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.