Sunday, September 13, 2009

AMC, Petra Kanz, and the Lighthouse Inn


The forecast for this weekend's AMC trip was bad. The trip was good. The clinic went well despite mostly rainy, mostly non-planing conditions, thanks to Petra's enthusiasm. This is the most important lesson from a windsurfing instructor- we're windsurfers. We make the most of what we get.

Ben had a spontaneous urge to back flip

It was a fun group. There were some new faces, some old faces, and some very old faces, (even older than mine), but most faces looked pretty happy. I think everyone had a good time.

West Dennis in E wind- On the rainy Friday evening, I got down early enough to have almost 2 hours of windsurfing, practicing my very weak port tack jumps, in strong E winds before dark. The wind seemed almost dead side shore but there was a very noticable wind shadow near the beach, and the meter read low by about 5 MPH.
West Dennis, Windsurfed, 15-28, E, 5.7/ RW 85, solo

Who kites during a windsurfing clinic? Traitors. On Saturday mid day, I did a downwinder from the Lighthouse Inn to chair 9, using Petra's board. Petra gave me a ride back to the Inn. It helps when the windsurfing instructor is also a kitesurfing instructor.
West Dennis, Kitesurfed, 12-17, ESE, 12 M kite, Petra's board, Peter

Barbara gets on a plane in light winds with the help of a 10 HP motor

Wakeboarding with only a 10 horsepower motor- Barbara & Ben came down on Saturday evening. On Sunday Ben trainer kited. The wind was pretty light. It was a good time to pull out a motor. Ben and I got planing on the Real Wind 85 liter board behind the boat. The trick for getting up was to do it when the boat was moving pretty slowly. Once up and cruising, it was stable enough to cross the wake side to side and play around. We got Petra up on the RW 85 board. This inspired Ben to get up on the kiteboard, with a little starting help from Petra. I tried to get up on the kiteboard but the boat didn't have the juice to pull me onto a plane. Petra got up. Barbara took some turns blasting the boat out to the rock island and driving for my wakeboard attempts.

It was another classic, rainy, make-the-best, AMC West Dennis weekend trip.

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