The Lower Back- A Good Example of Bad Engineering

It's Spring and my herniated disc is in full bloom. I'm probably going to be off the water for a while. Does anyone have a healthy lower back for rent? Who came up with the design for the lower back anyway? There are a few things I'd like to say to him.

Chasing the Peacocks Tail

Side-off wind at Hardings- Juan rides a gust I heard a theory this week that the arts, music, literature, and sports, are tied to our evolution as a species. Does that include windsurfing, I wondered? "All cultures around the world, and throughout history, have done these activities," the theory states. "They must contribute to our evolution. How else can you explain such a universal investment of time?" They're fun? "It's like a peacocks tail. It seems useless but it serves a purpose." So now I know why I windsurf. I'm simply answering the call of ancient, evolutionary driven, impulses. The form of expression might be new but the urge to excel at seemingly useless activities is as old as history. Blame it on our genes. Harding's notes- Who knew that Harding's was sailable in N to NNW? Once you got out past the windline it was O.K. Juan and I had a great time doing speed runs in the gusts and seeing how close we could sail without taking each other out. He mostly had the edge in speed, I mostly had the edge in jibing right in front of him to see if he would crash into me. It was a long session, warm, sunny, very satisfying. Windsurfed & Landsailed, Harding's, N, NNW, 10-28, 6.2/ Carve123 & Acid94, With Juan, Air Temp mid 50's.

Bottom Picture- Juan tries my modified landboard, "The Stiletto". Stay out of his way.

Brainless Windsurfing

It was a nice day at Chapin! At least I think it was. I had new seals put in my drysuit and I didn't prestretch the neck seal enough. It was cutting off the flow of blood to my brain. It's interesting that I could still sail like that. I guess you don't need a brain to windsurf. You just need a functioning lower brain stem and a little animal instinct. Brains get in the way anyway. They worry about everything. This may be the real benefit of wearing a drysuit for Winter sailing. Once the drysuit is on and the blood supply to the brain is squeezed off, it's easy to jump in near freezing water and sail blissfully away. After the the tide let out and the wind dropped to 10-20, I put up my 3.6 trainer kite and let it drag me around the beach a little. It was good brainless fun, but I don't think I was having as much fun as Tim. Chapin, Windsurfed, 10-32, NNW, N, 5.2/RW85, With Windsurfers- Igor, Juan, Mike, Kiters- Tim, Jamie, others. Photo- Tim hams it up for the camera.

Deep Hole Wavesailing Video from 11/16/08

Here's a wavesailing video from Nate, hot off the press. It was taken at Deep Hole/ Matunuck R.I. on 11/16/08, just edited down now apparently. Thanks Nate! I'm the guy, near the end of the video, getting stuffed by a wave on the way out.

The Call of the Slopes

Due to the plummetting economy, we decided to reduce our entire ski season to 1 weekend this year. At least we picked a great weekend. We had good snow, good company, and serious hot tubbing. Ben said that he missed going to Vail but he loved skiing with his buds, Mitchell and Will. 3 Generations of hot tubbers- Grandma J, Uncle Al, Ben Lee was missed, Josh skiied for 1 half day, Barbara pulled a muscle after 1 half day. Thanks to Al for hosting! Sunday River, Skiied, with Barbara, Ben, Josh, Al, Brian, Also- Ken, Elaine, Mitchell, Ali, and- Kate, Will.

Corporate Meeting

I packed my lunch, laid out my clothes, and went to bed early. I had an important meeting in the morning. I wanted to get a good night sleep so I would be at my best. The topic of the meeting? Windsurfing. It took place on the water, Corporation Beach. I think it was very productive. There was a nice group of guys attending. We had 5 on the water at one time. That's considered a massive crowd for Mid February sailing/kiting around here. Jerry gets the award for the move of the day. How can you possibly sail on the leeside of the sail on an 85 liter board, in waves, (alright tiny waves)? I saw him happily motoring upwind, back to the launch that way. Someone should tell him that it's impossible and that he should stop doing it! Note- Chapin meter read W but the wind seemed more WNW at Corporation. Picture- Igor, the Corporate man. Corporation Beach, Windsurfed, WNW 15-27, 5.7 & 6.2/ Acid 94, Air Temp upper 30's, With Igor, Juan, Jerry, Barry on kite.

Sparkling Winter Day

Nothing makes this messed up world seem beautiful again like a warm, windy, sunny day in the middle of Winter. How warm was it? High of 52 F! Igor sailed yesterday because he thought it was going to be unbearably hot today. Igor is from Siberia. For me it was just right. Not too hot. Not too cold. It was so nice to wear 2mm gloves again, and to have a few extra seconds after peeling off my drysuit before I had to jump in the truck or risk becoming a frozen windsurfer popsicle. 2 sessions. I didn't let any of this day go to waste. A front went through, late morning, and killed the wind for awhile, then it came back from a different direction. Early morning session- Deep Hole, Windsurfed, WSW, 17-22, 6.2/ Acid 94 & Carve 123, Solo. Afternoon Session- Camp Cronin, Windsurfed, WNW, 18-38, 4.2/ Acid 94 & RealWind 85, with Dan & King. Picture- King at Camp Cronin

De-ice Before Take Off

Juan, jibing on a smooth spot at Corporation Beach The temp was a little borderline for me today, it never got above freezing, but I'm a sucker for wind and waves and that's what we got at Corporation. I was plenty warm, except for: the occasional numb hand that I had to shake down, some wind chill on my face, my right big toe was cold for about 10 minutes, no problem. Near the end of the day my boom was getting a little slippery from freezing and I noticed some ice spray forming on my rig. I guess that explains why my sail felt heavy when waterstarting. The wind quality wasn't the best but it was a beautiful sunny day, great to share it with Igor and Juan. Just as I was getting into my truck to leave, 2 elderly ladies, who had been watching me derig, came over to say that they loved watching me sail and that all the kids that are sitting inside watching T.V. should get off they're couches and come out and watch. That made my day! I had expected to hear the usual refrain: "you are sick and should be locked up so you can't influence others". Ya never know. where's my de-icing agent? Windsurfed, Corporation Beach, WNW, W, NW, 10-29, 5.7/Acid94 & RW 85, with Igor, Juan, I used Josh's Drysuit(new, no leaks), 5mm gloves, Air Temp 27-31 F.

The Optimistic Windsurfer gets the wind

"You gotta be an optimist to windsurf in New England!" This was parking lot wisdom from Juan. It's so true. What else would get us out to Chapin Beach before 9:00 AM on a grey Winter morning with almost no wind? Optimism. "It's gonna blow as soon as we rig and get out there." Igor rigged his 9.5. Optimism. The belief that it will be worth it in the end. Is it going to be windy enough? Am I going to be warm enough. Can I hold my pee until the end of the session? Yes, yes, yes. So what that I left the house at 6:30 to drive to this frigid windless beach? It's all part of the adventure. And on this particular Saturday morning optimism payed off. 30 minutes after we rigged, it was blowing up to the low 30's, the sun was sending shafts of light through the clouds on the horizon, and no one's hands were turning black from the cold, yet. We were 3 happy sailors, hooting it up like we had just won a presidential election. The wind had close to a 20 MPH spread between gusts and lulls but you can't expect everything to be perfect. Igor said it was his best windsurfing session ever, (his first time in waves), and I think he meant it. Igor Gets The Wind, Rocks, Snow I sailed 3 1/2 hours past high tide. 3 kiters kept me company at the end while I was scraping the edge off of my fin in shin to knee deep water. Windsurfed, Chapin Beach, WNW 15-32 MPH, 6.2 & 4.2, Acid94 & RW85, air temp mid 30's to 40 F, with Igor, Juan, and kiters: Jeff, Holly, Dave.

Anything to beat The Skunks

I went to West Dennis. I got skunked, hung out with Igor, landboarded, splashed around on my 94 liter wave board with a kayak paddle, went home. You can't argue with mother nature. I discovered that there is no possible way to stand up paddle a 94 liter wave board, even in shallow glassy water. And I'm not proud that I thought of trying it. I could kinda sit, kinda kneel, knees out to the side and paddle for an hour or so to say I got some exercise. I know this isn't how the pros do it. Landboarded, sit down paddled, West Dennis, with Igor, air temp upper 30's.

Sailing Solo in the Snow

New erosion fences in the path to Mayflower Beach encouraged me to go to Chapin This is the fourth weekend in a row that I've had over 30 MPH winds for at least part of a session. You gotta love windsurfing in the Winter! Or not. None of the usual lunatics wanted to sail today. I have no idea why. This was my first time sailing in a snow flurry. Who would want to miss a chance for that?! There was also some light rain and sleet but that was nothing new. The surprising thing is that it was a really good session. Really good. I didn't even think that my twitchy little 3.5 sail had a sweet spot but today was its day. Having waist-deep-smooth-water-behind-a-sandbar might have helped. I spent less time playing in the outside waves than usual. I was getting a little skittish about being out 1/2 mile or more from the launch, in the snow, mist, cold, gale, waves, knowing that there wasn't anyone else on the water, in the parking lot, or on the beach, not that I could really see the beach. It was beautiful on the outside, and the waves were mostly small, but I had the nagging feeling that I might not be exercising the best judgement. Unusually high tide, Chapin marsh is completely covered. This is usually land. The marsh returns as the tide recedes I sailed 4 hours after high tide, no problem. The forecast called for minor flooding, north of plymouth from a slight storm surge. I guess it happened south of plymouth too. Winsurfed, Chapin, NNW, 20-42, 3.5/RW85, Solo, Air Temp 38 to 32.

FIRST BEACH of the New Year

First Beach, Small Waves, Big Gusts The temp was only supposed to be in the 30's so the plan was to take it easy, meet Chris at Ninigret pond, sail in flat, shallow water. It didn't occur to this knucklehead that Ninigret might be too iced in to sail. Ninigret Ice We ended up at First Beach, Newport for some offshore-wind wave riding. So much for taking it easy. I was encouraged when I saw 2 swimmers there with just bathing suits. How cold could it be? The wind was very up and down, gusty and shifty but it was fun playing in the waves. They were only in the 1 to 3 foot range, ankle biters mostly. Considering the cold temps I was happy just to be sailing. Sailing in waves made it even better. Click on pics to see large. Better than sitting by a fire at home Offshore Wave Riding at Deep Hole/ Horseneck/ First Beach in NW, WNW- This is just my impression from 1 time sailing at each site in NW to WNW (more times at Deep Hole). Deep hole- When the wind goes NW it gets very light in the waves, not worth the effort. First Beach- it's pretty offshore in NW but there's no wind line, it's sailable. Horseneck Public- Cleaner and more filled in than First Beach, sideshore in WNW, side off in NW. Chris in Silhoutte Windsurfed, First Beach- Newport, NW, WNW, 10-34, 5.2/ Acid94, air temp upper 30's, with Chris.

Fog Sailing

I took a look at The Cut- dense fog, no waves, light WSW wind that was almost straight offshore at the launch.


So I went to Kalmus- dense fog, no waves (of course), light SSW wind that was almost straight onshore. The wind did pick up for awhile but it was very gusty and shifty. And it was foggy.


It was eerie being out there and hearing the deep rumble of the ferry's motors as they went by, sometimes hearing their horns close by, but not being able to see them, or anything. Occasionaly another windsurfer or a kiter would appear out of the fog then fade into the mist like a ghost.


KALMUS, Windsurfed, 14-37 SSW, 5.2/Acid94, with Jerry, Jeff S, Barry, Scott, Cliff, Tucker, Ron, Bruce, Olivier.

Picture- Seaweed Hands and Fog

SHOVELED & SAILED, Scatteree Landing, ESE 35plus, 3.5/RW85, air temp low 40's, with Igor

Shoveled & Sailed- That pretty much describes my weekend. Barbara and I shoveled 1 foot of snow on Saturday. I left the house on Sunday morning in another snow storm, drove south to Chatham where it was 10 to 15 degrees warmer, sailed overpowered on my smallest gear, then drove home to shovel for an hour to get my truck back in the driveway. Crazy weather, it snowed the whole day in Boston, rained the whole day in Chatham.

No Cut- Igor and I were going to sail at The Cut, but Barry pulled up and told us that we were crazy to go out there with the outgoing tide, gale wind, rain, low visibility, cold. That was all we needed to make the safer decision to go in the harbor. I'm glad we did. It was challanging enough in the harbor without having to worry about breaking something and getting sucked out into the rollers outside of The Cut and beyond. The meter was down but the wind was averaging mid 40's in Wellfleet.

Picture- Unloading from another refreshing session here in the tropical paradise of Massachusettes.

Windsurfed, The Cut, SSW,SW 15-23, 6.2/ Acid94, Barry

What a beautiful afternoon! The sun almost made it feel like a Summer day. The air and water temps were in the mid 40's, very comfortable. The wind was pretty steady, especially considering that it was side-off at the launch. Tide was going out, wind blowing against the tide made the wind seem stronger. My sail and board felt perfect for the conditions, for once. I played in the tiny waves around the sandbar island, did speed runs behind the beach, and raced some fishing boats into the mouth of the harbor around sunset. This is the best way I know to keep my spirits up as the days grow shorter and colder.

Picture- it could be a lovely Summer evening.