Duxbury, Windsurfed, NNE, NE, 10-18, Solo, 6.8/Carve 123

Light winds in the salt meadows; Sunny, low forties. The wind dropped off just before I got there. I planed occasionally. It was still nice though. It was serene sailing through the salt marsh north of the bridge, just me and the seagulls. A few times I got up on plane just downwind of a grass island, in super flat water, and noticed that the board makes a different sound when it’s skimming across many tiny ripples instead of chop, a rat-a-tat kind of sound. The high tide was almost covering some of the grass islands so they weren’t blocking the wind very much. I parked on the beach side. When the wind went NE it was a little offshore. I had to work my way upwind for a few runs to get back at the end. I was out for about 2 hours, stopping on the islands occasionally to warm my hands.
Portable Breast; I used my camelback/ safety kit for the first time- with water, line and tool, no cell phone or strobe. I noticed, as I was drinking from the camelback, that the mouthpiece works like a perfect, artificial nipple. I wonder if its inventor was thinking portable breast. At least you don’t have to do anything to make the water let down.

Pleasure Bay Windsurfed E 12-18 Solo 6.8/Carve 123

Night sailing; I sailed from 5:30 to a little after 7:30. It was pretty dark with a light drizzle by 7:30. I wanted to test Oliver’s claim that the lights from Boston and from streetlights ringing pleasure Bay make it possible to sail at night. It’s true. It was fun, even in the dying winds, to sail across the black water with the reflections of the silver lights flickering across the surface. I derigged under a streetlight. This is the perfect place for late day/ evening sailing.
Weather & sailing; Air temp mid-forties. The wind was more steady than I expected but it was mostly a little on the light side, dropping off more by the end. I planed about half the time in the beginning.
Palm Harness; I tried the palm harnesses in the light winds at the end. They were much easier to use then I expected. I’m just not sure how much forearm fatigue they will relieve.

Ninigret, Windsurfed, WSW, 5-25, 2 others, 5.2/Acid 94

Busted on the Way to the beach; Hey, this was a first. I was stopped by a state police on the way to Ninigret, not for speeding, but because my license plate was covered with snow from a big storm we had on Friday! I’m glad I wasn’t arrested.
Weather & Sailing; 40 degree air temp according to the truck thermometer. The National Weather Service had the temp at 36 to 38. I was switching off between mittens and gloves. My hands got cold a few times but it worked out pretty well. Otherwise I dressed the same as last weekend. My body temp was fine! The wind was very up and down. I only planed about half of the time. One of the other guys there was pulling forward loops off of the flat water!

Claflin Landing/ the Cut, Windsurfed, S, 13-20, Solo, 6.2/Carve 123

Picture; Kalmus with Ice Pack

Iced In; All the beaches I drove to at first were either iced in or had no wind. Kalmus and Harding’s were completely iced in. There was 1 seal sunning itself on the ice at Kalmus. Somebody on the beach thought that it was hurt. There were several on the ice at Harding’s. I think they were just enjoying the sunny day. The ice at Harding’s extended up to Cockle Cove. Forrest was clear but had no wind. The Cut had good wind, side offshore, but no one was out there so I went to Claflin Landing. Gerry said later that Duxbury was iced in too.
Weather; 47 air temp, water low to mid thirties. I dressed really warm! I wore a long sleeve shirt between my fleece and long underwear top. I used my O’Neill booties with sealskin socks and duct taped my booties to my drysuit, mittens instead of gloves. I had some difficulty holding on during the lulls but my hands were hot! I was completely warm, even when I fell in. Next time I should take a back pack with my gloves so I can switch off. A safety kit would be nice too.
Sailing with the seals; The south wind was fun at Claflin Landing. It was side shore to just a tiny bit side offshore. I sailed between 2 sandbars in the channel. The fin could just clear the sandbars. It was near dead low tide with the tide, (and wind) rushing in. When the wind was gusting I had no trouble staying upwind on the Carve with its big pointer fin. In the lulls I would be downwind in a minute. When I was out there I saw some kiters up at the Cut. I worked my way up by sailing upwind in the wide part of the harbor and then walking the board up along the inside of Nauset Beach where the harbor gets narrow. When I walked my board around the point of Nauset Beach the incoming current was so strong that I could barely walk against it. I sailed for a short time from the tip of Nauset beach out to where the line of breakers would be if the waves were up. There were some very small waves there. On the outside the current wasn’t an issue. I was sailing straight into it on the way out and with it back in. There were lots of seals around. At one time, inside the harbor, I counted about 50 all floating around me at a distance, watching me. They made me feel like I was being watched.
Tide at the Cut; The tide seems to run about 1 to 1 ½ hours later than the IWindsurf tide chart for Chatham. The chart at Jerry’s World seems accurate.

3/3, 3/4, Sunday River, Skiied, Barb, Josh, Ben, Al, Lee, Anna

Over 1 foot of new snow fell on Friday and Friday night with flurries off and on over the weekend. The skiing was great! Al took us all over the mountain.

2/17 to 2/24, Vail, Skiied, Barb, Josh, Ben, Ruth

Powder = Windsurfing; The highlight of the trip was 6” of light and fluffy snow that fell overnight mid-week. The next day was sunny and beautiful in the back bowls! I felt like I could ski almost anything on the mountain with ease. I decided that a powder day skiing is almost as good as a day of windsurfing. Ruth, at 83, was an inspiration. She took it easy and stopped early on some days but skied fine. Whenever I feel like I’m getting too old for these demanding sports or that my best days are behind me I remind myself that she is 37 years older than me and she hasn’t given up her passion for skiing yet. I should still have a few good days left. Josh and Ben loved the ski school, as usual. Ben was level 8 ½, Josh was level 9. They were both popping 180’s off of little jumps in the terrain park by the end. Josh is carving high speed turns better than the rest of us. Barbara’s knees were bothering her but her skiing looked as graceful and beautiful as always. Next year bring a humidifier.

Waterville Valley, Skiied, Barb, Josh, Ben

Drive; 2 hours, both directions.
Skiing; No long lift lines. Waterville seemed pretty similar to Loon in terms of size. There was some pretty good snow in places, some slick stuff too. Josh said that he didn’t like the terrain park because the jumps were mostly too big or too little. Ben had a great time. He loved the little jumps.

Loon, Skiied, Josh

Drive; 2 hours going up. Some traffic going back.
Skiing & Jumping; It was super bowl Sunday so the lift lines were short except for the gondola. Loon is at least twice the size of Sunapee. It had plenty of variety to keep us going for the day. There was lots of terrain park stuff including some big jumps. I loved the mini-half pipe. On the big jumps, Josh only cleared the flats to the sloped landing a few times.

Sunapee, Skiied, Josh, Kyle

Weather & Drive; 1 ¾ hours. 1 degree temp at the base in the morning. I was cold most of the day- underdressed.
Skiing; The snow was pretty good, although all man-made. It got slicker near the end of the day. No long lift lines. Sunapee was pretty small but the little terrain park, with small to medium jumps, kept everyone from getting bored.

Kalmus, Windsurfed, SW, 22-32, 28-38?, Oliver, 5.2,4.2/Acid 94

Weather etc; Air temp around upper 40’s or 50. My hands were cold with glacier gloves. I switched to O’Neill mittens for about 1 hour. They were toasty but very tiring for my forearms. I switched back to gloves at the end and it felt great to grip the boom again. Switching back and forth may be the best for a cold day.
Wave practice; It was low tide. The little wind waves were breaking in a line on the sand bar. I did a lot of wave sailing practice in those chop waves, turning downwind in both directions. I could easily turn straight downwind, did it over and over, but it was hard to go through the wind to clew first. I was a little overpowered at times with a well downhauled 4.2 but it was fun since I didn’t have much time to sail anyway, (2 hours). Oliver, from the IWindsurf forum, was the only other sailor there. I would have been happier on the Realwind 85, when it picked up, but it is still being repaired. IWindsurf recorded pretty high winds. I’m not sure it was really that strong.

Deep Hole, Windsurfed, SW/WSW/W, 12-22, Gerry & Locals, 6.2/Acid 94

Fog & Waves; I had some trouble getting out past the waves at first, with the southwest wind (side onshore), pretty big waves at high tide, dense fog, and wind that was a little light in the waves. It was better after about an hour, more wind and slight shift to WSW, and then got worse at the end, west wind but lighter. It wasn’t a very good site for sailing in heavy fog. I kept worrying that I was coming back too far upwind, in the rocks, or too far downwind, completely below the point. On the way in, the first thing that would come out of the fog was the line of whitewater from the waves, and then I would see the houses on the beach and I would know where I was. On a couple of runs, I couldn’t even make out the houses on the shore until I was just about through the waves and into the shallows. A few other sailors, including Gerry, gave it a try but no one did more than a run or two because they were underpowered on 6.2. or 6.5. One local, Jason, took one run out (on a 5.2 with 90 liters) and then we didn’t see him for a long time. He ended up at East Matunuck. He got a ride back from one of his buddies who was hanging out at Deep Hole, in the parking lot crew. I felt bad that Gerry was trying Deep Hole for the first time in such tough conditions. He couldn’t even see where the point ended through the fog. I was impressed that he even took one run, with the fog and light wind in the afternoon.

Weather etc; Air temp low 50’s, water temp mid 50’s, heavy fog and mist all day. The water temp is running about 10 degrees above average for January. It was almost 70 and sunny in Newton but foggy and cooler on the entire coast except pleasure bay. I used my O’Neill booties with the Sealskin socks. My feet, and everything else, were plenty warm. I sailed from 10-2:30 but took lots of rest time. I saw a few surfers go out in the morning although I couldn’t see them on the water through the fog. They were a little upwind of the launch.

Deep Hole & Roger Wheeler State Park, Windsurfed, W,NW 5-32, 6.2,5.2,4.2/ Acid94, others

The best and worst of windsurfing in one day. The morning had just about perfect down the line conditions! I’ve never sailed in conditions like that. There was a nice left over south swell from the previous day’s strong south/southeast wind, (they were only listed as 2 to 3 ft but they were clean, well formed), moderate west wind, high tide,(dead high tide is great at Deep Hole- use the Ninigret tide chart on IWindsurf). The waves were in sets so it was easy to get out, by just waiting for a break, and the water outside wasn’t that choppy since it was 5.2 to 6.2 conditions- high teens/low 20’s mph. I was on the Acid94 with the 5.2 with just enough power. There actually seemed to be more power right in the waves, especially going down the line. I only got a few runs in before it switched to NW but I went completely down the line for the first time, feet in the straps. It seemed almost easy in these conditions!

Broken Board; There was a very good wave sailor there who was doing great bottom turns, cutbacks etc. He asked to borrow a bigger board just as I was going out. I let him use the RW 85, and we had a few nice runs together in the waves with the perfect conditions. I went back up to the launch to adjust harness lines just as he was walking out of the water with a broken board- the RW85. The nose of the board was smashed! He swore that he didn’t land on it, that it just got crunched by a big, heavy wave, and that the wave actually smashed the nose. He was very apologetic and offered to pay for it. My new beautiful board! I think I was in shock and denial. So I went back out sailing.

Nasty wind; After the nose smashing incident, the wind had shifted to WNW. It was really bad, offshore, light gusty, shifty wind. It seemed to fit my mood. I rigged a 6.2 but it just got lighter and shifted to NW sometimes, making it very hard just to get back to the launch. I had to uphaul and hold the sail up for as long as I could in the extreme lulls, then drop the sail, rest and uphaul again. I finally got back to the beach. After a few minutes of resting, the wind picked up a lot but with the offshore wind it was probably blowing from about 5 to 35. I went out and had a hard time getting back again but this time I was way over powered whenever I got a little offshore. I finally packed up and went over to Roger Wheeler for about ½ hour of very nice sailing on the 4.2 before it died again. What a crazy day!

Weather; I used the new O’Neill 7mm booties but my feet were still a little cold. My hands were also cold at times with my new glacier gloves. It was around 50 F. temp, sunny.

Picture; Dwight Lecomte at Deep Hole 12/24

Deep Hole, Windsurfed, WSW 18-32, 5.2,4.2/ RWind85, others

Deep Hole, 12/17/06, unknown sailor

The Third great day in December! Temp was between 51-54, sunny, I was toasty. I used my glacier gloves, a Hot Chillies layer under my drysuit fleece, new O’Neill bootie liners with the Pro-Limit booties , helmet liner. I put the new bootie liners under my drysuit (they’re higher than the NRS bootie liners), booties went over drysuit, and my feet only got a little cold in the morning, then they were warm for the rest of day.

Long day; I sailed from 10-3. I was solo for the first hour and the last ½ hour. There were 4 or 5 sailors and 2 or 3 kiters. It seemed like they started late and left early. The conditions were fantastic. I sailed pretty hard and didn’t take very many rest breaks. I don’t know why I held up for 5 hours in the chop, building waves, and strong wind. Maybe it’s because I was pretty careful to take Advil and I mostly avoided being overpowered or underpowered. The RWind 85 probably helped too, in the rough water. Also, I’ve been sailing a lot this fall. Maybe I’m getting conditioned a little bit. There were tiny, nothing waves in the morning, during low tide, but they got pretty big in the afternoon as the tide came in. They were still floppy wind waves but big enough to start to require some care to get out, on occasion, with 1 or 2 scary high jumps, and some attempts at going down the line- I’m improving at it. I stuffed the board good into 1 wave on the way out. I knew I was going to get airborn when I saw the wave peaking right in front of me. I was fully powered, so I decided my only option was to unhook and go for a big jump. It broke a second too early and it grabbed the nose of the board as I was launching myself up. I left my board and continued going up, doing a nice loop, and landing hard, a little way off from my equipment. Someone was sailing in, right at that moment, and gave me a grin and a thumbs-up and I think he was laughing. The WSW wind direction was nice! It was almost side shore. In that wind direction, the waves change to more southerly right in the break. I alternated sailing right in front, and in the deep hole, (a little down wind of all the rocks). The waves were a little better right in front but down wind was good for a rest- smoother water on the inside. NOTE; I was talking to a local surfer who came to look at the conditions. He said Deep Hole never gets any swell in a W or SW wind direction because Long Island blocks the swell. He said it has to be S to really build up the good surfing waves.

Georges/PtJudith, Windsurfed, W 20-35, others, 4.2,3.5, RWind85

Weather; Temp was between 47-49, sunny, water temp 47. I used my glacier gloves, (palmless mittens weren’t quiet warm enough), and a poly layer under my drysuit fleece, bootie liners, helmet liner. The gloves, my new large ones, worked great.
Another great day in December; I stopped at Deep Hole first, at 11:30, but no one was there. Everyone was at Georges- 4 or 5 windsurfers and 4 or 5 kiters, although most packed up early. I sailed from 12:30 to 4:00 at Georges. For the last 1 ½ to 2 hours I sailed with no rests with one other guy just inside of the opening in the breakwater. There was a big swell coming in and the wind seemed strongest there. Sometimes the swell would rise up and crest. What a great place to sail in really strong winds! There is swell, chop, dead flat water inside the little breakwater at the launch, and small breaking waves with sideshore wind if you sail downwind on the beach- really nice in a west wind although a little gusty, very different at different tides. My hands got a tiny bit numb during that last long session, no warm up rests, and my feet got quiet numb. It took about an hour for my left foot to warm up afterward. At least it didn’t hurt when it warmed up. I should find a better system for keeping my feet warm, maybe really tall liners that I could put inside my drysuit leg. Once my feet get cold they don’t warm up quickly like my hands do so it can be a problem for the rest of the day. Just downwind from Georges Restaurant is a launch I’ve never tried- Roger Wheeler State Park, still inside the rocks. I should try it sometime. I’ve heard it’s also O.K. in a NW. I tried a few runs on the Acid 94/4.2. It was a rough ride in the chop sections and it made it feel like the wind had just increased by about half a sail size. The RWind85 planed up slower than a bigger board and dropped off of plane quicker but it handled the rough water better. Most guys were on bigger sails again. A couple of guys were on 5.0 when I was still on the 3.5. I wonder if I should be on a 75 liter board with a bigger sail on these big days.
NOTE; try Deep Hole in a west wind! It looked like the waves wrap around for down the line sailing on the inside but face more westerly on the outside so it isn’t constant jumps on the outside. Mitch said the wind is clean enough.

Chappy, Windsurfed, WNW 10-35, others, 6.2,5.2,4.2, RWind85

Great day! Temp was between 48-50, sunny, water temp 50. I used my palmless mittens and a poly layer under my drysuit fleece, bootie liners. It was just right. I started on the 6.2 for a little, and then swapped off between 5.2 and 4.2 for the rest of the day, mostly on the RealWind85. I sailed from 10-4, sunset was at 4:15. The wind had a spread between gusts/lulls of about 10 to 12 mph for most of the day but at times it was probably 20 mph difference, shifty direction too. It was challenging but I found that switching sails/boards when the wind changed helped me sail all day. I also took Advil at 7:30, 11:30, 2:30. I got some cramping in my arms in the afternoon but I stopped, ate, took Advil, and it never progressed to Charlie horse. I took lots of rests, often after just 1 run. Very challenging sailing- waves (often with lighter wind in the break), very confused chop on the outside with pretty strong gusty winds. I can’t believe I lasted all day in those conditions. I met Jeff from Boston who seems to be at a similar sailing level. We were comparing notes on our jumps. We both had some good ones. He said he sails at Pleasure Bay in Boston sometimes- it’s good on SW or any East, not very good on W or NW. He also said he has sailed there at night due to streetlights and light from Boston, moonlight can help too. I was surprised that for most of the day others were sailing bigger sails. Sometimes much bigger and they didn’t seem overpowered. I would be flying along with the 4.2 and Jeff was on his 5.5. He switched to a 4.7 for 1 run but he couldn’t plane and had to walk it upwind. All that time I was out there fully powered sailing right past him. He only weighs about 20 pounds more than me. Gary showed up, rigged a 4.6 and slogged and complained. I was blasting by him on my 4.2. Maybe I was just lucky, hitting the gusts and resting during the lulls? Maybe my seat harness, as opposed to waist harness, lets me weight the rig differently? That could be good and bad. Also, Jeff wasn’t resting as much as me and didn’t seem as tired. Can't figure it out.
Picture; Chappy with strong gusty winds, 12/2/06