Occasional Windsurfing on Long Island

Another fine day in October

2011-10-26T14:45:00.001-07:00

Yesterday West Meadow beach drew a small crowd of windsurfers and kitesurfers. Even Long Island's finest (Mike Burns and John Sassone) were seen spinning around there. There are now new fancy signs pointing to the beach in case one needs directions. The town has also replaced the booth at the parking lot entrance with a shiny new construction. Apparently, this wasn't a necessary makeover. I learnt someone ran into the old one with a car this summer...! Luckily no one was injured.

The day got better and better since I arrived in the early afternoon. No water sport fanatic was on sight and the wind seemed kind of light (for my bigger sail, 6.3) so I spent 5 good minutes pondering whether to rig or not. Then a strong gust convinced me the 6.3 would do. Eventually, the wind progressively went up and by 5 pm the freestylers were on 5.5-5.0 I guess. I don't have a lot of footage because the GOPRO mount on the boom tail got detached after the tail hit hard the sandy bottom (the tide was ultra low). The camera was saved by the safety line I added as a precautionary measure (the new gopro doesn't come with one). Too bad because the antifog was working like a charm. But I haven't missed much beside a couple of badly-closed duck jibes and perhaps the chance of capturing a few tricks Mike threw in front of me when I was sailing by. I'll just post a couple of still pics.

Yesterday it became apparent to me the importance of taking a break during a session -- a luxury I can rarely take--. Usually, I have such a limited time before it rains or it gets dark or the wind dies on me or I have to run back to work or somewhere else, I only think of rigging, getting in the water and sailing until I collapse. Admittedly, this isn't the best approach for improving my (limited) skills. On the contrary, yesterday I had the time to take a break, switch fin, and return to sail reinvigorated and with a clearer mind. This is crucial in order to be in control and to avoid repeating over and over the same stupid mistakes. One of mines is not doing a boom shaka with my front hand before flipping the sail. This encourages me to grab the mast with the other hand thereby slowing the flip to the point it takes me too long to sheet in. After the pause I focused on this issue and I was pleased to perform a couple of clean boom-to-boom transitions. I know it doesn't sound as exciting as landing a forward loop (which I'll perhaps attempt one day as my jumping skills improve) by in my mind closing the perfect jibe still marks the transition from an average windsurfer to a good one. And that's all occasional windsurfers aspire to, namely to become good occasional windsurfers (being occasionally good doesn't really help).

(boom-shaka and...)

(no boom-shaka. The difference seems small due to the perspective but sliding the front hand about a foot towards the mast greatly facilitates the flip allowing one to grab directly the other side of the boom with the back hand)

Back in action

2011-10-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

The past "Suck-tember" I spent no time on the water due to a combination of shitty weather, work chores, various projects to carry on, and having to swap car with a friend (Lexus IS250's are cool to drive but don't carry windsurfing equipment). The beginning of October has been pretty much the same until last Saturday. I thought West Meadow would be "da spot" for the conditions: WSW 30+ MPH.
But when I arrived at the beach, about 2PM, I was surprised to see only 2 windsurfers in the water. As usual the kiter population was predominant. I rigged a 5.0 but the wind was really holey and starting to fade. The tide was going out which made for some kind of wave riding and nice port-side jumps. I'm trying to get more air out of these. After 2 months of windsurfing and weight-lifting inactivity my upper body strength is down to nothing but I managed to have fun. I put together a few jumps in a video which shows little technical skills and it has the sole purpose (as this blog) to remind me of this great day in October. The true highlight was meeting a great windsurfer called Jeff. I really had a nice chat with him and he was kind enough to share a glass of Montepulciano with me after the action! See you soon at West Meadow, Jeff!

West Meadow in October from tonywind on Vimeo.

Bye bye Irene

2011-08-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

I never liked you. How can one like a one-eyed girl anyway? So Irene passed by and thankfully "only" as a trop storm. It took down lots of trees and with them the electric power. I heard it will take up to Friday to fix it up in Stony Brook?? I hear talking about rebuilding the infrastructures of the US as a way to create jobs and modernize the country. How about a new, smarter power grid? Anyhow, I have been following the storm on the radar and on the wind-meters linked on this webpage until early Sunday morning when the power went out. The wind picked up on the south shore first and the Moriches meter recorded a gust of 80 mph(!) from the E at about 5am. The North shore followed with lots of shacking and falling trees. It was also very clear from the radar that the mainland was to take the most of the rainfall as confirmed by the reports of catastrophic flooding in NJ, VT and parts of NY this morning. By 1pm things calmed out a bit then the wind switched to a very windsurfable WSW breeze. I thought some nut-job went windsurfing West Meadow beach by then. I even considered going to check the situation myself but decided to wait. I'm glad I did because (as expected) the wind turned into a brutal, super-gusty westerly, even worse than the one experienced the previous night. As a result this morning the road to WMB was flooded up to the Old Field Club. I read a windsurfer died yesterday afternoon in the South Bay near Shirley. I'm very familiar with the spot and I might have run in to the guy a few times. That's quite sad and a reminder that these storms are serious business.
Tuesday 8/30 update: LIPA restored the service this morning. Thanks for the hard work guys!!

Finally a solid, seasonal southwesterly

2011-08-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

If you ask a windsurfer what summer should look like, he'd tell you sunny weather, warm water and a nice beach sandblasted by 25+ mph winds. Although rare this year, (I was away the past two weeks so I perhaps missed something?) these conditions materialized yesterday concomitant with the passage of a frontal system. Even in the usually gusty and holey conditions of West Meadow beach I had a solid blast from 1 pm to 4pm on a 5.8. I had another session at WM last Thursday on a 6.3 so today I'm bit stiff. What a great day! But Nostalgia is kicking in because the summer is about to end and I hate rubber...

Dusting off the mast-cam

2011-07-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a nice SW breeze brought some relief to parts of the scorching island. A few locals savored the perfect summer conditions at West Meadow beach. As usual I joined later in the day when the wind picked up a few notches and 5.5 was probably the right size. It's easy to underestimate the wind speed at WM when it's blowing from the SW. The wind gets much stronger far from the shore. I dusted off the mast cam for the occasion and the raw video below mercilessly shows my less-than-perfect jibes, failed duck jibes and various other splashes....

Untitled from tonywind on Vimeo.

Miracle on a Sunday afternoon

2011-07-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful summer Sunday, not too hot. I'm working at home on a deck and the forecast said there won't be much wind. Nor there are such things as thermal winds at West Meadow. I think to myself "It's better this way 'cause at least I can avoid frustrations and focus on finishing this damn job". But in the early afternoon the trees start moving. As usually, I think "it's all in my head" but the breeze seems persistent. The Northport yacht club's meter confirms I'm not hallucinating after all (the meter is actually screaming by the summer standards)! No brainer! 15 mins later I'm at West Meadow. Still on big stuff but happily zipping through the water. But the "big sail complex" remains (I seem to sail bigger than anyone else). So I tried a few times to duck jibe the 7.5(*). I grabbed the other side of the boom but never close the jibe. Give me a few more of these "miracle Sundays" (and a new GoPro) and I'll prove I can do it...

(*) Old chinese proverb: "It's not to big if you can duck under it"

Is the summer going to suck?

2011-07-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

I have been planing only 4 times since end of May. Mostly big sail sizes. Last time was on Monday afternoon at West Meadow on a 111L/7.0 combo. Good time. I'm sure there is a little more wind on the South shore but I rather spend less time in the car (what's your carbon footprint?) and more in the water. It seems to me we have had no strong SWesterly associated with cold fronts so far....
Anyhow I've bought a paddle and I plan on doing some flat water SUP on the 135L board. Sounds crazy I know, we'll see how that goes.

Season kick off

2011-06-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 29th was my first day in the water this year. At least on the East coast. I did some SUP in Santa Barbara in March, I might blog about that one day if I ever have the time (I don't). Anyhow, gorgeous day a West Meadow beach on Sunday. I was the only windsurfer there (at least in the entire afternoon). I was on my biggest combo 135L/7.5 but who cares when you are flying on the water riding your fin and you haven't windsurfed in months? Plus it was sunny, the water was warm and the people friendly. Paradise! Further, being an environmentally-conscious person, I value having to drive only 1 mile to go windsurfing. If I could find one of those big bike trailers I would just bike there with my gear... In all instances, for an occasional windsurfer like me, is psychologically very important to be able to say "I started sailing in May!"

Rampalicious West Meadow

2010-09-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous day of windsurfing at West Meadow last Saturday. When I showed up at 2 pm the wind was in the 30's mph from WNW. A little too onshore for my taste but the tide was low and the ramps abundant, ranging from knee- to chest-high (and sometimes even more) waves. Plenty of kiters and windsurfers, too bad I didn't bring my camera. I sailed about 3h on a 5.5/92L. At the end the wind picked up a knotch and a 5 or 4.5 would have been more appropriate. More of the same on Sunday but the wind wasn't as strong and died in the afternoon.

Windsurfing Italy

2010-08-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

I'm on vacation in Southern Italy where thermals rule this time of the year. I managed to borrow a windsurfer which is a mix of vintage and new parts.

It's a fanatic falcon 120 liter board, (narrow and long old school slalom board) with a Severne freemove 7.0 rigged on a NP 430 carbon mast and an old, flimsy aluminum boom. Not too bad after all. When the thermal kicks in around noon (and for most of the afternoon) you can windsurf in crystal-clear, warm waters with a scenic background (specifically the city of Messina in Sicily).

I really reccommend anyone to visit not only because it's Italy(!) but also because wind- and kyte-surf are popular here. As a matter of fact, you can snap pics of windsurfers and kyteboarders as your plane is about to land (see below) and there are spots where it's windy everyday.

(the tiny traces are windsurfers)

(kiterboarders)

Shit happens

2010-08-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

We always think windsurfing as fun and often we forget the safety aspects related to our sport. This is even more the case for occasional windsurfers who don't spend too much time inspecting their "looks-fine-to-me" gear and want to rig as fast as possible to maximize their otherwise too short time on the water. Until something happens that reminds you to better be more careful.

To make a long story short, yesterday afternoon turned out to be windy on the South shore of Long Island. Much windier than forecasted. Maybe 30 mph from the SW. As I often do (being pessimist in terms of wind forecast) I grabbed my medium wind stuff. Plus the wind meter in Moriches was dead for the day and I had no clue what the wind was doing in the morning (did I mention I can't go home in the middle of the day so I need to decide from the morning what's the best choice of gear to take with me).

As I arrived at the beach at 3 pm I found it was blowing hard and I had a 6.3 and a 111L board when I should have had a 5.0 and a 90L board. What would you do at my place, go home? I kept saying to myself "Damn it! I knew it!" Then I opted for plan B which was to rig the 6.3 with as much out/downhaul I could apply and go out hoping the wind would drop a little. Which is what I did quite quickly. So fast that I forgot to check whether the plug on the top of the sail was fully inserted into the mast top. Actually, I thought the 6.3 had a cap not a plug at the top so "I could not go wrong". I have to say I'm used to check the top no matter what but there is always a day when you forget to do so and the consequences might be regrettable. So I put the hell of a lot of downhaul and went out. After a very short while, as I was saying to myself it was perhaps (uncomfortably) sailable with the 6.3, I heard a bang and instinctively looked up. What I saw was the mast sticking out of the sail top. Of course I didn't think "you haven't inserted the plug well" (human error), I thought "something must have failed at the top" because, after all, it's never our fault isn't it?
This wasn't a life threatening situation in any respect. I wasn't too far from shore (maybe 400 yards), there weren't big waves, the place is protected and there were people on the beach and a few windsurfers upwind from me. The worst scenario was a long swim pushing the gear to shore plus some walk back. However, the same could have happened to me in the Sound with over 30 knots of wind, bigger waves and a further away from shore. In that case there would be less to laugh about.

In any case, the first thing I thought was to try jibing and sail back with a floppy sail. Having a large board on which was easier to uphaul also helped. Of course I missed the jibe (I’m not a pro, it was also windy and the sail felt really unbalanced without tension) and ended up in the water. This messed up the sail even more. Forget about waterstarting. I tried uphauling but could not sheet in at first. The second attempt succeeded and I could sail most of the way back. I then fell again, can’t tell why. At this point the mast came out of the extension and it was a total mess. I opted for the short swim.
At shore I realized there was nothing broken, just the plug was not inserted all the way in the mast. It was simply pressing against it. With all that tension, as the mast flexed the top popped out. The entire mishap was caught on video and (although quite ridiculous) I decided to post it for the 2-3 people who read the blog and also as a perpetual lesson to myself about spending more time checking safety and less time swimming with my gear. A positive note was that I later re-rigged properly and the wind dropped and switched to the West and the 111L/6.3 was the perfect choice for some relaxed free-riding.

Shit happens from tonywind on Vimeo.

More bump & jump

2010-08-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we have experienced wind conditions similar to last Wednesday. The wind was just a little less strong and it dropped late in the evening. I went out around 6pm on the 92L/5.8 for more bump&jump, jibing, trying duck jibes and jibe 360's. It really helps to be spot on with the sail size to make good progress. I feel I have improved this year on the basic moves, I just need to be more consistent (the lack of wind in the summer doesn't help that) and refine the technique..... long way to go!

Shirley Bump & Jump

2010-07-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

This week we have finally got the amount of wind we deserve every day in the summer. The prob is I had to wait 3 weeks for that! So last Wednesday my eyes where on the wind meter in Moriches to figure out when the cold front would hit. This time the timing was perfect for late goers like me as the wind started to crank up at about 3pm. I hit the water at 6 pm. I had just got a (used) 5.8 NP alpha which seemed the right choice so I used that on the 92L board. By the sunset the wind had grown even stronger and 5.0 (or even smaller) was the call. As an occasional windsurfer, with only 2h available I never re-rig. But that's a bad habit I'm trying to correct. In these conditions Shirley offers sweet bump and jump conditions and I have tried to catch as much air as possible. Even if my jumping sucks (working on that) I put together this video to show the conditions. It's a little dark as I was sailing straight into the sunset but I hope it conveys the fun. Enjoy!

July28th bump&jump windsurfing from tonywind on Vimeo.

West Meadow like Napeague?

2010-07-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

I had not hit the water in a preposterous time period spanning 20 days(!). So yesterday afternoon after work I said to myself let's try catching the leftovers of the NW wind at West Meadow beach. No matter what, even if dies on me and I have to swim back. Actually, I was more optimist that than because in the afternoon around 4:30pm the wind still looked decent, perhaps enough for the 7.0/111L combo. And so I went.

It was ultra low tide so I had to walk a little to launch. As soon as I was up and going I realized the wind had dropped and was really not enough to get me on a plane. Even if I pumped the sail. There was an occasional "teasing" gust putting me on a plane and then dying. I sailed towards South past the long sand bar hoping the wind would get stronger down the harbor. But nope, no chance.

As I was getting more frustrated I realized that after all the reason I was there was to chill out and enjoy the Ocean (well the Sound, whatever). It still gave me the chance to practice low wind jibes and tacks. Then the wind Gods listened and turned up the breeze a few notches and I found myself planing in flat, knee-deep water for about 20 minutes. Too bad it didn't last but that made my evening!

July 4th with the thermals

2010-07-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

The thermals are back! Time to dust off my light wind stuff.
Around noon yesteday there wasn't a leaf moving on the North shore whereas a nice SW thermal was starting to kick in on the South shore. When I arrived at Shirley around 3pm I was pleased to see little whitecaps. Wooo hoooo!
I rigged my new (kind of, it's actually a prototype I bought cheap from Neil Pryde Maui) NP V6 on the Exocet speedslider 135 L.
What a great afternoon! Check the video below

July 4th light wind windsurfing from tonywind on Vimeo.

Who caught the wind last Monday?

2010-06-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well, we (Steve, James and I) did at Shirley. Another perfect, summery "lunch break" after a stagnant, windless and hot weekend. The best way to start the week. SW winds in the 25mph range. 5.9 was probably the best call but I was on a 6.3
I'm seriously thinking of getting a 5.9. The gap between my 5.5 and 6.3 is indeed too big...

(Catching a little air)

Supersession at Shirley Beach

2010-06-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday sunny skies and sustained WNW winds brought to Shirley Beach the largest group of windsurfers I have ever seen there. On top of the local sailors there where some more from the Patchogue-Bellport area who were dragged to Shirley by the wind direction. Even the King of the East, the mighty Mike Burns, was there spinning around. It's equally possible that there is a crowd constantly following Mike, who knows?

The wind was really "holey" and dropped later in the day but I still had fun on the 92L/5.5m2 combo. Perfectly powered at times, slogging at others. The setting was great though and it was nice to see the beach packed with gear (see pics).

(beach packed with gear)

(a windsurfer's dream: sandy beach on a warm, sunny and windy day)

(Da twist)

West Meadow with the SSW

2010-06-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

Another great day of summer windsurfing yesterday. A strong SSW breeze powered by an approaching cold front provided ultra-fun, worry-free sailing conditions. No sign of the thunderstorms and tornadoes NOAA had foretasted for the region which is truly surprising because the risk was indeed high. Just another reminder that the weather is still difficult to predict accurately.

These wind conditions are ideal for me because I can go windsurfing West Meadow beach, which is less than 5 minutes drive from my house. A total of 3 windsurfers and about 4 kiters were at the beach yesterday. I guess that most people go to Heckscher park when it blows from the SW. By the way, let's hope everyone will be blessed with the same conditions this weekend (well, actually a little less wind otherwise it will be a little boring for the formula guys;))). See you at the beach!

A taste of summer

2010-06-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

Temperatures in the upper seventies, blue skies and constant SW breeze made yesterday the best day for me to start the 2010 season. Yes, I admit that it took me a lot to get out of windsurfing hibernation this year but I have also being quite busy in the past few months.
After seeing on the radar a front of thunderstorms coming our way, I decided that the wisest option was a quick lunch session at Shirley. It turned out that the wind was stronger than I had anticipated/hoped (gusts up to 30 mph) and I ended up overpowered on the 111L/6.3m2 combo. If I had the choice (or a van) I would have rigged the 90L/5.5m2 even though a 5.7m2 was the call.
After blasting for 2 hours and being blown off the board a few times while jibing, I called it a day. I was pleased to find out that the water is already so warm in the South Bay, it makes the 3/2 wetsuit superfluous...perhaps a sign of the hurricane season to come? Hopefully we'll stay out of the path of dangerous storms.
After a quick de-rig & lunch staring at the whitecaps I was back to work just in time to avoid rain and thunders.
Hope Steve (who pulled in with his trailer around 2:40 pm when I was about to leave) had a little fun before the rain.
A savory taste of summer.

Snowboarding Austria

2010-03-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Quite a few trips for me this month. Let's start from the fist one to Germany/Austria. I had the chance to go snowboarding on the Austrian Alps near the lovely capital of Tirol, Innsbruck. I was happy to end a long period of inactivity lasting since Copper Mountain, Colorado 2007 (shame on me!). I was also proud to have tried the half pipe and have made it back in one piece. Next time I will push it a little harder (I really had to avoid the hospital this time around). The snow was good and abundant but the weather could have been better. One day the fog was so thick I could barely see the tip of the board. Awful! Below are few pics.

Houses in Innsbruck

City overlook

Little sanctuary by the slopes

Blog closed for "winter weather"

2009-12-20T14:54:00.000-08:00

This weekend snow storm has reminded me it's time to close the blog due to "unsuitable weather conditions". Well not completely closed, I'll still post something entertaining for my (2-3?) readers (especially those interested in winter sports). If you really want to read about winter windsurfing (and debate on the meaning of the word "crazy") you can always check Mighty Mike's blog.

Yesterday night some parts of the island got 25" of fresh powder. Completely wasted. Why LI is so damn flat???!!!

A short december session

2009-12-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

So, yeah, I haven't windsurfed at all in the past two months. The first month and a half because of my foot injury and the rest because of too much other stuff going on, specifically a lot of work to do. With the winter around the corner the chances to squeeze in a session were thinning every day. So last week, when the forecast called for strong SW winds and warm temps on Thursday, I decided that was my day.

As usual NOAA forecasted too much wind. By noon the wind had shifted from SW to WSW and dropped to about 20mph. In the morning I had grabbed my 90L board and the 6.3, 5.5 and 5.0 sails and that wasn't good news. I went to the usual place, Shirley beach on the South Bay. Not only the wind was dropping, the direction wasn't optimal either, too onshore. But at the end it didn't matter, I just wanted to get out there.

As the Peconic Puffin pointed out recently, this time of the year the water in the bay is definitely colder than the ocean. I could tell because I didn't wear gloves and my hands were freezing after I fell in the water a couple of times! The 4/3 mm wetsuit seemed to do the job though.
I tried the very popular boom-tail-mount with the gopro and it worked just great. Much better than my jibes. Boys I'm rusty! I edited a video and tried many times to upload it on youtube and directly on the blog website without success. Since I have no time for dealing with such s*** right now here are a few pics from the movie.

"Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash"

2009-11-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

That's the title of a recent article by Lindsey Hoshaw on the New York Times about the infamous Pacific garbage patch. I hope it will raise awareness amongst the masses for the problem of plastic debris in the oceans. If research will convincingly show that toxic chemicals in the debris enter the chain food and eventually end up in the human body, people will finally realize the magnitude of this ecological disaster. At that point, more strict rules and regulations concerning plastic production, recycling and disposal will be put in place. Global warming alike, this problem is planetary and it can be seriously faced only by defining and adopting international environmental treaties. Frankly, I don't think that asking people to drink less soda or recycle their shopping bags is going to change anything.

"Light bulbs, bottle caps, toothbrushes, Popsicle sticks and tiny pieces of plastic, each the size of a grain of rice, inhabit the Pacific garbage patch, an area of widely dispersed trash that doubles in size every decade and is now believed to be roughly twice the size of Texas." Photo and caption : Lindsey Hoshaw for The New York Times

What I have been doing lately

2009-11-07T10:50:00.001-08:00

What to do when your foot is busted and it's not able to support your body properly?
Well, you can certainly focus more on your work since superfluous outdoors activities such as running, biking and windsurfing are forbidden. However, if you are lucky enough to have to wear a removable cast, you can still practice a sport where gravity is virtually absent so that your feet don't have to support your weight (162 pounds in my case). I'm not talking about going into space or on board of those fancy NASA's parabolic flights even though I admit I'd like to try that.
I'm talking about swimming. I have been swimming regularly in the past month and it really feels good after a 2 X 1/2 mile session. Without a really serious training I shove almost a minute off my previous personal best on the 800 yards freestyle. And my goal is now to shave another minute off.
I also hope that all this upper-body exercise will be beneficial to my first windsurfing session after the injury. And I really want to score some good sessions before my 4/3 wetsuit becomes too thin for the season...

Three STS-114 astronauts give a simultaneous thumbs-up signal during an underwater training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston

Fracture of the base of the fifth metatarsal

2009-10-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

That's what happened to me in medical terms. It results from badly twisting your foot e.g. during running. Running on the streets is indeed dangerous, with a lot of debris and potholes you need to be careful where you put your feet and the one time you are distracted...bang, you have busted your foot. This accident will change my training habits for sure. It may take 6-8 weeks to recover and I have to wear a removable cast. It's a lot like wearing a ski or snowboard boot most of the time, you just never have the chance to make a downhill run.

These are the most immediate implications of this injury for me:
1) No more 5K run I have been training for in the past months.
2) No more windsurfing for 6-8 weeks which means no racing at the East Coast festival in about a week.

Good news are that I can swim. Anyhow, I'm focusing on recovering and hope to be able to jump on that board before the sea freezes. I don't have a drysuit and sitting on a chair is not the best way to end the season...

(that's what you get when you are not careful)

Out of commission

2009-09-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-05T20:23:00.000-07:00

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).

What a rip-off!

2009-08-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful, sunny and windy day today. Solid 5.5 to 6.0 conditions for most of the day until....I hit the water! As you see from the wind graph, about 30 mins after my board touches the water at about 4:30 pm the wind speed steadily declined to almost nothing. There was little for me to do since I left the bigger sails at home. I rigged the 5.5 thinking the wind would last until the sunset but I completely missed it this time. It turns out that I overestimated the wind strength going out and the 5.5 was too small, I only had a few planing runs and then intermittent planing and then schlogging. Lately I went from rigging too big to rigging too small. I think that my "slightly underpowered" experience is over. I ended up practicing my tacks and hoping for a miracle that never happened. I am sure everybody else had a great day on the water today.

(The best time to go windsurfing and get skunked today was the one I chose indicated on the graph by the black arrow)

The perfect summer session

2009-08-23T03:52:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was the epitome of the perfect summer day. Sunny, hot and windy! 5.5 to 6.0 was the call (look at the nice twist and little belly of my HSM superfreak 5.5) but going up and down at times. Two days a week like this and the summertime on LI would be perfect!! Nice to see all the people at the beach enjoying the fine weather. Up to 6 windsurfers at Shirley beach. The only negative note was that I damaged my board in a stupid fall. On the last run late in the day (when the wind was dying) I was schlogging when a gust caught me unprepared and I catapulted like an idiot. It really does not happen that often to me (as a matter of fact the nose of the carve was pristine) and when it does I try to let the mast fall a bit downwind to save the nose. This time it slammed right in the middle of the board and this is the end result:

The compression shock has caused a 4" crack near the rail. It doesn't look like there is a lot of water coming out of the crack but I will try to vacuum bag it and then l fix it with some epoxy filler. The carve '04 wood is a sweet board that reminds me of a woman a lot (I won't be more specific...): light, nice curves, lively and fast but very delicate and high maintenance. I'll be using the AHD 92L for a while. Is that cheating???

Finally some solid wind

2009-08-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

When the insanity of LI windsurfers was reaching alarming levels and some of us had even entered a state of delirium wishing hurricanes would hit the island, today another cold front brought us juicy 6.0 conditions. They said the front was weak but frankly I have seen weaker than this...
Anyhow we were blessed with beautiful sunny skies, temperatures in the eighties and complete absence of thunderstorms.

This post is about how useful a mast cam can be if you wish to improve your jibing. These shots were taken with my trusty Canon, not that GoPro toy.

the entry; ok that's easy but I should have moved my right hand further back

the carve; not too crappy

the mast moves to the outside; at this point my left foot should be out of the strap and about to step on the inside rail (it is not)

about to flip the sail but my left foot is still hanging on the center of the board and I haven't moved my right foot forward yet. What the heck!!!

I conclude that my slow footwork has screwed up this jibe. I have to move that foot earlier! Note that the footwork was slow but did not necessarily stall the board (a 111L). Fans of the "flip the sail first" like my compatriot Giampaolo claim that switching the foot first increases the chances to stall the board when you are learning to jibe on smaller boards. Hhmmm not so sure about that. "Giampa" likes provocations but I doubt he reads this blog.
In any case there is no chance to get planing exits without an efficient footwork. But practice (and a mast cam) makes perfect.

Thermal winds

2009-08-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

In his or her quick descent to insanity caused by lack of wind, the summertime LI windsurfer has only one hope: thermal winds. In between cold fronts when high pressure builds up and remains over the island for several days, the chance is that a SW breeze will blow from midday though early afternoon due to the temperature difference between the land and the ocean. These thermal winds are the only thing that can get our boards moving these days. This is more or less what happened yesterday in the South Bay.

As you see from the wind plot, the thermal builds up in the morning as the land warms up reaching about 15 mph by midday (gusts are more representative of what you get on the water). It's not a lot but it can get me on a plane with my largest sail/board combination pictured below:

It's an Exocet Speed Slider 135L with a big weed fin and a Goya FXR 8.0. I launched near Bellport in a spot I never checked before close to a few really cute summer houses right on the beach. There were at least other 2 windsurfers in the area one of whom lunched with me around 2:30 pm when the wind was weakening. He gave up after one hour I think while I stayed longer. Later the wind picked up and I could plane in the gusts. In these days you realize what it takes to be a Olympic class windsurfer....
I have to say summertime thermals are not as strong and consistent on LI as on other places (notably the Southern Mediterranean) where I used to sail. But that's what it is. The best one can do is getting the most out of it!

Missed it!

2009-08-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Very nice, "sail-able" day on the island today. Cloudy but relatively dry and a nice easterly breeze around 25 mph. Unfortunately I missed it (yeah, I do have a full time job) but I suspect the Puffin & Co. have scored a good session so let's wait for Mike's report from the East end....
In the meantime, let's close our eyes and imagine we could jibe like this:

(Bora Kozanaglu - PWA Alacati 2009)

Josh Angulo's insight into the Fuerteventura Slalom race

2009-08-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

I recently made a post about a spectacular slalom race which took place at the PWA event in Fuerteventura. In that post I have been wondering about any differences in the sail size used by the winner Antoine Albeau and Josh Angulo who finished second. Now Josh gives us some insight in to that race.

(Josh Angulo in Fuerteventura, image courtesy PWA-John Carter)

Q: Hi Josh and congratulation for your performances in Fuerteventura. The final when you were leading but later you were passed by Antoine (who eventually won) was spectacular! I was really curious whether Antoine was rigging a bigger sail than you. Can you tell us what size were you rigging versus Antoine and your special insight into that race? Again congratulations and good luck for the rest of the season.

A: Howzit Tonywind, Antoine and I were both on 5.5's and the wind was gusting over 40 kts. That was a pretty sick race. I had a good start and committed down the first leg, had the speed and took it into the 1st mark and remain in 1st up through the 3rd mark, after the 3rd mark Antoine passed me and to be honest it was soooo windy and gnarly sailing, that before the race I told myself just to sail my race, and part of sailing my race was just to survive and in surviving I got second behind arguably the best slalom sailor in the world at this moment. I also had another second , a third and a 1st in other finals that week, so it seems that things are coming together. Next event is Turkey, which is a completely different animal, but I'm thinking the 8.4 and my Magnum 83 are gonna be the key tools there and they are a sick combo.
Aloha,
Josh

So, the conclusion is that Josh proved to be extremely competitive not only in wave (were he's currently ranking 1st) but also in slalom. Antoine is simply a race machine capable of amazing speed especially in the most challenging conditions. Try holding a 5.5 on gusty over-40 knots winds! Undoubtedly the number 1..

A windy end of July

2009-07-31T23:26:00.000-07:00

The end of July has brought juicy 5.0-5.5 conditions to the Island. A rainy morning turned into a sunny afternoon with a strong SW breeze powered by an approaching cold front.
As usual a busy afternoon at work made me miss most of it. When I could finally hit the water it was about 4:30pm and the wind speed had reached 25-30mph. I brought the GoPro with me but with much improvisation, the mount being not very reliable. Again, the battery life was short (need to test it at home) and I missed some action messing with the start/stop button. For fun I put together this short video. Hope it is not too boring and you can appreciate the speed of the board. At the end I don't land the jump well and I'm still hooked which results in a catapult....oh well.
The water was rougher than it seems in the video because the wide angle lenses of the GoPro flatten the scene out a little. Also Steve, a constant presence at Shirley, makes a little appearance in the video. Enjoy!

Playing with the GoPro

2009-07-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

A cold front passed this evening over LI providing some good wind and therefore the chance to make my windsurfing less occasional. After work, I went checking the South Bay (Shirley) and the meters were accurate, the wind was pretty weak maybe 10-12 mph. But the front was approaching so I knew something was about to happen. The radar did not show isolated thunderstorms in the area so I decided to rig a 7.4 on the carve 111 (because I hate to schlog...) and just wait and hope to catch some wind before the sunset. I was surprised not to see Steve or James, perhaps the wind was so weak the entire afternoon, they gave up.
By 6:30 pm the wind started to pick up and by 7:00 I was clearly overpowered but still in control. At the end the wind did not exceed 20-25 mph, perhaps a bit more in the gusts.
The other reason I wanted to go out was the GoPro wide I just got. Unfortunately, the mast mount I built in a hurry was too close to the boom. In the little time I was out I just took pictures and here is the outcome. No radical action, but, believe me, for the wind-starved windsurfer on LI this time of the year, this is paradise.
In the picture above I'm happily planing. Here are a few more:

(A spin-out, look at the turbulence caused by the fin)

(carving a jibe)

The rechargeable NiMH batteries (1000mAh!) run out pretty quickly but I'm not sure whether they were fully charged. We'll see how much video I can shoot next time. I saw another windsurfer who launched upwind from me and later was reaching close enough that I could see he was rigging a North Sails with a sail number 7. You can identify yourself if you read this, fella!

Nice late afternoon session

2009-07-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

After more than a week I caught some nice SWesterly this afternoon after work at Shirley beach (check the Puffin's map). As usual I was too late (hit the water at 6pm). Well powered on a 7.4 and my carve 111L. Nothing epic but warm water and nice crowd. A guy was swimming along the beach and thought I would slice him in two. On the contrary I saw him well and stayed clear of him. I'm myself a swimmer and the first rule is respect the other people at the beach.
I met fellow windsurfers Steve and James who just arrived from Florida with his camper. No pic but here is what the sunset looked like at Shirley after another nice session on July 14th

Spectacular slalom action at Fuerteventura

2009-07-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

I like to follow the slalom race action of the PWA worldtour. What a spectacular display of technique from the pros..
Well, apparently the final of the Fuerteventura event was epic. A thousand words can't describe it better than a movie from PWA that (finally) showed an entire race almost from start to finish. You see Josh Angulo coming first at the mark followed by Kevin Pritchard. Kevin does a mistake right after or when closing the jibe (hard to tell) and ends up in the water! The race loses one the toughest competitors...KP said he was in tears after that error. Anyhow, the mythic Antoine Albeau starts chasing Angulo, he passes him and literally smokes him and Dunkerbeck too who was behind him. At the end Antoine pulls a gigantic leap out of nothing to celebrate the victory. Unfortunately, the jump was not caught on video. You can see only when Albeau lands it and the crowd goes wow-wow-wow in wonder. Here is a picture of the jump (courtesy of PWA).
What a race!! It would be nice to know which sail size Angulo, Albeau and Dunkerbeck were using respectively. I suspect Antoine was holding down (he is a powerhouse) a bigger sail than Angulo since he literally smoked him. Technique matters also but, come on, Angulo is fast too. Don't tell me the difference was in the board because that's bull$#@.
In any case, chapeau Antoine, you are the best.

Not a serious blog

2009-07-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

The question is: do we really need another blog about windsurfing on Long Island, NY? The answer is simple (at least to me): NO we don't!! There are already other windsurfers who make a great job (above all the Peconic Puffin) at describing the action on the east end of the island. Moreover, I frankly don't have the time nor the dedication to blog about the great sessions I missed because I had to work or the cold front passed above my head overnight....
So I will use this space as a dumpster of occasional thoughts (often not politically correct), pics and videos of my (rare) windsurfing activities. Also, it is really nice to have my favorite links organized in one page! But feel free to post a comment if you want to.