Sunday, October 19, 2008

MAYFLOWER BEACH, windsurfed, NE 17-37, Sergey, Gerry, others, 3.5/RW 85.

The Playground at Mayflower

Mayflower was nice! In NE wind you sail almost straight out into the waves, then on the outside the wave angle changes to be more with the wind. The waves were getting pretty big in places (head high?) but they were floppy so they didn't pose any threat, great for jumps. Sergey gave me encouragement and tips on my loops. It really helps to have someone say, "the conditions are perfect, just go out to the first whitewater and do one!" I didn't do one but my attempts felt really good. I was rotating all the way around but my feet came out of the straps right at the end. Sergey's observations about how my attempts looked (cheese roll, too far back on the board) also helped a lot. If I could get good conditions for a few weekends in a row I might have a chance of sailing away from one.

Gerry was there too, but seemed a little underpowered on his 4.2 to start. I was a little underpowered on my 3.5 for about the last hour or so but Sergey said his 3.5 was perfect all day so maybe it was just the current getting me.

Scott tried Revere Beach, which we thought would be good in NE, but he reported that it was super gusty and had frustrating shorebreak and shallows alternating, making it hard to get going.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve, check out my report from last Sunday at the cut.

http://www.masskiting.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=221:1018-101908-gale-fest&catid=1:welcome-to-the-session-reports&Itemid=158

scooper said...

Great report! Looking at the pics, I almost feel like I was there. SE wind could be nice at the cut this weekend if it happens.

Anonymous said...

Be careful... Kirk has a close call last Sunday!

I've only been in sizable waves a few times, but those on the outside at the Chatham light yesterday were sick! Great to ride with everyone out there. Unfortunately, I got tumbled by the lip of a wave and dropped my kite in the zone and it split LE back. T was heading by just when it happened so I handed off my board and he ran it back to shore dodging the waves. The waves were hammering me on the head and nailing the kite so things got twisted up pretty quickly. I couldn't get the sail in to me safely and it was pulling away from shore so I reluctantly released it.

This left me in the swift rip current heading south. I expected the current to be strong, but it surprised me and quickly swept me away from where anyone else was riding. T came back out to drag me to shore, but due to amount of distance I had covered, his search area was way upwind/up-current of where I was. With the wave height, it was pretty much impossible to see a person (or even the kite) past a few hundred yards. Luckily, with a shorty under the drysuit and mitts on I was pretty comfortable and I slowly worked my way back to shore. This took about 30 minutes and I figure that I was a little over 2 miles down from the lighthouse when I was able to scramble ashore. This might be the first time I was glad to do the walk of shame back to the parking lot! Thanks to those who went out again to look for me -- T and a couple of folks on windsurfers (was it PK and?). I notified the CG last night that if they get a report of an errant kite that there isn't a kiter still out there too.

With the wind blowing NE, my guess is that the kite blew across Monomoy (perhaps getting caught up there) or hightailed it to Nantucket. If anyone hears about a slightly mangled blue 2008 10m Vegas coming ashore, please give me a shout.

It was pretty intense, but I tried to just chill out, conserve energy, and swam slowly to back in. When I finally made it near shore, I was happy to still have some energy left because I really got worked by the shore break!

Anyway, I wasn't totally alone out there - there were about 8000 seals popping there heads up all over the place. I couldn't help but think about whitey during that swim and whether or not the "yum yum yellow" half of my dry suit really would attract unneeded attention...

Anonymous said...

Check out my latest video

http://www.masskiting.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=225:10-25-08-newport-second-beach&catid=1:welcome-to-the-session-reports&Itemid=158

PeconicPuffin said...

I was just looking at the photo of your Acid in the snow...it's going to be that season soon! We had a tiny bit of snow (what felt like ice needles) at a recent session on Long Island.

I'm up for a few more southerly blows before snow season sets in!

scooper said...

Jean- Excellent video! Thanks for sending the link. I like the music you used in the video too.

The Puff- Something changed in my chemistry last winter. I used to get a little depressed when the summer season came to a close but last winter I had some of my best windsurfing days ever. I'm not looking forward to cold hands but I am definately looking forward to those crisp, clear, wildly windy days. I just hope it stays warm enough to sail thru most of the winter, like it did last year.

PeconicPuffin said...

Sir Scoop,

I'm right there with you. Cold hands mean we take breaks, but like you said the conditions are so good! Before I became a cold weather sailor my high wind gear didn't get a lot of use. In the last two years I've put as many "miles" on that stuff as I had in the previous ten!