Ok; so now every board I own is broken. It either has a ding, or a crushed rail, broken nose or tail,…I know I said I was going to fix them a few weeks back. But it was too hot and humid that 3 day weekend. To top things off in the life is good department; the wind is back. We went through 2 or 3 weeks of super high humidity, and 90 to 105 temperatures. All the weather patterns I am used to, are just different.

Last weekend Lauralee and I sailed under the watchful eye of a harbor seal on the rocks just to the north east of Kings Point. Usually the seals leave the sound by February; March at the latest. But there he was. Most of my sailing; or outdoor activity anyway has been either in the early morning, or the late evening. It has just been so hot. Last Saturday I was sailing Demo, and became so dehydrated, I was dizzy, weak, and threw up all over the dashboard of my truck on my drive home. Yuck!

Last Sunday was hot as well; but we had a nice little North Westerly that morning. I sailed Segue from 8 till 11:30. Then called it a day. It was just too hot. I am glad I did. That afternoon we had another mini tornado/waterspout/microburst in Manhasset Bay. I am told by eyewitnesses that Segue, and literally half the fleet was knocked over so hard by the wind that my mast was laying in the water. This is the second time this has happened this summer. I heard at least 5 people where sent to the hospital, and one 20 year old is still missing. Since many of the boats in our fleet are simply floating real estate. They don’t sail much. So there are a lot of lose, un-battened down objects down bellow. So a few families spent 10 terrifying minutes down bellow trying to protect their grandchildren from flying projectiles in all directions. I am lucky; Segue seems no worse than usual. I sailed her on Tuesday night, and everything seemed OK. But I should probably take a flashlight, and mirror, to the nooks and crannies; and inspect my chainplates.

Which brings up another interesting weather change this year. We did not get any of the famous Heckscher thermals this June, or July. When we did get a thermal; one of two things happened. 1. it died by 6PM when the “late Shift” guys showed up. {I am a late shift guy} Or 2. the NYS Parks closed Heckscher at 6PM because they had a positive result showing West Nile Virus in their monitoring program. Never mind that Heckscher is the Deer Tick, Lyme disease, capital of the world. Or that you are just as likely to get bitten by a West Nile carrying mosquito in your own back yard.

So I have actually windsurfed Manhasset Bay a few times. Always on a big board and sail. Once I slog out to the wind line, I blast, overpowered back and forth.

The most frustrating part of this season has been the loss of beach. The only “legal 4X4 Surfing” beach is still underwater. And that just makes it very difficult for me to share the ocean with Lauralee. She loves the beach, but simply can’t take the long hikes necessary to get there. So while I have had a few pretty good Democrat, and Outer Bar Windsurfing sessions. I have been going it alone. I am NOT allowed to launch from Demo, Sore Thumb, or Overlook. So last night [Wednesday] I had to launch from Cedar. It was a weeknight; so I was only charged $15, vs. $25 on Fri/Sat/Sunday. The wind was OK, but once the tide changed, the waves became more orderly, much bigger, and lot’s more fun. But I had a terrible time staying upwind. So after sailing a half mile or so just to get to the break; and dodging Fishing boats as I cross the inlet. When I came in I had to drag my gear a mile or so back up wind to Cedar. And that is how I damaged my new board. I dragged it so far, I literally sanded the paint off the starboard rail!