Why do I find the ocean so rewarding? I've been pretty lucky. The last two weekends I've been fortunate enough to sail Gilgo. The wind has had a lot of east in it. Last Sunday was fully powered side off 6.0 and the 109 ltr JP. It was hero sailing, a great confidence builder. The waves were small knee to hip high, and very clean.
Yesterday; Saturday; we had similar conditions. The 6.0 was not quite enough power on the inside as I would have liked: but enough to plane, out past the breakers.The waves were however, waist to head high. And If you have ever schlogged into a head high wave...you would swear it was logo high. I tried to rig my 6.5 Ezzy Freeride, for a little more power, but it didn't work very well. The extra power did not make up for the lack of maneuverability. So I switched back to the 6.0. Schlogged out through the breakers, did my chicken jybe, and enjoyed my pretty close to DTL rides back in.
I know if I had gone to Heckschere, I would have been fully powered on a smaller sail but...
I don't know, I just feel great about both, less than perfect sessions. Maybe it's the crew? Maybe it's that we don't get sailable side shore all that often? It's probably just the ocean.
