds at Heckscher were frustrating.. Felt like I had turrets, I was cursing so much. So I rigged a big board with the smallest weed fin I could find. Then I had a great session. Sailed way too much. Tore my hands to shreds. God to be plaining.
[yes I meant to say god; not good]

just do it

It's been so long since I last windsurfed, I don't think I remember how. Seriously; it's going on three weeks now. That's how we know that it's Summer. Maybe. We have had a very unusual weather pattern this Summer. The wind has been out of the East, or South East. The Striped Bass never really ran this year. We have Dolphins in Hemptstead Harbor, the murky runoff filled water has been attracting sharks in the line up, and, I surfed with Seals on Saturday, [you never see seals in the Summer ...only in the winter.] AND... It has been raining a lot. And that wouldn't be a big deal if it was at least windy. But it's not that either. The only nice thing is...there has been swell. Not huge; but surfable. And so I must thank Phil G. who made me understand that I was not too old to go through the geek stage of a whole new sport. I still am a terrible surfer. But I'm not the worst of kooks. Yesterday, I took my niece who has never been surfing, out boogie boarding. My god we had fun! Choppy, disorginized, on shore wind, surf. And I remembered Oh yea. The stoke has been re-stoked.

Time for my yearly rant about seamanship, and water quality.

Time for my yearly rant about seamanship, and water quality.

Sunday, I spent the better part of my day, cleaning, and waxing my boat. I had to; because she had a red mustache above the waterline. This is because the bay is blood red from some sort of algae bloom. I believe that all this rain we are having is causing serious runoff. That magic mix of nitrogen fertilizer and poop is what is exacerbating the algae bloom. However, I don’t know that for sure. I do know that Nassau County has been closing the beaches for swimming. And that my telephone calls to Nassau Co, The North Hempstead Harbor Patrol, and the town of Port Washington, have all gone unanswered.

So I scrubed my waterline. As I was cleaning, I had to compound out some blue paint scratches where something had obviously scraped up against my hull. A buoy?; maybe? More likely another boats hull.

As I was working on my boat, I watched as 65+ foot yacht nearly ran down a yellow kayak. The boats bow wake thankfully pushed the little boat to the side. They didn’t even slow down. People were yelling and screaming from the dock. Three stories up, in their air conditioned cocoon, I don’t think anyone aboard the yacht even noticed.

After all the cleaning and waxing, the wind filled in. So I went for a sail. I was only out for three hours. As I approached my mooring, it became clear that some powerboat had run over my pennant; that it had wrapped around his prop, and he had cut my pick up lines to shreds. This would not bother me so much if it didn’t happen at least twice a season.
WHY ARE YOU ARE IN A MOORING FIELD WHEN THERE IS A PERFECTLY MARKED CHANNEL? And if you are in an obvious mooring field why don’t you turn down your music, put down your phone, and PAY THE F#@K ATTENTION!

OK Last one.

Saturday, I was on a starboard tack, pointing as high as I could, to clear Plum Point. [Note: Plum Pt is also were the 5MPH / no wake zone begins] There was another sailboat rounding the point on Port, just down wind of me. We had eye contact and I pinched a little higher so he could pass bellow me. Just as we were about to pass each other… some cigar chomping, Buda bellied, operator of a top heavy Clorox bottle, guns his engines and cuts right in-between us. It would have taken him no effort to slowly give way, as he is supposed to do. Instead he had to create wake that caused me to unintentionally tack, and almost ran the other sailboat aground. As the motor-head planed off into the sunset I doubt he was even aware of the damage his left in his wake.

I just don’t remember the big boats being run by A$$H0L#’s, who don’t care about anyone else but them selves. I guess that's changed.

summertime?

So last weekend I didn't sail in the East Coast Windsurfing fest. Instead, I sailed the Northeaster Friday night at Crab. It wasn't the best session; it was raining, cold, and I broke the nose of my favorite board: but I sailed with my friends, we had it all to ourselves. I knew that if I sailed Friday night, odds were, my body wouldn't have been able to sail on Saturday as well. And I'm fine with that. I really don't enjoy racing, and competition, as much as I do free sailing.
I go out when the time is right. When the wind, waves, tides, and my body create the right conditions. That's when I go out. It's the pure joy that I crave.

I am truly impressed by all of the competitors last weekend. Waiting around all day for your assigned heat. All to test who was the best sailor, at that specific time, on that specific day, with that specific gear, given those specific conditions. That's hard.

Summer time

Well, it's summer. And although I'm not 100%, I have been doing my best to enjoy it. I caught a couple of good surfs at the Gilgo 4X4 beach. I can't begin to explain how good it feels to be able to take Lauralee with me to the beach and not have to worry about getting my permit pulled.

The southwesterly thermals have started. They're a little different this year. Not as predictable as past seasons. But they do provide for some nice after work sessions.

Last weekend was fun at Heckscher. We had some wind, and the Pro's are starting to show up for the East Coast Windsurfing Festival.
The pic's are by Blueharbor, May 31st, 2009.