A short session in small closeout waves, rain, fading light. I guess I was pretty hard up for some excitement. It was still a good workout.
| I know of 2 guys that were planning on sailing today in the subfreezing temperatures. It was 20 degrees this morning when I was driving up to Josh's school in New Hampshire for parents weekend. There was frost along the side of the road, most of the small ponds were skimmed over with ice and there was a dusting of snow on the access road to the school. This is a hint of things to come. During the drive north, my mind was wandering back to last weekends sailing adventure at Deep Hole. Here's one more look.
Personal highlight from last Sunday- I was doing a sloppy cutback at the top of a wave. I turned sharp, to head straight down, and I found myself looking at someone bottom turning below me, a little out in front on the same wave. Oh, ***! Where did you come from? I cut to the left to avoid a train wreck but I felt a little stupid for not knowing that he was there. This was a first. I've never had to look behind me before, to see if someone is sharing a wave with me going down the line. This is little ol' New England. Most of the time the waves aren't big enough for more than 1 turn anyway. I can enjoy the memory now, on this cold non-sailing weekend, especially since we didn't collide. Is it too much to ask for another day like that soon? Probably. |
O.K. I did an estimate this morning, pitched to Ben a little, and caught the tail end of a fantastic day at Deep Hole. Got on the water 2 days in a row! I'm feeding my inner beach bum. Deep Hole Delivery- Big waves, sideshore wind, relatively warm water & air, nice group of sailors on the water, and the sun even peaked out from behind the clouds to illuminate the lines of spray blowing off the tops of the waves. This was one of my best days at Deep Hole! The wind was crazy up and down sometimes, light on the inside, howling outside, but I'm not complaining. I think it was when the wind had a little more north in it that it got really crazy. I guess WNW for Deep Hole is like catnip for a cat. Even a little makes it wild.  Got pounded- I was happy to find that the waves weren't too punishing even though they were about head to logo high. When the wind was really light on the inside, some sets would catch 2 or 3 guys heading out and just mow them down, it happened to me plenty, but I didn't see a yard sale of broken gear in the parking lot. Towards the end, when I was on my 4.2, the wind was steadier, (a little more WSW), and there was plenty of it. Getting out was easy. The waves during my mast breakage last March were probably about this size but pitching heavier and with less breaks in between the sets. Today's version was just right. Hard to watch- I only stopped to watch and take pictures for about 10 minutes because it wasn't a day to squander. I could have spent hours taking photos. There was an impressive level of sailing happening. I saw some great freestyle right in the waves, care of Chris, Sergey, and Davide, a massive forward loop from somebody, and some of the smoothest waveriding I've seen. It didn't look like your typical day in little ol' New England. |
I did a little kite training, a little slogging on the windsurfer, and a little planing on big windsurfing gear off and on. Another gale warning goes bust. When the wind jumped to 30, I believed what the forecasters had said, that it was going to stay up once it filled in. So I rigged a smaller sail and then slogged on that. There was a pretty big group at Kalmus brought out by the great forecast for a very warm, very windy day that turned out to be mostly a mirage.
I wouldn't mind it that much, except that tomorrow is shaping up to be one of the best days of the year at Deep Hole and I picked today to sail based on the fantastic forecast for today.
It was a great day! I know that I'll feel like I'm still moving when I'm lying in bed tonight. I'll have the feeling of lift that you get when you ride up over a wave. I can feel it now sitting in this chair.
Windsurfing or the farm; I had to choose. Go windsurfing at Deep Hole; bright and sunny, warm, rare sideshore wave riding, very windy. Or visit Roy's farm, see Josh's new room and maybe help him set it up. I wanted to do both.
So I visited the farm on Saturday evening, sailed on Sunday, AND I visited my mother in Connecticut after sailing. Thanks for the delicious, hearty dinner mom!
But I felt a little uncomfortable when I was driving to the beach, a little self indulgent. I was thinking about how Roy said he works all weekend, every weekend on the farm, milling his own lumber to make planks for the new barn, cutting wood for heating, tending to the animals, fixing, building, improving. That's real work. It makes sense.
Windsurfing? It satisfies my thirst for adventure and play but maybe we're supposed to outgrow these things. Maybe I'm stuck in a second childhood that came immediately after the first. I'm sure that I would be a better person if I could focus all of my energy on work and family and stop letting myself get distracted by wind and ocean waves. On the other hand, maybe I think too much.
Deep Hole- The waves were best just down wind of the point where they wrap around a little to be straight sideshore in WSW. It's very rare that I get to practise going down the line in sideshore wind. What a kick! I felt like my sloppy bottom turns and cutbacks were improving during the day. 2 things- I have to get my weight more forward on the board to keep my speed up on the bottom turn, timing and reading the wave is critical. There was a wave contest that I wanted to see, The Matunuck Wave Classic, but it turned out that it was held at a private residence about 1/2 mile upwind of Deep Hole.
Picture- unknown sailor at Deep Hole, small waves but fun and easy.
Here's a new video from Chris and the Freestyle Kings, (and queen). I'm hoping that watching it a few times will embed the loop images in my subconscious brain.
Summer 2008 Freestyle from Chris Eldridge on Vimeo.
Even a honkytonk beach like Nantasket looks beautiful just after sunrise, with lines of whitewater stretched against a pale blue early morning sky. After the wind deserted me, I used the Carve 123 to surf a few floppy waves, mostly just whitewater rides. Then I had lunch and headed home. The conditions weren't great but I was just happy to be there. The air temp was about 40 to start although it didn't feel that cold to me in my winter regalia.
We got a new computer last week and we still don't have all the kinks worked out,(I.E. photos).
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