Hudson River Windsurfer

Hudson River Rats Beginner Night

2010-08-21T07:02:00.001-04:00

Yesterday (Thursday, August 19th) was the second of the biannual windsurfer beginner nights at Kingston Point Beach. (Why I didn't mention this on the blog earlier, I do not know. Somebody please smack me for that.) I arrived at 4 PM, about an hour before the event started, and rigged with fellow River Rats beth and Eva for a pre-teaching sail. I rigged an 8.5 on the Kona while Beth rigged a 6.3 and Eva was on a 7.0, the biggest sails they owned.

No matter how big the sails were, they were too small. At one point I actually was committed in the harness, but most of the time it was light-wind sailing, preying for a gust. There were also large islands of water chestnuts to avoid, and at one point I had to jump off my board to clear the fin and daggerboard.

We arrived back; the River Rats were arriving in force: Brian (the organizer), Beth, Eva, Rick C., Tommy, myself, Dick T., Ben F., John M., Steve H. and others. Beth was handing out new chachkas: River Rat coffee mugs! neat! Brian handled the rigging lesson while Rick delivered an excellent lesson in uphauling and sheeting in. As a teacher, I was really impressed.

After ground instruction, it was time to hit the water, and just in time for the wind to die. We did manage six beginner boards, including my Kona and Kirsten's Amundsen SUP board. (I brought it to paddle on while teaching, but the dearth of big boards required it was pressed into service as a windsurfer.) It was a beautiful evening, starting off pleasant but with storm clouds rolling in in the distance.

Getting in the water.

Lisa, one of the beginners, learning to sheet in.

Sultan drove all the way up from Queens to learn how to windsurf.

There's me, unable to resist sailing my wife's SUP board, if you can call sheeting in with no wind “sailing”.

This young lady is nine years-old, and she got this old windsurfer to sail. Color me impressed.

I want one of those colorful 80s-style sails. It just looks so cool.

As the evening ended, storm clouds rolled in north of us.

Learning Basics From Ned

2010-08-16T12:41:00.002-04:00

I’m sitting on the couch, icing my knee, and wondering why I windsurf. Yesterday, during a session at Kowawese Park in Cornwall, I slipped on my board and my bare knee slammed into the plate on my retracted daggerboard. I could see the indentation from the blow right in the soft spot below the patella. And that happened ten minutes after I cut the same knee with the fin.

I feel like I’ve been inventing new and more clever ways of hurting myself, but that’s not going to get in the way of a good time. I actually had a pretty good session at Kowawese Park, even though the winds were highly variable. South winds will blow a sailor upriver, and when that’s combined with an incoming tide, that can be a little tricky. I was sailing with Faruk, one of the newest Hudson River sailors, and I noticed he was getting pushed upriver. After a while I had to go upriver myself just to get him to start sailing back. It took me less than five minutes to get to Faruk and half an hour to return, and when I arrived at the beach, ace sailor and instructor Ned was there. He criticized me for going so damn far upriver, but even after I defended myself and said I was just trying to help Faruk the “Ian did something else stupid” label seemed to stick. When Faruk finally got back, we both got chided again, and this time I held my tongue.

Ned then gave Faruk and I some more lessons on the basics. They were great. Sometimes, even when you’ve been doing something simple like uphauling for years, you can still get better. I took videos of Ned teaching and I posted them here. He’s an excellent instructor. (I’m a good teacher too, but not of windsurfing or really any physical skill.) In the videos below, you'll see him demonstrating Windsurfing 101. You may need to turn the sound up to hear his voice.

Standup Paddler Hangs With Sharks

2010-08-14T08:26:00.000-04:00

The California surfer Chuck Patterson just made a video of himself standup paddling while two small great white sharks circled him. I'm impressed not only by the footage but by his ability to stay calm around these magnificent apex predators:

Me my Shark and I from Chuck Patterson on Vimeo.

Good Equipment Is Important

2010-08-14T00:54:00.000-04:00

I was reminded how important your equipment is during a recent trip I took to my wife’s family in the Albany area. I brought all my fancy doodads: cell phone, iPod, digital camera, Macintosh laptop, all prepared to write and blog during a family foray, then get completely stymied by the absence of one critical piece of equipment: the power cord.

My last foray onto the Hudson was similar, but the results were far more disastrous than a lack of juice. I rigged an Aquaglide Impact 6.5 that I’d gotten last year as part of a package. Yeah, it was cheap inexpensive, but I’m not the kind of guy to say no to gear I can afford. I’m supporting my wife and three children plus a windsurfing habit on a public school teacher’s salary, so I’ll take the stuff where I can get it.

What the Aquaglide Impact sales brochure doesn’t tell you is that instead of a traditional mast cup at the top of the mast sleeve, it has two crossed straps, which should be just as strong, right? Not when one, just one, of those four straps begins to fray. The whole thing becomes unstable. The mast had actually popped through the top of the sleeve on a previous sail, but I’d assumed that was my fault. Inexperienced me must have rigged the thing wrong — it couldn't have been the equipment. But when I got to Swamp Hole again and looked at the sail with River Master Ned, we saw the problem. Mind you, this sail is a year old. I immediately thought this might make a good blog topic, but did I take a picture of it? No, because I assumed I’d be able to when I got back. Foolish mortal.

Here I am on this sail of evil, ignorant of the trouble it will cause.

Ned suggested I rig it anyway and keep close to shore. I tried to stay close in, but when my Kona broke out onto a plane it was too much fun! I got a little careless. Then the mast popped out the top of the sail, and I went down. Things weren’t so bad, though. I could stand up and limp back to the launch point. I was sufficiently upwind that that wasn’t a problem. Then I fell again and the boom clamp popped open. While I was trying to close it, the boom inhaul line snapped. Bad.

If I had been thinking clearly, I would have floated on my back and repaired that inhaul line with a good square knot, but I wasn’t thinking clearly. The winds were about 20 mph and there was chop, which made matters worse. I first tried to lean the whole rig on the tail of my Kona and then paddle back. Unfortunately the whole thing kept flipping over in the wind. Then I tried detaching the sail and plopping the whole shebang on top of the board, kept down by my weight. That didn’t work either; the whole thing kept sliding off into the chop. Yes, I was getting scared. I tried waving down a motorboat, but it didn’t see me. I didn’t see my friends nearby either.

Last option was a self-rescue, something I’d seen done on videos (and Windsurfing Magazine) but never actually tried. I slid the boom off, then got to work on the mast. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about stuffing the mast into the footstraps, so I ended up holding the bottom half of the mast on my board with one hand while trying to undo the rest of the rig with the other. I lost my grip on the board and floated away with half a mast and a damaged sail while the winds to my Kona. After a desperate swim, I got back to the board and paddled back to the sail, but I was scared and losing strength.

The sail got away from me again, and I decided not to go after it. Goodbye, sail, into the murky depths of the Hudson. Then I lost grip of the mast half I had, and it sank beneath me. I was left with a boom, mast extension, mast base and my big, old, trusty Kona, and thank the gods for that. After freaking out about losing the rig, I paddled back on my belly about 1/3 of a mile back to Senasqua Park, the trusty recovery point. That was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do physically. I was exhausted, waves were battering me and the wind kept pushing the nose of the Kona downstream. To make matters more interesting, I had to paddle through a parking lot of moored sailboats.

As I got close to the stone wall of Senasqua, somebody yelled a few things to me. “Are you hurt?” was the only question I could make out. I told him I was okay, then hauled the remains of my kit up the broken stone wall. Safe. After that it was a short walk to Swamp Hole. I got there, let my buddies know I was okay, then almost puked.

Wife Wins River Warrior Award

2010-08-01T00:10:00.001-04:00

My wife has now joined the ranks of river warriors. For years she’s been mocking me about swimming in the Hudson River, the so called “Dirty Stream”, named by Pete Seeger. However, as an accomplished swimmer, the Hudson presented a certain fascination. The river itself has gotten much cleaner over the years, with much thanks laid at the feet of Pete Seeger and his Clearwater organization. When my Grandfather was a boy in the 1930s, he told me he had to use the breast stroke while swimming in the Hudson in order to push aside the “brown things” floating in the water. Now it’s clean enough for everybody, even Kirsten.

Registration on a gorgeous day.

The Newburg-Beacon swim is about a mile in length. It’s a charity swim for the Beacon Riverpool, an innovative pool on the Beacon riverfront. The five of us (Kirsten, me, three kidlings) drove out to Newburg for Kirsten’s registration. She got a neon-green bathing cap with a number and a GPS ankle bracelet. We arrive early, so we waited around for a while, enjoying the beautiful day (and I, secretly wishing I had my Kona board with me). As the time for her to swim drew nigh, I took my son on a trip to the bathroom. As we passed a waterfront restaurant, an old man was preparing to sing. I took one look at him and recognized Pete Seeger himself.

Seeger is 91 now, and his voice isn’t what it was, but what I heard moved me. I’d grown up with the man’s music (literally: my parents played me Seeger’s records when I was a kid) and seeing him now was very moving.

The dive-off point.

Then it was time to go. Kirsten had to attend safety meetings and the kids were getting restless. I drove across the Newburg-Beacon Bridge to Beacon and camped out the family on the waterfront at the receiving point. With binoculars, I could see the swimmers on the other side lining up on the dock. At 11:30, the first wave of swimmers jumped in, and the river was full of florescent-colored bathing caps and their escort kayaks. It was very colorful.

What was Gabriel doing while he was waiting for his Mommy to cross the river?

He was writing a story! Without being prompted!

The first swimmer made it across in just under a half an hour. The second swimmer came soon after and it was a woman. Then the third swimmer approached the pier. He/she looked familiar. I recognized the skin tone and peculiar way his/her hand cut through the water in the freestyle stroke. Then I got a glimpse of the swimmer’s bathing suit: it was a one-piece woman’s suit, and that was Kirsten’s. “Gabriel, I think that’s Mommy,” I told him. He got excited, and so did the twins, although the two girls are only two and really didn’t understand what was going on. When Kirsten pulled herself out of the water we were all cheering like mad.

Kirsten emerges from the water.

Now she strolls down the dock. Ho, hum. Just swam across the river. No biggie.

Kirsten told me she had been pretty confused while approaching the dock because there were no swimmers in front of her. She was stunned that she was the third across because, “I wasn’t even trying hard.”

After we ate, the five of us strolled towards the Riverpool, passing Pete Seeger on this side ripping up some more songs. I went back to the car to retrieve everyone’s bathing suits and noticed Pete Seeger had finished his set and was talking to some children. I went over and shook his hand, telling him, “I’ve been listening to your albums since I was a kid.”

“I’m surprised you stayed out of jail,” he answered.

“No, I did fine,” I laughed, then ended it with saying, “Thank you. You’re one of my heroes.”

We ended the trip with a dip in the Riverpool, which is a really neat thing. The bottom is solid netting, and the whole thing floats in the water. It also bobs up and down with the waves, which makes a kind of unique bathing experience. This one is small, but a larger, adult-sized pool is in the works.

And now I can say that my wife is one of the river warriors. I’m very proud of her.

The River Has Other Plans

2010-07-26T10:04:00.000-04:00

Today was going to be my first return to the Hudson after my foray into beach sailing in Cape Cod. Cape Cod had been pretty good to me. I had sailed out in the swells of Corn Hill beach pretty successfully, with not too many spills, so I was ready to go back to my home front and conquer the Hudson yet again. The river had other plans.

Winds were forecasted to be north in the mid-teens, so I packed my quiver into my wife’s Volkswagen Jetta and headed for Swamp Hole. Presnt at Swamp Hole was our resident wind guru Ned, who’s forgotten more about windsurfing than I’ll ever know. I first rigged my Exocet Cruiser, a board I’m falling less and less in love with, with a 6.5. The winds were almost right for a 6.5 but I couldn’t seem to get my weight right on the board or something. I don’t know … I’ve only had one or two satisfying sails with this board. Then an odd thing happen: I went down on top of the sail and it suddenly felt weird underneath me, like it was all crinkly or something. When I uphauled I realized the sail had popped off the end of the mast. That particular sail only has a strap at the top, not a pin or end-cap, and I hadn’t been putting a pin on the strap to hold it in. Now I learned my lesson with that. I limped back to Swamp hole and decided to redo everything. I rigged my cammed 7.0 instead and dropped it onto my Kona, then set out again.

I had a couple of planing runs out into the river when the wind started picking up, I mean really picking up! My friend John Spanos, who was also out there, estimated the winds got to 30-35. There I was, out there with a 7.0, getting knock down like crazy. It was brutal. Forget about sheeting in; the best an intermediate sailor like me could hope for was surviving and getting somewhere, but I was having trouble even standing up! (No, I don’t know how to waterstart yet.) After about fifteen minutes of this beating, my muscles were aching and I wa getting exhausted. So much for a nice little sail.

The problem with launching from Swamp Hole is that there are only two recovery points, one close by at Senasqua Park and another at Croton Point Park, which is quite a bit downstream. I was flailing about parallel with Senasqua but was also getting blown south. Man, I did not want to recover at Croton Point! Getting battered in high winds, seriously battered, is one of those moments which tests a less-skilled sailor like myself. After you’ve been knocked down for the twentieth time your arms start to ache. You swallow a lot of water (The Hudson River! Yum!).

As you can see by the Google Earth Legend in the lower left corner, it's over a kilometer from Swamp Hole to Croton Point Park.

Then crazy thoughts enter your brain. You start muttering: “I hate windsurfing! I hate this sport! Why the hell did I ever go out on the river? I promise, God, when I get back to shore, I’m going to take up skateboarding. Or jogging. Or gardening. Or anything where I won’t have to get into the water. Just please let me get to shore!”

For some reason, my thirty-fifth attempt to sheet in was successful. I managed to get the sail engaged, spilling most of the wind, and pointed the Kona towards Senasqua. I made it in and parked the board on the beach. No, I did not kiss the ground; the joy of being on shore kept the thought from my mind. Then I did the “walk of the conquered hero” back to Swamp Hole to get the car.

It's much closer from Senasqua to Swamp Hole.

After chatting at Swamp Hole for a while, the wind died down. Ned suggested that I might be able to sail my board back,“if you got the tacking right.” Now, tacking is one of the things I can actually do on my Kona board reasonably competently (Ned taught me) so I took him up on it. I walked back and returned upwind to Swamp Hole in just one tack. I was redeemed!

The only good thing about getting hammered out on the water is that it’s a good workout. Forget about the elliptical trainer or the treadmill: just get your inexperienced rear end out on heavy winds with a big sail, and you’re in for the workout of the month. Not that I would actually suggest this as a workout, but it has its benefits.

A Family Vacation

2010-07-23T06:45:00.002-04:00

A Family Vacation (With Windsurfing)

One of the toughest things to balance sometimes is windsurfing with the rest of your family life. After all, windsurfing is a pretty time-demanding, but so is your family, especially when there are kids involved. In my case, I have three, a six year-old boy and two year-old twin girls.

We’ve gone on vacation to Cape Cod. Getting there required some determined packing on my end: I own neither a minivan nor a large SUV, but needed to get all my windsurfing gear to the Cape along with all my family’s luggage. In the end, I had half a roof. So I packed almost everything into my trusty sail bag and loaded it on top of my Kona board and my wife’s Amundsen SUP board, with everything snuggly sitting next to our Thule box. Since all this luggage was pushing the weight maximum for the roof rack, I left my big sail (8.5) and 490 mast at home. An 8.5 sail is a pretty big beast to take into the swells anyway.

We like to rent a cabin in Truro, which is pretty far up the Cape. Most days my wife Kirsten and I schlep the family to Corn Hill Beach, a beach not known for its windsurfing but a great place for a family. It’s on Cape Cod Bay, so the waves are tiny and when the tide is out, the shallows go on forever.

I usually windsurfed around my family’s needs. Some days I’d hit the water at 7:30 AM, before the family was ready to do anything. Other times I’d sail in the late afternoon and arrive back at the cabin with something yummy waiting on the table. Unfortunately, my good digital camera broke the first day we arrived, so we had to make due with my wife Kirsten’s manual film camera. (Pictures coming when the film is developed: how quaint!)

Unfortunately the winds were never very remarkable. Most of the time they ranged from 5–15 mph, which meant my biggest sail, a Neil Pryde V8 7.0, was pretty underpowered. That said, I had some great sailing. I love salt-water sailing: the board floats higher, the waves and swell are fun to sail over and the water just a has a different feel to it. It feels more alive than the Hudson River I know so well. Plus, there’s always the chance of meeting a critter out there, like a seal, sea turtle, dolphin, or shark. (I like sharks.) Low winds also gave me the change to practice more jibes and beach starts. The jibes I’m doing a better with, but beach starting is still confounding me. I can do a shallow-water one, but I’m still struggling to do one in deeper water, especially when the winds are light.

Most of my runs worked this way: on the way out I’d pop down the daggerboard and ride out about ½ a mile into the bay. Then, I’d retract the daggerboard, jibe, then ride the swells back to the beach. Yes, the winds were light and I rarely planed, but this was still great fun.

My best sail was probably a Monday evening after a day at the beach. The winds were about a steady 15 mph all day, but I only had our standup paddleboard. The winds were too heavy for much for any serious paddling. I returned later in the day for a sunset sail on my 7.0 sail. My Kona was bouncing up and down on the swells, sometimes planing, often not. I tried to avoid using the daggerboard as much as possible during my runs out and back and only used it at the end when I needed to get back upwind to my launch point.

One highlight of the beach sailing was a sail with my son Gabriel. In light winds I put him onto the middle of the board. He then straddled the mast, facing backwards. We sailed out and back a few times in light winds. Tacking meant gingerly stepping around the boy as I turned my big board. Gabriel was pretty scared, but when he got to shore he shouted he loved it.

Unfortunately the tide was so low that I had to walk my board out about 150 yards from the shoreline to get water deep enough to sink the 46 cm fin. I worked on my beach starts, and even did one from navel-deep water without too much trouble. The bottom at this beach, especially the deeper water, is infested with crabs and the occasional lobster. So all the time I was wrestling with the beach start I was nervous that an aggressive crustacean might chose that moment to start nibbling at my toes.

I took a trip down to the upper Cape one day and stopped in at Inland Sea in Dennis. Phil, the proprietor, is a welcoming owner. He always remembers me, even though I come to the shop maybe once a year. The shop doesn’t have a fancy interior, but it shouldn’t. The space is dedicated to kiting, standup paddling and windsurfing gear. It was great for me to actually walk through the space of a real store and look at the boards and sails instead of just browsing a website. We chatted for a while and complained about the beach parking fees at Dennis ($20) but then realized at Truro it wasn’t much cheaper without a weekly sticker.

I bagged a session when the wind was good (10-17) for two reasons. The wind was offshore and there was an outgoing spring tide. Yeah, there were people on the shore, but the beach was crowded and there were no craft in the water. So I spent the afternoon on the SUP board, paddling and goofing off with Gabriel. He enjoyed a game where I’d push the board with him on top out into the water, then I’d deliberately fall when the board leash pulled my ankle. For some reason this was extremely funny.

On our final day I got a great session in the morning. I met a windsurfer named Dave from West Virginia in the parking lot. He was a really friendly guy and he helped me carry my sail to the beach, which was a big help. He was thinking about launching too and made up his mid to do so after seeing me. The winds were running about 15-20 mph when I launched, still with the 7.0. I had a great run in the swells. I’m still getting knocked down more than I like, but it was great going on and off a plane. Dave launched later with a 6.2 and a 140 liter AHD board and I joined him for a second session, but the wind had died down by then and his sail was definitely too small. Dave said afterwards, “It’s better we rigged and did something than standing around and talking about it.” I agree.

Here are something I learned with a family windsurfing vacation:

Make sure your wife gets time in the water; that way she won’t begrudge your time in the water. This also means don’t complain about spending time alone with the kids.
Don’t search for perfect conditions. Be flexible with your time and just get out there and deal with what you’ve got. Consider early morning sails. Remember, time on water is better than no time on water. (This is why I bring my Kona longboard.)
Get your kids involved in watersports. Kirsten and I regularly take Gabriel on SUP trips. I even did a small session with him standing on the board in surfer mode while I sat, paddled, and maintained balance. Even really little kids can sit on a floating board in six inches of water. Don’t neglect a PFD for the little ones.

New Development

2010-06-27T07:00:00.001-04:00

My blog is now a featured blog on the Windsurfing Magazine website, http://windsurfingmag.com/. I've got a post there about my pathetic search for wind, which is a bit of a repetition of a post I made earlier.

http://windsurfingmag.com/windsurfing-blogs/hudson-windsurfer/2010/06/23/the-wind-gods-laugh/

Windfest Report

2010-06-13T10:36:00.003-04:00

I got home last night from Windfest. What a great day.

Scott and I arrived at Heckscher Park at about 9 AM after a two-hour drive. Winds were steady at around 10 mph, which were measured in two ways. A fellow Hudson River Rat, Dave Rogers, used an iPhone windspeed meter but this was confirmed by another person with an old-fashioned mechanical anemometer. I was told by Mike Burns that the wind was expected to go up during the day. The wind direction was SSE, almost completely on shore.

There were a couple of other Hudson River Rats there, Buddha Mike and Sven, but the majority of people were the Long Island crew. Dave and I parked our cars next to each other with one empty space between, where Dave and his wife set up their fajita grill. Repeating last year, we began the day with cold vichyssoise with chives and pepper. “You guys are foodies!” I said with glee.

“Absolutely,” said Sarah, Dave's wife.

Dave doing what he does well. I actually missed those fajitas because I had sailed near Montauk.

Anticipating the wind, I rigged kind of small with a 6.5 on my Kona board. Buddha Mike set up his traditional Buddha statue, I assume in the hope that Buddha would bless us all with fair winds. I'm not the kind of person to pray in the hope of anything for myself, but I have to say the statue made everything feel a little more peaceful. It was nice to know that Buddha was literally watching over us.

Buddha Mike introduced me to Michael Alex, the Peconic Puffin himself. We didn't know who each other were at first until Buddha Mike explained. Then it was a warm greeting: we'd posted on each other's blogs for years but finally we met face to face.

Soon the races began. I was nervous about the races. Last year's races had been a humiliating disaster (mast-base separation by a buoy) so I was determined to redeem myself. The course was around four buoys. I set myself up at the end of the rabbit start just two places away from Michael Alex. My first start was disastrous, I literally fouled the Puffin with my sail, but after stumbling at the beach I dropped my daggerboard and headed on a different path than it seemed everyone else was going.

The Judges' stand.

My alternate path paid off. I rounded the first buoy ahead of at least half the racers — pretty remarkable after being the last one off the beach. This was a moment when the sailing profile of the Kona became a serious advantage. Most people were sailing large displacement shortboards, and there were some older longboards, but ever among the longboarders, nobody seemed willing to ride the daggerboard. Or maybe nobody considered taking an alternate route and thought they needed to ride with the pack.

I finished the race in fifteenth place (if I remember correctly) out of about forty sailors. Since I was in the 7.5 Class, not the Open Class, my standing was actually a little higher because several of the Open Class sailors ended in front of me. I was even more stunned than my friends. I kept staring at the race course behind me, wondering how I could have finished in front of so many other sailors.

Here I am, in the back of a small pack, rounding the final buoy. I have the blue sail with the “A”.

Yep, I screwed that jibe up.

For the second race I was positioned at about the first third of the rabbit start. I decided to stick to my former sailing pattern but realized most of the sailors were going to cross in front of me. So I let them, then dropped my daggerboard and went upwind. I did quite well until the last buoy when I messed up my jibe and fell, allowing three sailors to pass me while I uphauled. I still finished in about thirteenth place. I'm still not sure how this happened.

After the races was freestyle competition, then more races. I'd had enough races for the day, but I enjoyed watching two guys sail a tandem Kona Mahalo in a race.

Sailing tandem!

Then the winds started to pick up. I was still a little under-rigged, but I was having such a blast in the increasing winds I didn't care much. I did beach starts with ease (a particular bugbear of mine) and bounced up and down over the chop. I did a few sails with Sven, and was amazed that I could keep up with him with my 6.5 sail while he had an 8.0 on a 150 liter Bic. Once he pulled onto a plane, he'd pull away from me, but the Kona was great in displacement mode. I skipped the rest of the races because I just wanted to sail, and I had blast. Only once did I pull onto a full plane, but I had such a blast sailing that I didn't care much.

By the end of the day I was exhausted. Scott too. He spent most of the time on his Starboard Rio and small sail, enjoying the chop. The conditions were never quite right for standup paddling so that board never got rigged. I found myself wishing I had brought my wideboard; conditions were just perfect for it, but no matter. We had a great time. (I'll have some videos up soon.)

An oldie but a goodie.

More photos from Scott

Through Cousteau's Eyes

2010-06-11T06:06:00.003-04:00

What is a hero? That's a question I ask my students every years after we read the book Number the Stars. It's a person admired for his/her courage, noble qualities or dedication to others; a hero is a person who risks or dedicates his own life to others.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born 100 years ago today. He was one of my heroes. I remember as a child watching his television show The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and wanting to dedicate my own life to the ocean. Through his camera lens I fell in love for the first time, with the ocean. I was about eight.

Many things got in my way of having a life dedicated to the ocean, too many to list and many of them too sordid to describe on a blog of this nature, but I never forgot my love of the ocean. For years I avoided it simply because I loved it so much. The first time I actually swam above a coral reef, finally, when I was twenty-two or so, I literally wept in my diving mask I was so struck by the beauty around me.

I never became that marine biologist of my dreams, and in the end that might be a good thing. I don't enjoy the scientific process much; I'm too much of a romantic when it come to the ocean. So maybe being a teacher, something I am admittedly pretty good at, is really what I should be doing in life. But I'll never forget Cousteau.

And maybe some day I'll do something worthy of his memory. Maybe soon.

SUP Races at Windfest?

2010-06-10T06:13:00.003-04:00

I'm going to be racing on Saturday. I don't love windsurfing racing because, basically, I'm not a fast sailor. I also hate to lose, and there are some pretty good sailors out there who will kick my patootie in a race. That said, Windfest may have some standup paddling races which have me excited. To quote the Puffin:

Other potential events at the Regatta:

SUP Races

- If enough people bring paddles and are willing, we'll run some SUP races along the beach. SUP boards are preferred, but Longboards can used as well.

This sounds like a lot of fun. Of course it also means I have to shlep three huge boards to Windfest: Scott's monstrosity, my squirrel-eaten Kona, and Kirsten's squirrel-nibbled Amundsen SUP board.

This is one race I really want to do well in.

Paddling, paddling, with really lousy form.

Straighten that right arm, Ian!

Oh, so you fell now?

Great Kona Videos

2010-06-03T06:31:00.001-04:00

These videos are an interview with Bruce Matlack, one on the legends of windsurfing. He's comparing the original Windsurfer One-Design with a Kona. This is a great interview. Bruce Matlack has a great perspective on how windsurfers have changed.

I've got to work on the sizing if the videos.

Light Winds Are Fun

2010-06-03T06:11:00.001-04:00

The point about light-wind sailing is not to have a vein-popping, thrill-seeking, adrenaline-pumping time. The point about light-wind sailing is to get your butt out on the water, no matter what the conditions, and have a good time. I got out on Sunday off Peekskill while the carnival was going full-force, and had a blast. I sailed back and forth on my light-wind rig. Occasionally the winds would pick up, but usually not. A more experienced sailor would probably have been able to get out onto a plane in those moments, but not me.

That said, it was a gorgeous day to be on the water. The sun was shimmering on the water. Boats were everywhere. It was a privilege to be on my board on a day like that. The river was about 65ºF, so I even sailed without a wetsuit.

The wind died down as I was going in to almost nothing. I was able to limp in, but a sailboat nearby had to suffer the indignity of a tow.

* I'm having a little trouble with some of the paragraph returns in this new HTML editor. apparently Apple Safari puts extra characters into the text editor, which is what's creating the extra-large breaks between paragraphs. This doesn't happen in Firefox, but the image importing feature doesn't work well in Firefox. (For some reason, Firefox is very persnickety about displaying large amounts of images.) I'm hoping to not have to switch between browsers just to make blog entries.

Light Wind Rig

2010-05-30T07:43:00.001-04:00

I sail a lot in light winds. Two reasons for that. The first and most obvious on is that I rarely get the opportunity to sail in higher winds. My work schedule and family keep me pretty busy. The second and more embarrassing reason is that I don't enjoy going fast very much. There: I said it. I'm not an adrenaline junky. I don't crave speed.

That's why I enjoy a good light-wind sail: I don't crave the speed; I crave the sailing. So a light-wind rig is essential. Here's my basic setup:

Kona longboard
Large boom
8.5 Sailworks Retro
490 cm mast
Harness

I know it's possible to plane in winds as little as 6 mph with a super-wide board and a huge sail, like a 10 meter sail, but frankly I'm not interested in this kind of setup. Planing isn't a holy grail for me; getting out on the water is.

A harness really is key for this kind of sailing. An 8.5 sail, especially the Retro, is a pretty heavy beast. Even though you're not planing, holding up that sail can get pretty tiring. Harness lines need to be a little longer than normal too. You also need to be able to throw a good tack. I'm lucky enough to have been schooled in good tacking by Ned, the roving instructor of the Hudson Valley, so I can do one fairly well. (Let's not talk about my jibes, please. All I'll say is that I can complete one, mostly.)

Unless you need the daggerboard, it's probably best to keep it up. It does offer extra stability, of course, but it also teaches bad habits. When the daggerboard is down it pushes the center of effort forwards, away from the fin. This is okay, but when you really need to go fast, forward is a bad place to be. The daggerboard also slows you down a little. The board will also tack and jibe quicker without the daggerboard. Lastly, the extra stability is can be a bad thing. Loosening the board up means the board is more tippy, but it also means you learn how to balance better.

Windfest Again

2010-05-27T06:07:00.004-04:00

June 12-13 is the East Coast Windfest at Heckscher Park on Long Island. I have to say, I had a really fun time last year. It was great to be with a bunch of people, most of whom I didn't know, and just hang out and talk windsurfing. Since I am a bit of a geek anyway (okay, more than a bit), it's a great time to be had.

Make sure you go to the Peconic Puffin website and sign up!

Things I learned from last year's Windfest:

Make sure your mast-base is secure before you enter a race.
Race and have fun. Don't worry about how you place. Every race of X sailors has 1–5 winners and X-(1–5) losers. X is a much higher value than the possible number of winners.
Make sure you bring several sail sizes. The wind will change throughout the day.
Make sure your fin works.
Bring a wetsuit, even if you think you won't need it.
Bring your SUP paddle, just in case.
Don't even dream of leaving your Kona at home.
Bring food!
Take as many pictures as you can.
Take as many videos as you can.
Bring a notebook or recorder to record memories.
Talk to people, then take their picture.
Ask questions; most people like to talk and share information.
Bring a light and heavy pair of booties. Heckscher is sandy, unlike the rocky, waste-strewn bottom of the Hudson.
Sunscreen; yes, even though you are blessed with a Southern Italian complexion and you tan just thinking about the sun, put on your sunscreen.
A beach chair might be nice.
Bring binoculars.
Towels too.

These guys are all better windsurfers than me.

The Wind Gods Again; Oh, Those Wind Gods

2010-05-26T06:08:00.006-04:00

It makes sense that when the winds are really light, one breaks out the SUP board and paddles around. That's exactly what I did yesterday. Winds were very light, hardly worth it even for a light-wind sail. So, I borrowed Kirsten's SUP board and off I went, taking pictures of the sights.

There's going to be a carnival at the riverfront this Memorial Day weekend. Here's a waterside view. A good place to bring a certain six year-old.

The Hudson River Line, the same tracks as the classic New York Central Line, are very close to the water. This happens every few minutes.

I didn't have enough time to paddle to Iona Island but I enjoyed the beautiful afternoon. There's something about the Hudson Valley which is just gorgeous. I think it's technically a fjord, which means the mountains come right down to the river. This gives a certain rugged, rocky look to the area.

I saw some new water chestnut plants floating in the water. They don't grow right here at Peekskill because the water's too brackish, but just above the narrows at Bear Mountain the water is fresh enough for the plants. These are an invasive species and have changed the ecosystem of the river.

One of the worst parts of these water chestnuts are their evil children, the pods, also known as “devil's horns”. These things detach from the plants and float about, hoping to find a new place to live. Note the long spines. This is one reason why Hudson River sailors have to wear thick booties, even in the summer. I've had one of these things puncture a 5mm bootie and go right into my foot.

The funny thing about these pods is that if you pick up the water chestnut plants while they're growing naturally, their covered with fresh green pods. Each green pod can be split open to reveal a tasty nut. I once spent about ten minutes grazing on these from a canoe in Constitution Marsh. They're not bad.

I planned the trip so I'd have to fight the light winds on the way out, then on the way back I'd have the winds mostly at my back. Unfortunately the wind gods had other evil ideas. The wind direction changed 90º to ESE, which meant I had to fight it on the way back. Then it kept picking up, and picking up and picking up. By the time I was half-way back, there were whitecaps! If only I was actually windsurfing! It was a tough paddle back. I kept close to the shore where the winds were lighter, but it was still some effort.

I certainly got my exercise for the day. It's a heck of a lot better than being stuck inside at the gym.

New Windsurfing Board Database

2010-05-24T06:00:00.003-04:00

There's a new website for windsurfers: Boardsurveyers. This is a great place to put in information about your favorite windsurfing board or boards into a large user-created database. As the database gets bigger, then it becomes a great place to find out information about a particular board. As well, it has searchable criteria for boards. For example, if you want to search for a high-wind wave board, you can put in those requirements into the database and it will give you suggestions.

Concrete Longboarding

2010-05-13T06:26:00.002-04:00

You can't always rig your kit and go out. Sometimes there just isn't any wind. Sometimes there isn't enough time. Sometimes your kid just wants to play after being stuck inside all day because of rain. And when the kid is six, you can't take him windsurfing on the Hudson River. So what do you do? You go concrete longboarding!

That's right. Break out the skateboard. Pop on a helmet (the same one I use for windsurfing). Get the kid's scooter out of the garage, and let's go to the park. Come on Gabriel, it's you and your Daddy on wheels!

A longboard skateboard isn't that much like windsurfing, but there is some crossover. The longboard, of course, makes much tighter turns than a Kona board, and there's no mast, and there's no reliance of wind direction, and it's a whole lot smaller, but it has its uses. You do end up working on your balance. Plus, you get into the habit of learning to turn your board by carving the edges. And there's that whole “core exercise” thing, which is very important for the belly. Skateboards are good core exercise.

This video has a most excellent crash.

Gabriel, get you and your scooter on the street!

An Unexpected Development

2010-05-08T07:44:00.000-04:00

No, this isn't about my “Cats” production; I've gotten very interested lately in sailing my short/wide board lately, and not so interested in my Kona board. I'm not sure why this is, but here's my theory.

When I got hooked in last week, then got my toes into the straps, something interesting happened. I felt IT, that feeling. It was almost like flying. It was that experience of having the board moving underneath you without putting in a huge amount of effort. Wow.

I realized at the end of last year, after a comment from Ned, a man who can't stop teaching and sharing information, that I'd been hunched over too far. I hadn't been doing the basic thing of just leaning backwards. No wonder my arms were getting such a workout. No wonder I'd been getting catapulted a lot.

A great shot of me with an obviously lousy stance. Move back, Ian! Look, even my outhaul line is dangling! I'd love to say this was a long time ago, but it was last year.

BTW, I finally got a name for my Exocet Cruiser: Electra. I think it fits.

One Strike; One HIt

2010-05-03T06:23:00.007-04:00

You probably didn't know that the wind gods had names. They are known as the Anemoi in Greek mythology. They are as follows:

Boreas: the north wind and bringer of cold air.
Notus: the south wind, bringer of summer storms.
Eurus: the east wind, was thought to bring warmth and rain.
Zephyrus: the west wind, bringer of light summer breezes (from which we get the term zephyr).

Sometimes the wind gods smile at you at sometimes they don't. On Friday Zephyr scoffed at Scott and me. We went out to Peekskill. There was a nice steady 10 mph southwesterly, but as soon as we rigged, the wind died. We were officially skunked. Yesterday, Zephyrus smiled on Scott and myself. We sailed with, again, abut a 10-12 mph wind, but this time the wind was steady and lovely. The sun was also shining and day was just gorgeous.

I was on Electra, my 150 liter Exocet, working on my shortboard moves and a 7.0 sail. I jibed and jibed all session, making almost all of them. Scott was on his trust Rio L with a borrowed 6.5 sail from me.

It's been nice to see Scott's progress. He'd been on an old 5.0 sail for a while, a hand-me-down from me, but he's outgrown it. So I loaned him the 6.5 and he's been having a great time with it. (Too bad he won't have much time for windsurfing soon, because he's about to become a dad. Good luck, Scott!)

I had a funny realization with my shortboard straps. I'd carefully set them when I first got the board, making sure they were just large enough for my feet in booties. However, since I'd done this I'd replace my old booties torn booties with beefy NRS booties. So, my feet didn't fit in the straps. Time for readjustments.

Scott out on the river, with my sail in the foreground.

Had Wrong Equipment

2010-04-28T06:25:00.001-04:00

I went to Swamp Hole yesterday afternoon for a sail. A bunch of the River Rats were there: Bob, Hardie, Michael and Aldo. The winds were 25-30. I didn't rig. I'm not sure if I was just being chicken or was using common sense. I had a 150 liter board and a 5.3 sail with me and the experienced guys were on 110 liter boards and 5.0 sails. So, I stayed dry and took video pictures. Mike got pushed back to Senasqua Park and had to make, as he and other River Rats have put it, the “trek of the conquered hero” back to Swamp Hole, which is our fancy name for a walk of shame.

Here's Bob setting out. The tide was pretty low so he was able to do a Hudson River variation of the beach start called the “boulder start”.

Bob was beaming when he got out.

Hardie, who's a photographer, had to leave early because he's looking for good shots of the Tappan Zee Bridge for his book on Hudson River towns. How cool is that? He also just happened to have an extra Powerbox wave fin, just perfect for my Kona. Thanks, Hardie!

Here we go!

2010-04-18T07:52:00.001-04:00

It's Sunday morning, and I report to the Paramount Theatre in Peekskill at 10 AM. Showtime is 5 PM. Yes, I'm a little nervous.

But I'm not so nervous. I've directed about six plays, but this is the first time I've really acted in one. I've wanted to act for a few years now, but expected I might get a part in some talky play, which would highlight my strength: talk. I have a good, strong voice, which has been honed by years of teaching, but singing was something I've always been ambivalent about. I admire singers and those who sing, but I never saw myself actually singing on stage. Now I'm going to have a 4 1/2 number, sang with thirteen tween backup singers.

No, I'm not nervous. Really.

The funny thing is, if this were a Shakespeare play, I wouldn't be so concerned. I teach English so Shakespeare is what I do. I'm comfortable with memorizing lines of blank verse. What's scary is the singing and dancing at the same time, which not only requires a lot of practice, it gets you winded pretty quickly. The dance movements themselves aren't too difficult, but the singing requires one type of breathing, and the dancing requires another.

Here's a link to some local coverage of the play. We also got a nice mention in the New York Times!

My makeup job. I look very tigerish, I think. It looks cool when I wriggle my muzzle.

New Type of Timewaster: Acting!

2010-04-12T06:30:00.000-04:00

I haven't been out much yet this season, but I have a really, really good excuse -- I'm acting!

Yes, that's right, I'm appearing in a play. Not just any old play: a musical of feline proportions! Cats!

I will be Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat, appearing this Sunday, April 18th, 5 PM, at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill, NY, and on Monday, April 19th at 11 AM.

I have been rehearsing this and other numbers like crazy the lasts few months, and the payoff will be soon. Yes, I've missed some pretty good days on the water, but this is why.

You can get tickets at the Paramount Center for the Arts website.

Season Starts! WIth a Whimper....

2010-04-05T06:08:00.000-04:00

So I got out to Peekskill landing Saturday afternoon with my friend Scott. (No pictures, I'm afraid, my wife had the camera to take pictures of “our children”.) Winds were light and a little gusty, so I rigged my trusty 8.5 sail onto the Kona. I tried to begin with a beach start but the winds were so light right by the launch that was tough. Then I started having trouble.

Have you ever gone back to doing something you haven't done in a while then found out your skills had evaporated? This was what happened to me. I fell, and fell, and fell. It was like I couldn't sheet in without falling. The water was about 44ºF, the coldest I've ever been in, but fortunately my 5 mm suit kept me comfy. I thought I might not have put in enough downhaul, so I went back and downhauled some more, then changed my loose gloves for some snugger mittens. Feeling lazy, I left my board in the water. (Take note of this.)

I went back out and the same thing kept happening. The extra downhaul made no difference. I just could not stand on the board. My confidence was completely shot. Plus, all this falling was irritating a pulled tendon in my left shoulder. I kept the daggerboard down and limped back to the landing, then beached my board.

Lo, and behold, the fin was gone. If I had pulled the Kona out of the water that first time, I would have noticed that. I probably didn't fall off in deep water, but the Hudson is so murky that you can't see your feet in knee-deep water. Actually, I was almost glad to see that. I was doubting my abilities so much, I was grateful to be able to say, “It wasn't me. It's the equipment.”

Now I gotta get a new fin.

Time For A Restart

2010-03-06T07:12:00.004-05:00

I've neglected this blog for months. The reasons are multiple and unimportant, but I realized I need to refocus it. I don't think the adventures of Ian are especially interesting. I'm not an Olympian windsurfer, and unfortunately I'll most likely never be one. For that reason, I find my own expeditions into the Hudson (an other places) rather plebeian compared to the amazing adventures of the Maui sailors and others who have the skills to attack any kind of nautical condition.

That said, I've always been interested in the beginners' aspect of this sport. I like all the equipment and explaining how it works to laymen. I like the different types of boards available to beginners. I like helping people to the sport. So I'm going to refocus this blog as a resource for windsurfing newbies. There are no other places like that on the web. There are great places for instruction, which I'll list at some point, but there's no one place where a beginner can come and learn about the sport, especially the technical details which are so important. At some point I may even get a new URL for this blog, but in the meantime, everything will be here.

I Guess The Season's Over

2009-12-09T06:19:00.009-05:00

Scott and I went out standup paddling last week. The weather was about 66ºF and lovely. Unfortunately the water was about 47ºF! Yeah, it was freezing.

Could the day get any more gorgeous?

Scott: intrepid standup paddler!

Scott: intrepid standup paddler on his really, really wide windsurfer.

Me: Intrepid standup paddler on my Kona, in a full suit of blubber, with the moon.

Days like that create a strange problem. I was wearing my 5 mm wetsuit but the problem was it was pretty darn warm! I got really hot in my suit, except. for the one time (just once!) I fell in. Then, Holy Crap, that was intense. The cold was just around my neck, face and hands, but what a cold it was! Wow! It was more than just “bracing cold”, it was intense, life-sucking cold. I'd left the collar off my suit just to keep from overheating too much, a decision I instantly regretted. To make matters better, I fell off the rear of my board, which launched it about thirty feet ahead of me. That meant a lovely swim in these intense conditions. Wow. Next time I wear the damn collar.

We paddled just past Annsville circle, then turned back. The two of us were out for about two hours, enjoying the novelty f a late November outing.

Then it snowed. Barring any weird weather, the season's probably over. Here's my son treating his father cruelly in the snowy weather. Does the child think he can just pelt his father with snowballs?

I guess he does.

A Great Place to Get (non)Windsurfing Gear

2009-11-06T13:45:00.011-05:00

The Hudson River is rough on gear. One item that gets a lot of wear are windsurf booties. Most launch sites are rocky, and the rocks aren't smooth river stones. It's as if each rock believes in the New York tradition of carrying a knife, and it's usually pointed right at a windsurfer's soles and ankles. (I'm from Brooklyn; I can make that crass generalization. It's not really true, but I can still say that.)

Two years ago I bought a pair of “O'Neill 5 mm Heat Round Toe” booties. I had problems with them almost immediately. My dainty, little feet are a size 8 1/2. Since these booties only come in full sizes I ordered a 9. Should be fine, right? Wrong. The seams split the first time I pulled them on.

To Big Wind's credit, they sent me a new pair. Still, for $54.95, I expected better quality gear.

I wore the new pair for two seasons. The worked fine, mostly. The sole was thick, but not thick enough for the rally sharp rocks, which I'd usually step on while I had a sail or board on m head. They wouldn't pierce the sole, but they would bruise. This summer I noticed the holes. The neoprene in front of the ankle was coming apart. Tiny cuts I'd made in the neoprene with my fingernails were getting larger, and water was leaking in.

Brian Johnson, one of the Hudson River Rats, clued me into a water gear company called NRS, which makes gear for kayakers. I'd actually bought a wetsuit jacket from them a month before to compliment my farmer john wetsuit. It's a nice 2 mm jacket, and I couldn't find anything like it in the windsurfing world. It's snug, comfy and has a lot of mobility. Plus, I wore it for Halloween over my Captain Kirk shirt, 'cause it looks kinda Star Treky.

Photo from www.nrsweb.com.

NRS has some very nice booties, some with thick soles for over-land kayak portages. I got a pair of their Cross-4 Wetshoes for just shy of forty bucks.

This bootie has some seriously thick soles, thicker than any windsurfing bootie I've seen. I know there will be concerns about loss of feeling of the board, and I'll have to adjust the size of my footstraps, but that's less important than being safe from bruises and water chestnut puncture wounds.

The NRS booties slide on well, unlike the O'Neills, which I have to wrestle on (without tearing the seams again). The foot strap was thicker and seemed anchored onto the bootie quiet well. There is also an internal liner to the zipper.

The liner is very obvious when seen from above.

Brian feels like you can get kayaking gear at a better price point and better quality than windsurfing gear. I suspect he's right. There are just so many more kayakers out there than windsurfers that the equipment makers can afford to sell their gear at lower prices.

Cold Water Beachstarts!

2009-11-05T06:07:00.006-05:00

One of the things that makes Peekskill Landing an annoying place to sail out of is it's awkward placement. Unless the winds are coming from a certain direction, no beach starts are possible unless you want to immediately run into rocks or a jetty (more rocks). What makes matters worse is the constant wind shadow with any wind from the south or north.

Tuesday I got lucky. I planned an afternoon session right after school. I packed the car and my Exocet 150 liter Cruiser before school. The whole day there was almost no wind, and when I finally arrived at the site, the wind was maybe 6 mph. Scott joined me and as we rigged some dark clouds rolled in. Soon the wind was at 20.

The water was a balmy 52º F. I wore my whale blubber suit and a hood. I had an old hood from the 1980s sitting around, still in good condition, which I gave to Scott. My booties are showing some serious leaks. I also tried out a pair of neoprene mittens for the first time.

The water was choppy, which is tough on a wideboard. It was also straight from the west, which is the only direction possible for beachstarts. I did about eight or son with the 6.5 sail, then sailed back and forth in the cove, getting familiar with the wideboard in these conditions. I popped onto a plane a couple of times, and I probably could have done more except that I was a little nervous. Because of the conditions Scott and I also were keeping close to shore. The winds were a little unpredictable. I got in the straps then got dumped a few times when the wind went down.

A word on the mittens: They're not great. No matter how hard you strap the cuff, they leak at the wrist. This isn't so bad because your body heat warms the water quickly, but it's disconcerting. They're also limiting. The first time I fell backwards while hooked in I reached to unhook myself and realized I didn't have the available fingers to do this. I managed, but it was a lot more awkward. I think I'm going to go with some gloves soon.

I hope this wasn't the last sail of the year.

Not from this session (clearly) but I do look funny underwater. My hair makes me resemble Medusa's younger brother.

Practicing My Basics

2009-10-31T09:55:00.004-04:00

I think everybody (and I mean everybody, not just windsurfers) has a list of things in their life which they know they should be doing. For some people it's reading; for others, it's exercise (that's a popular one); for others, it's learning new technology. My thing I avoid is practicing basic skills. I avoid working on basic skills like jibes and waterstarts.

Why do I do such a dumb thing? There are two reasons. The first is that I don't enjoy it very much. I'm a fairly clumsy person, made more so because of my extreme myopia. I have the tendency to stay in my physical comfort zone, and my skills are enough to sail almost as much as I want. The thing which exaggerates this is that I love windsurfing no matter what the conditions. If there's a 5 mph wind, I'm happy 'cause I'm on the water.

Let's not forget how rarely i get to sail during the school year: these days it's once every two weeks. That said, I bristle at the idea of practicing skills when there's not much more sailing left this year. So WHY BOTHER!

The reason I should bother is freakin' obvious, and that's what I did recently. On a nice Sunday I went out when the wind was about 12 mph on my Kona with the 8.5 sail. I got on a plane once, briefly, then it was low-wind cruising. I decided to use the time to work on my jibes. Last time I practiced these I had a 6.5 sail. This time it would be with the Brobdignagian * 8.5.

In short, I did fine. I made most of them: not bad for a klutz like myself.

I wanted to share this video from Swamp Hole. That's Rick in the vid, just completing a waterstart in gusty winds, starting about 20 mph. As you watch, observe the jetskier trying to look impressive. Jumps are easy when you've got a 700 cc engine between your legs. Try doing it with a sail! (Not that I could do that with a sail, but I know people who can, darn it.)

* Brobdignagian: it means big in a high-falutin', English teacher way. It comes from “Gulliver's Travels”. After Gulliver sailed from the land of Lilliput, the land of the tiny people, he reached the land of Brobdignag, a land of giants.

It's Been a Spotty Fall

2009-10-21T05:53:00.003-04:00

Autumn is the wind season here on the Hudson River. For a low-wind sailor like me it can get intimidating at times. When the winds get to be over 20, I get a little outclassed. (I know: that sounds wimpy. I'm working on it.)

I put this all down to my vision issues. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but I'm pretty hesitant to get out in higher winds because a serious crash just knocks those contact lenses right out of position, usually deep in my eye sockets. Man, you haven't lived until you've done a catapult, then suddenly you're blind in both eyes, then you have to adjust them in the chop, praying a lens won't fall out while you're doing so. Sometimes, even after I've slid the lenses into position, a lens will keep sliding back into the recesses of my skull. Try fixing that while on a plane.

Some pictures of a recent session at Swamp Hole.

Ben (a new fellow), Rick and Andy

You see! I'm not the only person who's still uphauling! Andy is a good intermediate sailor, but this session he got blown down to Senasqua Park in the gusty (almost 30 mph) winds.

I got the most humbling comment a few weeks ago. I had a few sessions with Ned, who is one of the best windsurfers I know, and a good teacher of the sport. He's very generous with his time and he spent an hour or so teaching me how to tack and jibe correctly. He also enjoys teasing me. As a teacher myself who enjoys teasing his students, it's kind of funny to be on the other side. (I certainly can't complain.) At one point during the session he said, “I've been reading your blog. You know, you're a much better writer than you are a windsurfer.

Ouch!

Called Away By My Geeky Duties

2009-10-10T07:59:00.003-04:00

Okay, I've been spotty with my recent posts. I've been spending my writing time writing two plays for my 6th Grade classes. You see, I'm not the kind of teacher who will take any old play and make it part of my curriculum. I did that once and the plays weren't very good. All through the next summer I had the idea in my head “I could write a better play.” And so I did.

Cut another year and I'm writing two plays, one for each of my 6th grade classes. This kind of thing takes time, although I'm happy to say I've finished both roughdrafts. Now I can spend more time with this blog.

As well, I've finished the roughdraft on a novel which involves windsurfing in the year 2050 or so. Here's an excerpt:

_________________________________

Kara and Maritza launched and sped out from beneath the derrick, then got in line behind the other two boards. Kara hooked her harness to the boom and leaned against the pull of the sail. She crouched low to give herself as much leverage as possible. The waves bobbed the boards up and down, up and down, but in a way Kara was intimately familiar with. I can do this. Too bad these boards are so big. They’re like surfing a coffee table.

She looked down and felt sorry for Maritza. In calmer waters the second person on the windsurfer could sit up on the nose, but in conditions like this the passenger needed to be as low as possible. This meant, Kara noted, that every wave Kara sailed over smacked Maritza right in the chin, often breaking over her head. That was only if she took it correctly; a few times Kara almost buried her passenger in the brine.

“Sorry about the ride!” yelled Kara.

“I’ve been in worse!” yelled Maritza between dunkings.

“What could be worse than this?”

“A real storm!”

“This isn’t a storm?”

“This is just wind!”

“Going to be easier than I thought,” Ganesa had said last night. “You all know about Personal Networking, right? And how tricky it can be if you don’t password protect your computer? Well, only one computer in the range of Kara’s mobile has any sort of rudimentary protection. These militia IT people either are dumb, careless or never expected a cyber attack from inside their own derrick.” Kara checked her Com. They were five minutes out: time for Cyber Attack, stage 1. Using a proxy server from India to cover his tracks, Ganesa was going to bombard the Haley Militia web server with calls for information. When the server choked, he would activate a mole program he’d installed on the server to fire out hundreds of e-mails a second to every e-mail address it could find. Then he would deface their website with logos from one of the prank organizations that was famous in cyberspace for this sort of thing.

The wind picked up a notch and Kara had to lean back even more against the sail. Then came a strong gust and Kara lost her grip on one of the footstraps and catapulted forwards. She face-planted onto of the sail.

“You alright?” shouted Maritza.

“Yeah! Those gusts are murder!”

“Glad it’s you up there,” said Maritza.

Another strong gust hit them, and Kara heard a crack. She saw Veatta’s mast snap in half and both girls tumble. Veatta’s grasp slipped and she fell into her boom hard. “Kafele!”

Kafele turned his board around with an elegant jibe and brought himself alongside the crippled windsurfer. Saniya was wriggling back onto the board but Veatta hung on with one arm and held her ribs with the other. “You alright, girls?” asked Kafele.

“I’m fine, but check on Veatta,” said Saniya.

“Maritza, get in there and check on Veatta,” said Kara.

Maritza plopped into the water and slid alongside Veatta. “Veatta, does it hurt?”

“Yeah,” she said, like she was short of breath.

“Is it your ribs?”

“Yeah,” she said. It looked like every breath was painful.

She’s got a broken rib. Time to take action, thought Kara. She kept a position just behind everyone. “Saniya, detach your mast!” Saniya nodded and popped the sail off. It was quickly swept away. “Kafele!” yelled Kara. “Lash your board to theirs! You’re going to tow it!”

Kafele pulled a line from a bag and tossed it a few feet to Saniya. Saniya lashed the line to a ring near the nose of the board. Kafele tied the other end to the base of his mast. “Ready!” he yelled.

Kara jumped into the water. She held onto her board with one hand and leaned over towards the other girls. “Okay, moment of truth. Who’s the best windsurfer out of all of us?”

“You are,” said Saniya.

“Great,” said Kara. “I was afraid of that. Okay, let’s get Veatta onto my board. Saniya and Maritza, you two stay on the crippled board.”

The three girls eased Veatta onto to the other board. Veatta tried a prone position but that clearly hurt a lot. She could only lay on her side comfortably, which was difficult to maintain in the swells. “Veatta, just grab onto the mast, okay? I’ll try not to move it too much.”

“Okay,” she answered. Kara was amazed at Veatta’s poise. She would have been screaming and cursing bloody murder if that had happened to her. She attached a surfer-type leash to Veatta’s ankle, then secured the other end to the board.

“Let’s get moving!” yelled Kara. She still the rear position and furled her sail in more to keep the speed down. “Damn, this sucks,” she muttered under her breath. Since nobody could steer the middle board any more, Maritza and Saniya were getting buried every few seconds.

Kafele led the way with only a GPS coordinate as a destination. Kara wondered if they really would get to the same exact spot they’d been at two days ago. It seemed like a needle-in-a-haystack kind of problem: finding a few fish in a huge ocean when there weren’t any significant landmarks. Even the Haley Militia derrick was over the horizon, and Kara, very heartily, wanted it to stay that way.

Sooner than Kara expected, Kafele shouted that they were there. Kara dropped her sail, then pushed a button on her Com. It sent a compressed and encrypted message to Ganesa telling him they had arrived. This was the signal for Cyber Attack: stage 2.

One of the failed ideas of computing was the series of operating system features known as Appliance Control. This was the ability to control household appliances and other equipped devices wirelessly from one location. It was never accepted on a mass basis, but it was used in certain specialized applications. Ganesa noticed in his sweep of the Haley Militia network that the feeding procedure for the farmed fish was one of several systems run on Appliance Control. Stage 2 was taking control of the feeding system and dumping all the food into the pen.

Kara and Kafele dropped their sails. “Deploy the sea anchors,“ Kara said. These were little parachutes two feet wide designed to keep their noses pointed into the wind and prevent drifting. Each board popped one out automatically. “Good,” said Kara. “Now let’s get those fish.”

Saniya expertly pulled her rebreather, even in the rough water, then swam over to Maritza, who was struggling with some of the straps. They rearranged Maritza in the harness. “Is it working?” Saniya asked.

“I’m fine,” said Maritza.

“Can you breathe! I don’t want any accidents.”

“I can breathe fine.” Kafele handed Saniya a plastic apparatus, a “slurp gun” that looked like a large transparent water gun with a couple of extra tanks for water, then gave a similar one to Maritza.

“Kara, we’re ready to go!” said Saniya

“Then go! Let us know on the short-range if you need help.”

Kara watched the two girls descend into the grey water. They disappeared quickly. Last time they’d been here Kara could see to the bottom, almost fifty feet down; now the visibility was maybe fifteen. This is going to take a freaking miracle to pull off, thought Kara.

The Vultures Circle

2009-09-19T08:10:00.004-04:00

So I took my Cruiser out in medium winds (15-18) with a 7.0 sail yesterday. Launched from Swamp Hole. I got my patootie kicked. I was having trouble staying hooked in because so many of my moves were longboard moves. I was having trouble adjusting to the shorter length of the board plus I was a little over-rigged. A 6.5 would have been better than cammed 7.0.

Then I got slammed in the head with the mast. This is something that's never happened before. I fell backwards while uphauling and the mast just clocked me. This is right after a converation with my opthamologist where I reassured her that I never get hit on the head. My first check was visual field because, quite frankly, this could cause my retina to detach. I was okay, but in little shape to wrestle the sail anymore.

So I floated down to Senasqua Park, the next launch site down. Northerlies out of Swamp Hole are good for this. They give you several recovery points. Then the vultures came...

No, that's not a joke. No less than ten vultures (I counted them) were circling overhead, waiting for my bloated corpse to wash on shore, so they could have a meal. Perhaps that' nature saying, “These are the consequences for over-rigging, stupid. Now you are nought but carrion!”

I beached at Senasqua. The vultures realized I was alive after all and went in search of some roadkill. I walked back to Swamp Hole and chatted with George, one of the lower Hudson sailors.

I missed my Kona. Today it's probably back to Swamp Hole, and this time I take the Kona. I'm also buying a helmet.

Some Shots From the Summer

2009-09-11T06:18:00.004-04:00

Summer here in the Hudson Valley has been pretty mild. We've had our predictable August wind drought, and that's coming to an end. We're starting to get days in the teens on a regular basis, which is pretty encouraging.

A few shots over the summer during the mild days, trying out the wideboard. Still haven't taken this bad boy out in planing weather.

Serious Health Issues

2009-09-09T06:03:00.002-04:00

I recently heard from my opthamologist and got some chilling feedback. I'm very myopic, this I've discussed, and it's leading to some serious optical problems. I have a hole in one of my retinas. This means that I might have to avoid serious effort and possibly windsurfing. The risk is I might tear the retina in that eye and go blind.

Wouldn't that just suck?

I'm Back!

2009-09-07T09:06:00.003-04:00

Sorry about the unannounced sabbatical. I had to take a month off to finish a novel I've been writing: The Risen Sea. It's a YA science fiction that takes place about forty-five years in the future after a world-wide ecological disaster. I'll post more details on this later, but I just wanted to let everybody know I'm back. The book I'm writing even has scenes of windsurfing in it, which I'll post soon.

-Ian

Teach Your Allosaurus to Windsurf

2009-08-13T22:15:00.007-04:00

If anybody out there is wondering how to get young people interested in windsurfing, let me suggest this simple tactic: teach an allosaurus to windsurf. All it takes is a special windsurfer modified for saurians, like so. These can be found at many windsurf shops dedicated to recycling:

Place (carefully) your allosaurus onto the windsurfer. Beachstarting is recommended:

Allow the allosaurus to sheet in:

And away we go!

For those interested in getting your children interested in surfing, let me suggest this other tactic: teach your stegosaurus to surf!

A special dinosaur-resistant surfboard. Note: this model is constructed from special carbon-neutral components.

Go, Stego!

Belated Cape Cod Vacation Report

2009-08-07T08:45:00.014-04:00

The beach can look so beautiful and barren.

Saturday, July 25

This trip will be the trip that tests Kirsten and me. This is the trip we go with all three kids, a five year-old son and twin fourteen month-old girls, without any help. Would we be able to have any fun? Would we lose our minds trying to have fun? Would the girls be charming little angels? Would I be able to get in the water at all, let alone windsurf? Will I be able to get any pictures of myself windsurf? (In a word: no.)

Sunday, July 26

I get our beach sticker at the insane hour of 8 AM on a Sunday morning, then I spin around to the beach. It’s foggy and the wind is low. I had a dream of early morning sails, kind of like jogging before everybody else gets up. Yeah, sure. Not going to happen. If I got more then 150 yards out, I’d be invisible.

Before lunch, Kirsten made a run to Provincetown (P-Town) So we went to the beach right after lunch. The wind is blowing quite nicely, but we leave the beach too late to consider any serious activities besides standup paddling.

Speaking of standup paddling, it’s a lot of fun in the chop. Kirsten’s Amundson is about 78 cm wide, wider than my Kona, but also a lot thinner. It’s a really stable board and fun. Kirsten mocked me for “falling” off the board when she didn’t, but I didn’t want to push the idea that I had actually been trying out some new maneuvers, like a quick turn, when all she had been doing was paddle. I didn’t fall either when I was paddling. Okay, maybe I did fall, a little.

Kirsten is a good athlete. She’s definitely a better athlete than I am. She got serious coaching in swimming and cross-country skiing growing up, at the same time I was desperately putting the pieces of my life together after my family fell apart during my later teens. (Jealous? No, not me. Nooooo.) I’m not saying my wife can kick my butt or anything, but she does pick up sports a lot quicker than I did. I finally nailed my twentieth beach start try, while she nailed her first. I could complain that I had been in twenty-five mph winds with a board equipped with a huge daggerboard and her beach start was in a foot of water off gentle Dennis beach, but I won’t, ‘cause I’m not that kind of guy either. Really.

Back to the SUPing, I did get to surf the board a little. Kirsten tried to but got self conscious of falling. “In front of all these people on the beach?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“These people you’re never going to see again?”

“Yeah.”

“What about the fact that I fell off my windsurfer in Peekskill about a thousand times over the last five years. This was in front of strangers, neighbors, and friends, and who’d wait around and talk to me when I landed about all the times that I fell?”

I’ve never been too worried about falling when I do sports, probably because I do it a lot. I blame the thing I mentioned earlier, plus my blindness (and the fact that I’m basically a klutz).

Kirsten's like a mermaid in the water. (I think I've mentioned this before.)

First dip.

Swimming in the sunset.

Lovely Corn Hill Beach. Looks just like an Edward Hopper painting.

Monday, July 27

We had a nice morning at the beach with the brood. The tide was about at the midway point and getting higher. Winds were pushing fifteen. Corn Hill Beach slopes pretty dramatically between the low and high tide mark, so whatever wave action hits the shore happens within about ten feet of the breakers. I took Mr. Shmoo into the water with his prized boogie board and started to show him how to ride waves. He was having a little trouble at first just holding himself correctly on the board, but Gabriel got the hang of that after a while. Then we went into slightly deeper water and waited for the waves. When one would come I’d push him into the wave for a short ride. He loved it.

Kirsten and I also dipped the girls into the water. Miranda seemed to really enjoy getting wet while Guinevere was pretty frightened of the ocean.

Later I returned to the beach alone with my Kona board and sails. I rigged the new Aquaglide 6.5. I was surprised at how much monofilm the sail actually used; it’s not a great sail for any real wave action. Even at high tide the shore break was so close to the water’s edge that any beach start was an act of gymnastics. It was easier to push out of the breakers, about fifteen feet, and uphaul.

This session was one of the most fun times on my board. Winds were just short of planable, but the swells were loads of fun to bounce around in. I experimented in the swells with the daggerboard up and down. With it down the board was very stable but there was far too much pressure coming from just below the mast. The board was a lot more fun with the daggerboard up. Yeah, duh, you’re probably saying, but I wanted to know the difference. The Kona bounced over the swells, sometimes popping over them. Wow. That was really fun. A lot more fun than a wideboard.

I don’t think I’ll use that sail again in the swells. It just felt too light and fragile for the beating it was getting. I brought a 5.3 wave sail, which is a little small for the prevailing conditions, but it’ll survive the beating much better. The wavesail will also give me an excuse to use my new 430 mast.

Speaking of rigging, my 460 got stuck together with sand. I brought it back to the beach house and tried a radical method of getting it unstuck which I read about in Windsport. You wrap line around each end so you create a huge amount of friction, then tie one end to a tow hitch on your car and the other end to an immovable object. I’d tried using two cars to separate a stuck boom and it worked really well, but a mast, because of its shape, is a different story. I ended up wrapping a length of strap on each end of the mast, making sure that there was a lot of friction and each straps wrapped over itself. I attached one end to a convenient tree and the other to my CRV’s tow hitch.

It worked like a charm. The mast made a very satisfactory phut! sound as it separated. I have two other stuck masts a t home I want to try this with. I also, surprise, got some sand in that same boom and it’s not moving. I know how to fix this now.

First time in the ocean

The kid is learning the boogie board: the first step to windsurfing.

Wellfleet, right outside Mac's Seafood, the best fried seafood around.

We watched the kiters while we ate. The wind was about 20 mph. Gabriel was enthralled by them.

Tuesday, July 28

Kirsten’s doing a really good job getting Gabriel onto her SUP board. The boy is hesitant to get on the board with me, but he loves going on with Kirsten. She got him to stand on the board while she held it steady. He also would lay on the nose while she paddled. The little dude will be a surfer one day, or something.

Gabriel getting on the SUP board.

Wednesday, July 29

Winds were blowing about 15 during the morning but by the time I got to the beach, they were down to about 10. Blahh.

I wanted to rig the 5.3 for the waves and did so, even though I knew I’d be underpowered. I used my new 430 mast and a large extension to get that 457 cm of luff that the sail suggested. In retrospect, I think I gave the sail a little too much downhaul; a little less would have given me a little more power. Mistake number two was thinking I could sail perfectly well barefoot, but more on that later. One good thing I did was rig by the edge of the Corn Hill Beach parking lot to avoid any sand issues, like the ones I had the last time I was out here.

I hauled the board and sail together onto the beach. It was fairly empty when I got there. The day hadn’t been so nice and there were some ominous clouds creeping up. This was good for me: I didn’t have to do any fancy maneuvers around sunbathing families.

Looking around I spotted another windsurfer! After I launched I sailed over to him and chatted. His name was John and he was a British man named John living in New Jersey. He was sailing a blue Bic 283 with an 8.0 sail. He told me he was able to get up on a plane once on his rig, but the winds the next two days were supposed to be mid teens to twenty. (I was blissfully unaware of this having been without an internet connection this last week. All I knew about were the tides, which I was getting from a Truro tourist booklet.) We promised to look out for each other the next couple of days.

I sailed by myself for the next hour or so. The winds, as usual, were from the south and a little east. I had to fight the tendency to get pushed northward, usually with the daggerboard down. This was a drag because the Kona was much more fun to sail without the daggerboard. What I ended up doing was sailing upwind with the daggerboard down, sailing without the daggerboard while getting pushed downwind, then repeating. I even did a little surfing on the larger swells. I’m not a surfer but I’m a competent body surfer and boogie boarder, so I know the feel of catching a wave. The Kona is such a big board that I had to move around a lot to get the right balance point to surf. It was a lot of fun, though. I want some bigger surf!

Tides will be low tomorrow right during the mid-afternoon. The tides get very low at Corn Hill Beach, so low that you can’t launch a board for a couple of hundred yards at least. It would be nice to sail when the tide is nearly low so I can practice my beachstarts, but I’ll be happy to get out at least one more time this vacation, no matter what the conditions.

Lessons on catching waves.

Friday, July 31

On my last day I went to the beach at about 8AM. Winds were light so I rigged a 7.0, the biggest sail I brought. The tide was lower than before and the chop was minimal (darn). I like sailing in the waves. After practicing some beach starts I got underway. I had a nice sail, although at one point the winds died down to almost nothing. Then they started picking up. By the time I had to leave I was almost fully powered and was almost on a plane. Later in the day the winds were at about 20, but I had family obligations. I saw John again and chatted. He was overpowered on a 7.0 and was packing it in.

Shmoo and the Squirmshiens (good name for a rock band).

Exocet Finally Arrived

2009-07-21T18:26:00.011-04:00

It was raining heavily all day, and that means my new Exocet Cruiser had to arrive today. Man, it comes with a lot of packaging. I wonder if there's any way to reduce some of this. The board and rigging came in one huge box, and the board itself was in a smaller box inside. Here the board is partially exposed -- I took off the bubble wrap.

First impressions:

The graphics are very pretty. I like the bright red/aqua motif and the dramatic contrast. (Note to self: blog entry on board color schemes.) It definitely feels and looks like a wideboard, although it's 15 liters less than my old Go. The rails feel thinner than the Go, and the whole thing seems a bit slimmer.

The daggerboard knob is a huge improvement over the Kona. First of all: it's padded. It won't shred your feet when you're trying to raise and lower the darn thing. Second: the knob is removable! This means no more having to remove the daggerboard when racking! Exocet, you did a nice job with this daggerboard; what gives with the Kona? Why is it so wonky compared to this? The daggerboard also has little locking mechanisms at the fully extended and retracted marks. My impression is that this daggerboard is only meant to be used in these positions.

The fin seems a little small compared to the size of the board, although I think it'll be fine for freeriding. It's clearly a shallow water fin. It's also kind of ugly, like a flat hunk of cheese: no sense of aquatic grace. My hand is there for scale.

The weed fin I have from the Go has more surface area than the standard fin. Notice that the weed fin is a Tuttle box but the factory fin is a Deep Tuttle.

Here's the fin on the board.

This is the famous Exocet Cruiser roller wheel. It seems like a pleasant invention. Note how Exocet has that arrow on the EVA deck pointing to the wheel, as if anybody would miss it. When I put the board on the wheel, my wife commented, “Hey, maybe you can mow the lawn with this thing?” Cute. The board did move quite well, and it solves the problem of how to carry a board this large. I just hope the roller doesn't get in the way of my feet. (I'm sure a purist would eschew such an invention because of the extra weight.)

I think I could have done a better job with the pictures, but it was raining pretty hard. No, I couldn't have waited because the stuff was completely taking over my porch.

About Mothers

2009-07-21T08:33:00.002-04:00

Sometimes a mother can be an unsung hero. (Maybe that happens more than a little.) I have to say, during my trip to Florida, my mother fed and took care of myself, Kirsten and Shmoo (Gabriel) and the Squirmchiens (Miranda and Guinevere). We arrived in Jacksonville exhausted. Kirsten had an earache and the twins were getting sick. For the eleven days we were there, she made us feel more relaxed than we'd felt in a year. The vacation wouldn't have been the same without her.

Thanks Mom!

Kingston Beginners' Night

2009-07-21T07:55:00.009-04:00

I was in Kingston last night for the River Rats beginners' night. I was going to bring my friend Jim, but he got pretty sick. I was ridiculously late because I took the quick road, 1-87, instead of the slow road, 9W. I was forced to make my way through Kingston and went in circles for a good hour or so. Sometimes the slow way is the fastest way. (Thank you, oh wise one.) I got there and had already missed a lot of the festivities.

The winds were lousy to crappy to nonexistent. Some beginners were actually getting towed by their instructors to get a sense of what a board feels like when its' moving. I broke out the Kona and SUP paddle and proceeded to paddle around and make wry comments to everybody. I didn't actually do anything helpful; I just amused myself, and said hello to everyone.

Notice the high winds and heavy chop! I could hardly stand on my board! Actually, the conditions were so calm I didn't even take off my glasses. I took some pictures of first-timer SUPer Sven Anderson. After some prodding he got on his Mistral longboard and scooted around.

An excellent windsurfer named Ben showed me a freestyle move on his Mistral One-Design, which he couldn't quite complete because of the lack of winds. Kudos for trying.

Ben and I later exchanged boards. I got to sail a famous Mistral One-Design for the first time which he tried paddling my Kona. It was a smooth board in the very low winds. Ben told me he used to sail competitively in the 1980s and was nationally ranked. He showed me how to rail the longboard, which was a great technique when your daggerboard is down. You push the leeward rail into the water, bringing the board to a 45º angle. During this time you lean heavily on the boom to apply mast-base pressure. You can even take the foot closest to the mast and put it underneath the board, lifting it up higher. I'm definitely going to practice this. It's a great technique for pointing high upwind.

I came home with a new River Rats tee-shirt and a smile. I really enjoy hanging out with them. I'm also impressed with the different type of teaching. I'm not a great teacher of physical skills, and I'm glad other people were in the water doing it. (Teaching literature is another story.)

Gorgeous Sail, but Little Excitement

2009-07-19T08:21:00.005-04:00

Somehow I always feel like I'm not coming up to some windsurfing standard when I'm out in low winds. It's like I hear that voice inside my head saying: “You must be planing! You must be planing!” Is there some sort of Twelve Step group where windsurfers come and admit things like:

“I sail in low winds!”
“I use old equipment!”
“My equipment is dirty!”
“I use a daggerboard, and I can't help it!”
“I've never been to Hatteras, or Maui, or even Corpus Christi! And I don't even care!”
“I use a big sail all the time!”

I feel better now. So I had a low-wind, late-afternoon sail yesterday. Ran into Dave Rogers and his wife Sarah out by Annsville on kayaks. That was nice. We floated and chatted for a while, then went our separate ways. Dave was avoiding his board because of runoff from recent storms.

I was nice tacking my longboard without the daggerboard down. It's much looser without it. I probably could have planed if I was on the 8.5, but I didn't want to lug that huge sail around.

Evenings can be gorgeous.

I didn't even want to stop sailing, but family responsibilities beckoned. This is what summer's all about.

Tide was pretty high here.

Did I mention the launch site is really close to the train?

Huguenot Park

2009-07-13T11:21:00.003-04:00

I was at Huguenot Park with the family on Monday. It's a lovely park, as long as you're into beaches with cars driving on them. I don't mind as long as it's limited, but my wife doesn't like it at all. We parked by the tidal lagoon along the southern edge which is apparently a local mecca for windsurfers..

This is the park and tidal lagoon at low tide. The lagoon is deeper at high tide. To access it, one drives along the southern edge of the land, right alongside the Saint Johns River. You can park on the beach. There is a naval base directly across the river. If you look at the bottom of the picture, you can see an aircraft carrier.

The tide was pretty high when we arrived. It prevented local windsurfer Vincent Barré from joining us, which was too bad. Winds were about 8 mph but variable, and there were several storms on the horizon. After doing some standup paddling with the Kona, I rigged 7.0: a conservative choice, but the storms on the horizon concerned me.

The sailing was a lot of fun. Did a bunch of beach starts. The water was pretty shallow. I was often in the middle of the lagoon and felt my daggerboard drag along the sand. By early afternoon some other windsurfers had joined us, including John Ingram (Hope I got the name right!), who is a Kona racer. It was the first time I was with another Kona sailor.

I loved sailing in salt water. I also liked sailing without booties or my PFD. I felt a little naked without them, but it was freeing. There were some other sailors. As we left I saw someone show up with an Exocet Cruiser on his roof. I wanted to chat with him about it, but we were all packed up and driving away.

We took a bunch of pictures with a film camera, we unfortunately left the digital at home, so I'll post those when the film is developed.

Adventure on the Saint Johns

2009-07-10T09:02:00.007-04:00

The weather down here in Jacksonville has been odd, to say the least. I know it rains a lot down here, but lately we've been getting storms 2-4 times a day! Often they come with the added bonus of thunder.

With that said, I sailed off of County Dock in what looked like excellent weather. I rigged my Retro 8.5 for the light winds. I had been told by my friend Vincent Barre that the winds pick up in the middle of the channel. This was true. After heading out about 1/3 of a mile, the winds picked up and got to about 8-10 mph by the middle of the channel: perfect winds for the 8.5.

It was a gorgeous sail just below the Buckman Bridge, about three miles. I was going on and off a plane as I got towards the other shore. I turned around near the opposite side and headed back.

About half way back it started drizzling and I noticed grey clouds to my west. I headed upwind to get to my launch site, but then looked south in the direction of the wind. What I thought were light grey clouds were a heavy, low rainstorm. I raced back as quickly as I could but the winds died down as the storm picked up. I was worried intensely about lightning but hadn't heard any thunder, yet. I decided not to tack to the launch site but instead headed for the closest land, which was the edge of some rich guy's property. I figured if I sat casually, clearly looking like an idiot windsurfer taking shelter from the weather, nobody would get upset if I were discovered. This was embarrassing but definitely better than sailing with a five meter lightning rod in a rainstorm. There was no thunder, but that was little comfort.

The rain lasted about ten minutes. I was I headed back to the launch point, which was easy because the wind had shifted to the east a bit. Once I got back I packed it in. The wind was good but I could see three rainstorms at various points on the compass. No sense pressing my luck.

Here's my route. The red section was when I was in the storm.

Jacksonville Waterspout

2009-07-07T19:39:00.003-04:00

On June 26th a waterspout appeared on the Saint Johns River. Check out the story here. My brother Max snapped some pictures of it on his mobile phone. They're pretty impressive.

Wow! Here's a good argument for camera phones. Sometimes the phone you use the most is the one you have with you.

High Wind Longboard Maniacs

2009-07-06T14:53:00.003-04:00

For all of you who think that longboards are only for low winds and beginners, I present this video. Keep your jaws from hitting your keyboards, please.

These are two sailors from Poland on Mistral One Designs. Wow! I want me a Mistral One Design.

Sailing on the Saint Johns

2009-07-05T18:22:00.008-04:00

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.)

Minimalist Rig

2009-07-03T20:10:00.005-04:00

I'm in Jacksonville Florida for about ten days. I brought my Kona with a minimal rig: two masts, two booms, a 5.3, a cammed 7.0 and an 8.5. Vincent Barre is threatening to take me out ocean sailing, something I haven't done yet. It scares me, but sometimes you get your best experiences from doing things that frighten you. I'm very comfortable in the waves with a boogie board or just body-surfing, but a windsurfer is a completely different animal.

The Kona One is supposed to be a fairly good ocean board, kind of keeping with the board's “jack-of-all-trades-master-of none” philosophy. I'll have a good story, I hope, out of all this. Even if my butt just gets kicked, that'll be a good story too.

Vincent Barre was one of the stars of my “Windy Rivers” article. He also lives quite close to my mother in Jacksonville. I'm sure, as an experienced windsurfer, he'll have lots of things to teach me.

I'll finish this post with a video of a young man named Daniel Ruskin doing freestyle on a Kona Board off Merrit Island, Florida. I hope some day to be this good.

New Online Adventure Magazine

2009-06-30T07:49:00.004-04:00

I've been subscribing to Wide World Magazine lately. This is an outdoor adventure magazine out of the UK. They have a pretty cool e-mail newsletter that I recommend. It doesn't have much windsurfing on it, but there's a good spread of outdoor activities.

Wide World Magazine did have one page on Windsurfing. They didn't say much new except to comment that it's not the best all-body exerise. It doesn't condition the lower body that well; it's better for the core and upper body.

Got to agree on that. All that uphauling (I'm so ashamed!) definitely exercises the core and lower back. The arms get a serious workout from holding the boom.

I got out a couple of days ago but the winds were lousy. (Does that mean the winds were covered in lice?) I spent the time mostly practicing jibes and tacks.

Since I'm still practicing some basic moves, I'm going to post this YouTube video of learning to windsurf. It comes originally from the Starboard website, but it has a good demonstration of the basic skills. Windsurfing isn't that hard if you start with good basic equipment: a wideboard of sufficient flotation with a daggerboard.

Oh, that reminds me. Speaking of wideboards: my Exocet Cruiser was lost in transit while being shipped to me. The-House customer service told me that this was only the second time this has ever happened. It will arrive too late for my Florida trip, so I'll have to have them send it when I return.

Yeah, I ordered that Exocet Cruiser The-House has been advertising like crazy. What can I tell you? It was was exactly the size board I wanted, and the price was right. I even bought the 6.5 rig too. Since my trusty 6.5 tore at Windfest, I wanted to replace it. It's also good to have a spare rig for teaching.

In Defense of Daggerboards

2009-06-27T07:10:00.005-04:00

The lowly windsurfer daggerboard: a device sure to attract scorn and derision. (Photo courtesy of James Douglas, who has an awesome windsurfing blog.)

I just got a new windsurfer, a slightly older model Exocet Cruiser, which I discussed in a previous post. The critical thing for me about that board was: 1) It was floaty but not too floaty, maybe 160 liters or less, and 2) it had a daggerboard.

What? A daggerboard? Are you some sort of newbie that you need a daggerboard? Real windsurfers don't use daggerboards! I've noticed that that's mostly true: experienced windsurfers eschew the daggerboard. It adds weight to the board and clutters up the deck, especially true on a shortboard.

But what about the advantages? On the Hudson it has a major advantage. The river is a place where the current + tide + wind direction can lead to some serious planning of excursions. What often happens is that windsurfers end up sailing back and forth in pretty much a straight line. You need to take care, especially when the wind is flukey, to not get blown away from the launch site, which can be pretty small. A daggerboard increases your flexibility in this situation. It gives you an extra 30º or so in either direction upwind, which can be an advantage when dodging rocks and moored sailboats.

A daggerboard also gives you more ride flexibility. (I sound like a car commercial.) My home launch site, Peekskill, is under a serious wind shadow when the winds are out of the south. I had a situation where I saw good winds maybe 150 yards away from the my launch site but I couldn't reach it in my daggerboardless Go board. The one time I ever had to get a tow home could have been avoided with a daggerboard.

Now I'm not arguing that every board should have a daggerboard, but I think the point should be made that it can be a handy board accessory, and not just for beginners or longboards. Wideboards can be especially annoying to sail upwind in low winds, especially when you're underpowered.

A daggerboard also turns a wideboard into a teaching board. If you think there are too many windsurfers crowding the beaches these days, you can argue this point.

Clearly there are a lot of boards which don't need daggerboards: high-wind boards, wave boards, freestyle boards, etc. The point I'm trying to make is that for a day-to-day short/wideboard, it's a great thing to have. And just because I sail with one doesn't mean I'm a newbie! It means I like a flexible board.

Rock Snot

2009-06-26T06:23:00.004-04:00

The New York Times is reporting the spread of a single-celled algae called Didymosphenia geminata or Rock snot. This invasive species most likely from New Zealand (where it is also an invasive species) has infected the Esopus Creek, a vital tributary of the Hudson River. The Esopus is also a major source of water for New York City as well as an awesome creek to tube and kayak. Here's a link to the EPA page on this species.

Man, these invasive species are difficult. The Hudson is already inundated with water chestnuts, which make a pod that looks like a caltrop and can pierce the thickest bootie. Now we've got this:

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.

Oh, so that's why they call it Rock Snot! (Photo courtesy of Popular Science.)

Wife is Now a Butternut!

2009-06-26T06:13:00.002-04:00

My wife recently completed the Butternut Challenge! She swam five hundred yards of the butterfly stroke. This officially makes her amazing. And an Amazon, but we all knew that.

Kiting on the Hudson

2009-06-22T06:25:00.003-04:00

I'm stuck grading final exams and finishing up grading all my students' final papers. Haven't had much time to get out, not even on Father's Day. Arrh!

Got a good video of people kiting on the Hudson at Croton Point Park. That's one of our regular sites, a place I've been to many times as a boy.

Yes, we windsurfers often ignore the kiters on the Hudson. There's a rivalry between the two sports, one I don't quite understand. (I've always been a lets-all-get-along type of person.) Personally, I've never been interested in kiting. It's a spectacular sport to watch, but it's not for me. I like the idea that windsurfing is piloting your own little sailboat. Kiting is also more dangerous than windsurfing. Windsurfers mostly die when they hit by drunk idiots in motorboats. Kiters have a few more hazards associated with the sport.

One of my Hudson River crew, Stoil Popow, died while kiting in Long Island Sound in January, 2004. The news saddened all of us. I have to say this put me off the sport permanently. After this happened I always wore a PFD. I'm also happy to stick with my big, stupid windsurfing board. It's not sexy, but it's so floaty it keeps me safe.

Hudson 400 Year Anniversary Sail

2009-06-14T19:08:00.011-04:00

Last weekend was a sail up the Hudson river celebrating Henry Hudson's discovery of the river, 400 years ago. A flotilla of tall ships sailed up the river. I took some pictures of them and made a slide-show.

Got a video of a fire boat cutting loose with its jets.: pretty spectacular.

A family outing isn't complete without photos of my lovely wife.

Lovely wife.

Lovely girls.

Gabriel and his buddy Ronin frolicking in the Hudson. Why doesn't the city clean this shore up and make it into a real beach? Gabriel's lucky he didn't cut his feet on broken glass.

Awesome Windsurfing Van

2009-06-13T21:58:00.003-04:00

I bought a Neil Pryde V8 7.0 off Steve, one of the upper Hudson River Rats. He had it stored in his windsurfing van, which was something to be seen to be believed.

From the side door. It has a special rack just for dry wetsuits. The rack for wet wetsuits is by the door, so they can drip into the gully by the base of the door.

Let's see, I count nine mast extensions on that door.

The right side of the van from the rear. I like the little plastic drawers for tools, screws, rope, knick-knacks and anything else a windsurfer might need.

Is that six boards in one car? I am green with envy. I'm lucky to get two on the roof of my CRV. I could say this is something to aspire to, but I can't even consider that. My vehicle has to be family transportation first, windsurfing transportation second.

Got A New Shortboard

2009-06-13T21:10:00.007-04:00

I finally replaced my Starboard Go, which I sold last fall, with an Exocet Cruiser 150. Yes, this is still a beginners' oriented board, but I really want a wide/short board with a daggerboard. That was the problem I had with that Go board. It sailed so nicely, except when I had to go upwind.

Exocet has three models of the Cruiser: the 100 liter KJ (Kids' Junior, I think), the 150 liter M, and the 205 liter L.

The House was having a sale on these models, so I snatched up an M. These are 2007 models, which is fine. There's a good package deal with a sail and rig, which I picked up too in a 6.5 size. You can never have too many sails, especially in those Hudson River workhorse sizes of 6-7 m.

The House has a neat video demonstrating the model. I like the midwestern accent of the demonstrator. Makes me think of Garrison Kieller.

I imagine my experienced friends will laugh at me for buying another wide-style, big board instead of a high-speed, small shortboard. The truth is that I need to practice shortboard skills so I can actually progress to one of these models with confidence. (I also have a couple of old shortboards in the garage, but I don't sail them. Yet) I think this will be fine. Actually 150 liters isn't much bigger than the boards lots of people sail, especially when the wind is 13-22. Plus, I still have the weed fin and board bag from the old board, so I'm pretty much set. Looking forwards to sailing this soon, maybe Father's Day weekend. I'll post pictures of the actual board when it arrives.

This will also make a nice training board when my brood gets old enough to sail. The question I have is: Is this a wideboard or does the inclusion of a dagger board make it a wide longboard? I tend to think the latter, but maybe some of you more experienced sailors can answer that.