Mostly non-planing light wind stuff. It was a little choppy for such light winds, probably due to the outgoing tide, ingoing wind. I thought for sure that I would plane with the 6.8 but not quite. So I rigged the 5.2 and messed around with the usual moves. It was shallow and perfect for that. Picture- unknown sailor at Duxbury.
Light wind, sunny, beautiful morning on the water. Last time I was here the wind was ENE, almost directly onshore. This time, with NNE, it was side onshore. I'd love to be here for a strong N wind. It would be sideshore, probably take just one run to go straight out to the ocean side, maybe find some waves.
Southern Exposure; Long session going late in the day. Strong SSW wind coming almost directly onshore at the launch. Had to do a few runs upwind just to clear the lifeguard area. Gerry and I took a run over to Great Island looking for small waves but in the more southerly wind it was sideshore over there, no waves at all, nothing. I had an extra fin along in case we sailed upwind towards the rocks at the point but it wasn't worth it given the wind direction. I still managed to whack a rock, in front of the condos at high tide. Later, at dead low tide, when there are usually some small waves on the sandbar right in front of the launch, there wasn't much. The wind seemed strong enough but maybe the wind direction wasn't very good for building chop. Still, it was a good day, lots of small chop hops and it was fun to sail my smallest board. Picture- Chris Eldridge at Kalmus 7/15.
Picture- Mike, from Framingham, racing against team Josh & Ben. 
Last day; my back was pretty sore from all the windsurfing this week, so I took a few runs on a 6.5 and, when that wasn't big enough, I stopped. Josh was planing on an 8.0/ 133 liters but he couldn't quite get comfortable on a sail that big. Ben had a great time with a Starboard Start and a 2.1. He got his first light air jibes. He loved the stability of the board, and it turned well for him too. The 2 boards that he liked the best this vacation, the Start and the RRD Evolution 360, have center fins. Barbara was getting some good practice for non-planing jibes with a 5.5. In the afternoon Josh took an intro to scuba class. He was the only student and it turned out to be about 15 minutes of class time, no pool time, and a long reef dive in front of the hotel, 40 ft depth. He loved it. Barbara, Ben and I went to the National park but we got there a little after 3:00 and it closes at 2:45. I wish we had known. We still had fun driving around the north side of the island and looking at Indian inscriptions, small caves, lots of cactus and coral everywhere.
Travel Hell; Sunday 7/8, we got bumped from our first flight on American Eagle due to a, "weight restriction". I guess they had to bump somebody because they had too much weight on the plane, but if we were there earlier then it would have been somebody else. We checked in 1 hour before departure time, which is pretty late for an international flight. We ended up paying for tickets to Aruba on DAE, American Eagle gave us vouchers but we realized later that they are only good for a discount on future AA flights, essentially worthless 
to us. Then the flight that they promised would take us from Aruba to get home was overbooked. I think they had just made false promises to get us out of their hair. We ended up staying in San Juan at our expense. After 5 flights we got home Monday afternoon. It added close to $1000 to the cost of our vacation. Not fun.
Picture- Ben handles the strong winds.
Very windy Day! Probably mid to upper 20's. It was a little shifty and gusty at times so we used slightly larger sails than we might have otherwise, then it was great. With a 5.0 I had power in the lulls and tons of power in the gusts. With this much wind there was some decent chop-hopping out in the deep water. We spent almost the whole day at Lac Bay, 10:00 to 5:30. Everybody had a good time, windsurfing off and on, hanging out on the beach and in the water, the person in the water doing high 5's when Josh or I sailed by at speed. It's fun just hanging out in the sailing area, waist deep water, while family members are zipping by, stopping to rest and talk sometimes. Josh and I were on the exact same board and rig for most of the day again- 5.0, RRD freestyle 90. We both got a lot of sailing in. By the end of the day I noticed that I was no longer leaving Josh in my wake. Somehow, since yesterday, he increased his speed so that we were now just about matched. I gave him a waterstart lesson and he picked it up very fast. It was still hard for him to get the sail into position if it fell in just the wrong way, but that's tiring for anyone. Ben had some frustrations but there was one stretch when he was doing great, 
even with the stronger winds and more chop. Barbara was having a good time.
Hands; My hands were pretty calloused from windsurfing, work, exercising before the trip. I was starting to get a blister on my ring finger part way through the vacation but I took my ring off and it got better after a few days. Josh's hands were tough from flying on the trapeze. I think that Barbara and Ben sailed a little less so their hands were fine.
Bottom Picture- This is what a full day of windsurfing does to a teenager.
Picture- Barbara blasting.
form. Now he just needs his waterstart and jibe.
Picture- Josh Cruising in paradise.
snorkel through to the outside which had a reef wall shooting down to the depths. Sounds nice! Barbara brushed some coral with her arm and later developed an oozy, itchy rash, on a few small spots. It looks like a bad poison ivy. It turns out that it was fire coral.
Windy Lunch; Josh and I picked B and B up from the water taxi and we had lunch nearby at Karel's Beach Bar. This is the prettiest part of town. It was a beautiful setting, out on a dock with thatched umbrellas over each table. We knew it was getting windy because Josh's salad kept blowing over to my plate and he had to eat his french fries to keep them from blowing away.
Day 3, Setteled In; Snorkeled in the morning, again. The site was called Andrea 1, the best reef yet, beautiful! The winds were a little light mid-day and then it shifted slightly and picked up. The last hour of the day was the strongest wind yet, plenty of wind for the 5.5, really powered up. Josh and I sailed together a lot today, nice. 
Barbara instructed Ben for a long session, at least 1 1/2 hours. He was getting some great beach starts! Barbara seemed more dialed in with the equipment and conditions today. Pictures- Ben navigating thru the crowd, octupus with excellent camoflage.
First Day; Still getting settled in. We did some snorkeling. Did some grocery shopping. We got over to Lac Bay late. Everyone got a chance to sail but the wind was a little light. Ben was on a Go 150 with a 2.7. He was having the usual trouble getting the board to turn all the way through the tack. He got a little frustrated but finally made a 
good tack and ended on a good note. I only got a few runs in but the wind was a little marginal anyway. Later, Ben practised snorkeling in the pool. He learned how to dive down and clear his snorkel without lifting his head. Pictures- We snorkeled off the dock at Bel Mar Apts. Ben conquers snorkel clearing.
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