Broken rules.

I know my body. It’s only taken me 40 something years; but I’ve pretty much figured out that if I go windsurfing in the Ocean in conditions like we had on Saturday, I need a day off to rest. But just like the 12 year old I am mentally I succumbed to peer pressure and sailed Tanner on Sunday. Believe it or not I was on the exact same rig I used the day before in Logo high waves. But out by the sedges across the bay behind Gilgo the water was only about 1 to 2 feet deep dead flat, and super fast. Great practice for my jibes. But I broke rule number one don’t windsurf two days in a row. Give myself time to heal.

Yesterday [Thursday] afternoon I sailed Nest Neck with Mustang, Rich, Al, and Jeff. Classic outgoing tide, with a gusty North Westerly. No gloves needed!

It was so good that I broke rule number two; don’t sail longer than three hours. As a result my knee and shoulder are so sore, I actually followed rule number one and blew off a great surf this morning with Mustang. Sorry man; I am just too sore, and it’s supposed to be windy again tomorrow on Saturday. Man’s got to know his limitations…
BTW I'm in the green. Photos thanks to BLUEHARBORCAT.

Long day

 Photo's by Steve Domjan

Long day yesterday. I was up at six to get ready for LIBAG’s grass planting with www.savethebeaches.net . they are just another one of the fine organizations that help to stabilize the dunes, and take care of our south shore beaches.
http://libeach.blogspot.com/2011/04/2011-beach-grass-planting.html

While I was there I couldn’t help but notice we were getting sandblasted from the wind at Gilgo. There were a couple of kiters out, but the waves were just relentless, with no space in between them. It did not look fun. And I did not want to sail alone.

I grabbed a quick breakfast, since all I had eaten was a yogurt and a protein shake.

My phone was buzzing incessantly, ”the Bowl, you have to get to the Bowl, it’s going off”. I usually don’t travel out to the east end to windsurf. You can get stuck in killer traffic. But as I was already halfway there…and I knew that a bunch of my western LI guys were out there…I took the plunge.

Wow, it was so worth it. Take a look at Domjan’s Flicker page. Pay special attention to Jeffs Back Loop at the end!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/domer2/sets/72157626388431783/

Does Steve do anything poorly? Great Family Man [ his kids actually like to hang out with him], great Bass player in a band, great photographer, great sailor & Waterman. Sounds like a man crush? Nope he’s just a great friend.

I arrived about 2:30 so a lot of the guys were packing up from sailing all morning.  Scott Y, and I arrived about the same time, so I knew I would have someone to sail with.

Pecconic Jeff Schults was still going strong throwing back loops as he had since that morning. I saw a lot of folks I had not sailed with since the 80’s at Napeague. They had definitely acquired  the necessary skill set for these conditions.

I was out of my league. But I was able to sail none the less. Of course My two hour sail consisted of one or two runs out and back, followed by 5 minutes of standing on the beach trying to catch my breath. For my first real ocean session of the season, I had a great time and didn’t get into trouble. But the talent pool out there makes me realize how far I still have to go. I didn’t feel 100%. But then it occurred to me…,maybe this is my 100% .

Thanks to Mike & Jeff for sounding the alarm, and inviting us all out. And thanks to Steve for taking great photographs, and documenting the day.

2011 Windsurfing Magazine Freeride Tests

Well, I made it through the week. I had my doubts, and nearly canceled my trip; but I am so glad I didn't.
While there was no way I could keep up with the younger, healthier guys...I did my part; and tested as many boards as I could. Ten in all. Some of the veteran testers, and more aerobically inclined where able to test more. But I just couldn't make a judgement in 15 minutes.I needed at least an hour. In some cases more. I was able to tell what I liked, or disliked about the classic 110 ltr Freeride boards almost immediately.

But it took me a half hour in some cases just to learn how to sail the wide, Formula style derivatives the manufacturers had to offer.  It's been a long time since I sailed a two foot dagger fin, and had my footstraps on the rail.

The early part of the week was cold, wet, and off shore, with a frustrating wind shadow; perfect for testing all the light air boards. And the later half was windy 5.5 for me onshore conditions; perfect for testing the smaller volume, Freeride, and Slalom boards.


I could not asked for a better group of sailors to hang out and sail with, [except my local crew of course], and I could not have asked for a better place to heal up from winter.

For more see http://windsurfingmag.com/

Thank you to everyone!