Josh's Wheels

Meet Josh's new car, 1976 Chevy Monty Carlo. Notice the big smile on his face. He says it's his dream car. It's big, it's old, it's cool, and he can work on it without getting a degree in computer programming. I'd forgotten how big the hoods were on these old bombers. They are about 1 mile long. I still think that windsurfing is more fun, but I'm happy that he's happy.

WEST DENNIS, windsurfed, 16-26, SSW, S, NW, 6.2/Acid 94

West Dennis provided a few hours of decent sailing before thunder heads rolled through and chased everyone into their vehicles. I waited in the truck for close to an hour, reading Windsport Mag. Then, about 30 minutes after I had seen the last lightning, I was back out in NW on the pond side for a few blasting flatwater runs until more lightening appeared. It was tooo close for comfort! I was off the water in about 10 seconds. SSW & S are definitely my favorite wind directions here! I love the breaking chop in front of the Lighthouse Inn and on the far side. Picture- Thunderstorms chased everyone off the water.

TAYLORS LANE, FOGLAND, light winds

Taylors Waves- I heard from Jean that he was heading to Taylors Lane today to try to take advantage of the strong SE wind for some wavesailing. Ben went off for an early evening playdate around 4:30 and the wind was still 19 - 30 at Fogland, so I threw the boards in the truck and hit the road. No luck. By the time I got to Taylors, the wind was 10-15 and Jean had left for greener pastures. I did some light wind foolishness at Fogland, just so I could say that I had my exercise for the day. At least I got to see Taylors Lane with SE waves. They looked nice! Fog & waves at Taylors Lane Summer at Kalmus- A few days ago, I got a friendly comment that I'm crazy to sail at anyplace except Kalmus in the Summer. What can I say? Before we had kids, my wife and I sailed at Kalmus almost every weekend. I loved it. These days I don't sail there very often for a variety of reasons. Sometimes I just don't have enough time to make the drive. Sometimes I'm looking for waves or want to try a new spot. Today, the swell report was 8' off the coast of R.I. and the wind seemed wide spread. It would have been hard to pass that up without trying. It's that slightly scared feeling of sailing in waves, being at the edge of my ability, and wondering if I can handle it, that gives me the biggest thrill. And I know that Kalmus will be there when I get too digusted with the summertime skunks.

KALMUS, windsurfed, SW, 15-30, 5.2/RealWind85

I was in my drysuit last weekend, windsurfing in Maine. Today I had on nothing but a bathing suit, no booties even. Kalmus was like a bathtub with wind. I can't believe that I got to sail the 5.2 with 85 liters, fully powered, for 2 weekends in a row! In the summertime! I love that set up. I sailed 6 hours straight with just a few short breaks for food & beverage. I was in the zone. Picture- Sergey does the shaka.

KALMUS, Freestyle video of Chris Eldridge 7/08

Chris sent me this video of his bag of tricks, shot at Kalmus. Looks nice! It's great to see what's possible at a local spot. So much for blaming my feeble freestyle crashes on lack of good local conditions. Maybe I can blame it on my equipment.

Can anyone name all of these moves?

Long Sands Beach, York, Maine, SSE to SE, windy!, 6.2/ Acid 94 then 5.2/Realwind 85, solo

Long Sands with Cape Neddick lighthouse Dialed in and under- I know it's been a good session when I lean over to derig and a waterfall comes out of my sinuses. It means I went thru the washing machine at least once. Waves, courtesy of Hurricane Bertha, were about chest high with some maybe a little bigger, very nice! I definitely felt the adrenaline kick in at times. My equipment seemed just right for the conditions, for once. Lifeguard Encounter- This beach has a surfing area, marked by two large red flags, (only until 4:30). I stayed out for about an hour straight for my first session, being careful to stay in the surfing zone or out in deep water. When I finally came in to rest, a lifeguard was waiting for me. I thought that I must have broken some rule or endangered somebody's children. But he only wanted to tell me that he liked one of my jumps, and that he used to see windsurfers here all the time when he was a kid but now he never does. I guess I was something of a curiosity. A genuine antique windsurfer. Beach Notes- Frigid water! I used my drysuit on this 80 degree day. I talked to a surfer who said that, even with her wetsuit, she got so cold that her muscles refused to work. It was a nice launch with sideshore wind, I think S or SSE?, then it went more onshore, SE?, and it was harder to get out thru the waves. At low tide the beach would be a dream for landboarding. At high tide there is no beach. Parking was a nightmare on such a beautiful, hot, summer day. It took me a long time to find a spot. Bring lots of quarters, they check the meters, even on Sunday. The drive was a little under 1 1/2 hours, no weekend backups. Bottom photo- Cape Neddick Light, up close.

DUXBURY, windsurfed, 13-25, WSW, Carve 123/ 6.8 antique race sail

Wind in my face- I love that feeling! It's been hard to come by in the last few months. What the? I had the strange sensation of leaving my house when it was windy, driving to the beach and finding, that it was still windy! The water wasn't glassy. There were even little white caps. Ed was packing up when I arrived, as usual, but this time he said, as he drove away, "you're gonna have a good time, the wind's picking up!" And he was right! Twilight session- It was 7:00 when I arrived at the beach. I thought I probably had until 8:45 before it would be too dark to see what's what. I forgot to look at my watch at first, and then it was too dark to read it. So I kept sailing. Finally, the wind seemed to bump up a hair and I could imagine that I might be close to being overpowered. It made me a little nervous that I couldn't see what was coming up, gusts for instance, or chop, or water. It was 9:10 when I stopped sailing and pushed that little light on my watch. I had squeezed in some stolen moments all right. Hopefully this heralds an end to my skunkfest. Top photo- just 2 of us sailing late at Duxbury. Bottom Photo- plenty of light for derigging.

Horseneck & Fogland, Skunk & skunk

Barbara came home from work early today to jump start her R & R for the 3 day weekend. That allowed me to get out in the afternoon and chase some weekday wind. She even called me, as she was leaving the office, to let me know that she was on her way home and to suggest that I get myself ready to go. I have a very thoughtful and beautiful wife! 1 day, 2 skunks- I may be setting a new world record for skunks. Horseneck, good waves, bad wind Skunk # 1- The truck was blowing around on the highway on the way to Horseneck, but the last flag before the beach wasn't stiff, a bad sign. The wind died just before I pulled in. Gerry, Jeff & Ron said they had solid wind and head high waves for most of the afternoon. I went out on a 6.2 for about 1/2 hour and did nothing, then packed up. Skunk # 2- The wind was still blowing into the low 30's almost everywhere else in New England. So I drove to Fogland and caught the tail end of it. I got a few planing runs, even some chop hops, before the wind dropped like a lead downhaul. It quickly became too light for non-planing freestyle. Canceling windsurfing- As I was leaving Fogland, I had a vision of myself emptying the truck of windsurfing gear and throwing it all off a cliff somewhere. That would almost guarantee, for everyone else, that strong, predictable wind would return to New England.