Duxbury, Windsurfed, S,SE, 10-15, 15-20, Josh,Kyle, Mostly big sails & boards

Light Wind Day; 55 temp, the forecast was for very light winds but it got up to 15 to 20 for a while. Josh had lots of planing time. I spent time teaching Kyle. He land-boarded first, which he picked up in about 15 minutes even on the rocky slanted beach, then the wind picked up, and he had a harder time of it on the water. He got one good run at the end but he was getting pretty tired. After Josh and Kyle stopped, I kept sailing but the winds were lighter then, good for practicing heli-tacks.
Erosion; There was some serious erosion to the parking lot from the big sou’easter 2 weeks ago. The waves took a bite out of the grassy area. We were there at dead low, (1 foot above 0 low according to the chart), and the water was surprisingly deep- overhead in the channel and waist deep elsewhere. I wonder if that whole area is getting deeper.

Fogland, Land-boarded, SW, 12-14, Josh, 5.2/Land-board

First Time Land-Boarding; Temp in the mid to upper 50’s, sunny. We were there from 5 pm to 8:30 pm, derigged in the headlights. Josh was windsurfing on the 6.8/ big board doing great. He was planing occasionally. It was Josh’s first day of the season. He didn’t seem rusty at all, making his tacks and gibes. I took pictures and land-boarded. Fogland is not very good for land-boarding. It’s too slanted, not very wide, too rocky, but the board worked great in spite of it. I was cruising across the rocks and pebbles in the gusts! The pneumatic tires are great. We even used it on the edge of the road for a few minutes. Fun, but we need body armor! Actually I didn’t fall at all with it except for during attempts at tacking and gibing, mostly after stalling it.
Picture; Josh Land-Boarding at Fogland

Ninigret, Windsurfed, E, 10-40’s plus, Chris, others, 5.2/Acid 94, 3.5/RealWind85

Strong Nor’easter; 44 temp, rain all day, winds were a little gusty. I had 1 hour on the 5.2, then 4 hours on the 3.5. I couldn’t wear my glasses due to the rain. I think that might have been a problem in waves or if I needed to see to come back to the exact same spot on the beach but Ninigret is pretty user friendly. Sometimes the rain was stinging my eyes but mostly it wasn’t that heavy. Everyone else left after the wind picked up, except Chris. We sailed all afternoon. Neither one of us wanted to stop. It was way too much fun.
Little Gear; I loved being out on my smallest board and rig! It’s so easy to flip the sail around. I was making some planing duck jibes, lots of jumps. It’s nice to finally have the RealWind back from repairs.
Tips; For full planing jibes- try flipping the sail a little earlier. Be aware of how much wind I’m spilling by oversheeting.
On small chop hops- don’t forget to bend my legs and lift my board up under my butt.
Duck jibes- don’t forget to move my hand back on the boom, carve and flip early.
Note; IWindsurf meter notes say readings are low in east winds and that the actual wind is probably somewhere between Ninigret and Beavertail. Ninigret graph was maxed out at 35, Beavertail was blowing over 50.

Ninigret, Windsurfed, W, 10-35, Chris, Sergey, other, 5.2/Acid

Big gusts; low forties temp. sailed from 1-5:30, very gusty wind but lots of fun. I’m sure I could have used the 4.2, at least when the wind was up. I had the 5.2 dowhauled and outhauled pretty flat- not very efficient sail and it didn’t go upwind very well, but handled the gusts great. I never really felt the draft moving around. All three of the other guys were doing great freestyle tricks- loops, carving 360’s, etc. Sergey was working on his spocks.

Picture; Chris Eldridge at Ninigret