I got in the water today. The winds were about 10 mph when I checked out the site. I rigged my new cammed Neil Pryde V8 7.0. It wasn't the best sail for the winds, but I really wanted to try it out. The wide Saint Johns River beckoned me.
View of the Saint Johns from downtown Jacksonville, looking downstream and roughly west. I took this picture from the new Riverside Artists' Market.
View looking east and a little south. The Saint Johns is one of the only rivers in the US which flows in a northerly direction. I set sail a little around the bend of the land sticking out from the left.
The winds predictably died just as I set out. They were pushing me into a long dock that extended out into the river just to the right of the launch site. After about ten tacks, I got out. Making the tacking more difficult was a catamaran moored nearby.
Did I bother to check the tide tables before I set out? NO! The rest of the sail was me sailing the board upwind against the triple threat of current, tide and wind. I had to be very careful not to get blown towards downtown Jacksonville.
My stepfather Sam took a series of pictures of me coming back towards the launch site. I made another of my slide shows. Things to note: my gaudy pink-and-yellow sail, the tea-colored water, the occasional puff of wind giving me something like a wake, the cool trees and Spanish moss, and Gabriel at the end throwing stones into the water. (There's something awesome about coming in from some sailing and having your kid run to you, yelling, “Daddy!” I recommend it to everybody -- Mommies change the parameters of this slightly.)
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