Out of commission

I was really looking forward to this week. Wind and warm temperatures, a nice combination to savor while the cold winter is approaching.
Unfortunately, I badly injured my left foot running and be out of commission for a while.
I'm just looking at the meters: SSW 23mph and temperature in the mid seventies....
I just have one thing to say (yelling): NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Two interesting interviews

I'm back from vacation to find a substantially windless LI. From what I have read on the other blogs I have missed some good action! Too bad but I had a good vacation anyhow. While I wait for wind, I thought to share two interesting interviews I recently came across. One is with Mr. Neil Pryde who tells about past and future of windsurfing and his company. Perhaps not everybody knows that Neil Pryde is a real individual. Here, he gives some some interesting insights, for example I did not know he was the owner of the snowboarding bindings brand FLOW (incidentally my favorite brand) and that NP is planning to make.....BIKES????
The other interview is from John Carter, the official PWA photographer, on how he got involved in the business. It's less romantic than what I thought!! Also, I must love his radio-controlled shutter!



The interview with JC can be found in the Starboard corner

Nice NE flow!

We've got some wind this weekend! It seems that expressing discontent about the sucking, windless weather of the week has helped (whereas nothing happens when the Peconic Puffin prays, calls for hurricanes, or even embraces the Buddhist faith for the sake of wind...). I should do that more ofter.

In any case this morning the meters were showing a decent NE wind but quite gusty (up to 25 mph). I decided to head to Cedar Beach, near Mount Sinai harbor, since my first choice, West Meadow beach, was not good with a NE breeze.

When I arrived there a 6.5 seemed the best option but since I don't own this size, I rigged a 6.3 instead hoping that the wind would strengthen a bit. But unfortunately the wind was too "patchy". Later it picked up a bit more and I was really going! I haven't been sailing Cedar Beach in a long time but today I really appreciated how nice of a spot it is. The beach is quite long, there are no weeds (like at Heckscher and anywhere else in the South Bay) and the wind swell is quite big. In some spots there where almost head-high waves! As a matter of fact the LI Sound really goes off in the winter when it blows 40+ knots from the North.
I was quite disappointed to see no other windsurfer there (Mike Burns, where were you?) until about 1:30 pm when I called it a day. Only me and a kiter.

Board repaired but no wind

Quite disappointing week for sailing on LI. We've got the perfect weather for any outdoor activity (running, biking, touring) but not windsurfing. Actually, last Monday seemed "sailable" but not if you have a FTJ (that's not a f**king terrible job but a full time job).
So when it's windless and you have a bit of free time you fix up the disasters caused by your bad sailing. Like this one:



The leftover of a dull catapult on the nose of the carve 111.

And here is the easy fix: epoxy filled, sanded, a touch of paint to try matching the color of the board


No, I'm not a student of the Board Lady, it's just the magic of photography that makes it looks pretty good (now you understand why Hollywood stars look the way they look).