Black Friday Sale oops… Sail

Sorry but my retail roots from what seems like another life made me do it. This post isn’t about shopping.

We had nice conditions anywhere from 4.5 to 5.5 depending on the chosen venue to burn off the calorie OD’s from the Thanksgiving feasts. The day started off chilly and sunny with winds pushing into the low 20’s. As the day progressed the clouds slowly gathered the wind increased slightly and temp hovered in the low 50’s. The sailing was done at two venues Willoughby and Factory Point.

I hit Factory around 2:00 by then the clouds were darkening and the winds were fluctuating quite a bit. I checked on the guys already out on their 5.2’s and 5.3’s and it seemed like they were having on and off runs. I thought a 5.8 and 85l would do the trick, actually other than 140l that was my only choice as my good intermediate and small boards were damaged by a tree limb during Nor-Ida. I put on my wetsuit and started rigging when the first of two heavy squalls came through. The wind speed in the squall jumped up well over 40 and blew everyone off the water. There was a guy kiting with us fortunately he kept it under control till it backed off enough to land and secure the kite. Now we have been through squalls while out sailing but this one had a surprise for us in the form of sleet. The exposed skin took a painful pelting for a few minutes as the worst of it blew over.

After the squall the wind died and slowly started to rebuild as it usually does. About the time it became sailable again the next squall started bearing down on us. This squall came through with similar results 40+ mph wind, 40 degree air and sleet. This time we all rode it out inside our vehicles. Once it passed the sun came back out, the sky cleared but the wind didn’t return. Everyone else de-rigged I ended up pulling out the 140l and putted around with the 5.8. for a half hour or so. Normally I would have re-rigged but it was already getting late and the wind was even marginal for my largest sail.

When I returned home I read that the Willoughby crew battled the same sleet squall but also had to deal with a small waterspout. From the report it sounds like some of the guys were still out when it hit and had a close call with the spout.

I only took a couple photos because of the weather and desire to sail.

A little bit of carnage from Nor-Ida.

Nice way to end the day

Remnants of Ida bring epic conditions to Tidewater.

Today in the tidewater of Virginia we saw Epic conditions from what was left over from Hurricane Ida. These conditions will continue through Friday and possibly into Saturday morning. The day started out dreary and rainy with a 20 mph wind blowing out of the NE. I loaded up the small stuff and headed out to Factory point hoping to catch the early portion of this storm. When I got there conditions were perfect for rigging 4.5 and and 85l board the water was low so there wasn't a whole lot of chop. The only problem was that no one else was there Everyone had committed to sailing York point or Buckroe. I didn't even rig, there is no way I would go out in high winds without a sailing partner.



I rode over to Buckroe to find Glenn and Tom B. de-rigging they had been out on 3.7s and 80l boards and had already had enough Keith was still out so I snapped a couple shots then headed to York Point. When I arrived the wind was already up over 30 the tide was rolling in and the waves were in the 2 to 3 foot range surprisingly there wasn't much chop just smooth crumbly waves. I waited till a couple guys went out before deciding to rig. Everyone went out on 3.7 to 4.0 they all did well except for one guy who I will not mention by name so that he may save face. He had a hard time getting started and was rapidly drifting down wind and away from the launch. York point is just that a point and NE winds are side shore but they make you drift into deeper and more sheltered water. Once you are in there you are at the mercy of the current unless you can waterstart and get upwind. If you can't then you will eventually wash up on the other side about a mile away. The kicker is to get back to the launch you now have better than a 15 mile hike. I wasn't going to take that chance so my gear stayed on the truck. Eventually the guy previously not mentioned found his groove and was able to work back upwind of the launch.



Since I wasn't sailing I took hundreds of photos. It turned out to be a regular jump fest. There were people flying everywhere there was even a loop attempt. I was hoping to get a loop sequence on the camera but shortly after Rob threw the only attempt of the day he came in and ended up with a huge gash in his foot requiring 15 stitches. The wind steadily ramped up and the crew pulled out their pristine looking 3.3 and 3.5' s. There were only a few runs made on those sizes the previous several hours of sailing and the 45 mph gusts were taking their toll.



I've perused the photos and here are some of the shots. Some are good some are fuzzy but they depict the conditions quite well.

Link to Public facebook album where there are more photos

This is the actual wind from a sensor upwind of York Point.


Keith Knight at Buckroe around 11:00am

Dave Kashy and Rob Spurgeon

Rob and Carl

Carl

Bob R.

Rob Solly launching huge air all day.

And the loop attempt.

Kashy

This is one of my favorite shots

Rob Solly

Contos

Spurgeon carving a wave. What a tiny sail.

Inspecting the pier.

What a sunset.

Sometimes being Outdrsmn isn't about doing something outdoors. Sometimes it's about doing nothing. Just sitting on the pier, having a beer and watching the sun set.

What a sunset it was.

Update to "I've been a slacker lately"

In my previous post I've been a slacker latley I mentioned there might be a video floating around with some footage of me sailing. It turns out Javier made me the star of the little clip. I don't know why, there was far better sailing going on than what I was doing but here it is anyway. This will be a momento of the infancy stages of my sailing progression... One of my first chop hops, a terrible attempt at a shortboard tack and a dry jibe.

Thanks Javier.

Click here to check out some of his other windsurfing videos on Vimeo.

Chris Coyne at Factory Point on a gray afternoon. from Javier Garriz on Vimeo.

Anyone for seconds???

I was. Yesterday was just a warm up session. Today was the real deal.
I checked the wind meter that corresponds to the Factory point launch and it was reading a few miles per hour stronger than it was the day before. I knew it was going to be a good day.

I rounded the corner at the launch and water was covering the road. The little creeks that fan out through that area had overflowed due to the high tide. I popped out of the pine grove and caught my first glimpse of one of the small creeks. It had white caps so I knew it was on. I immediately called Billy to pass along the on site conditions and rally the troops. I think "honkin" was the word used to describe the conditions.

I was waffling on rigging a 4.1 or a 4.6. Finally I went with the 4.1, 85l combo. In hindsight I would have been happier on the 4.6 when it lulled but the 4.1 was more than sufficient in the gusts.

The water was rough, or chop-a-licous depending on how you look at it. It took me a while to get in tune with the board. I haven't sailed it since August so just getting to the straps was a challenge. I had one massive catapult as a result. It must be a sight. Here I am getting pitched over the bars, legs flailing skyward then crashing head first into the water with a massive explosion of spray and the first sound anyone can hear as I surface is laughter. Anyway, once I remembered how to sail it I started to make good use of the terrain. A small jump here, a slashing turn there, blown jibe after blown jibe after blown jibe. There were times that it got rough enough that I wished it were 70 liters. Thank god the water is shallow I would have worn myself out just getting going again.

A couple of the jumps I made felt pretty good. I was actually getting air measured in feet rather than the inches I typically feel like I'm getting when chop hopping the 102. I was starting to feel pretty good about them until I saw Billy clear what looked to be about 8 feet off the same little patch of chop I had been using. Amazing!!! How does he do it?

The cold finally took its toll and I had to call it quits for the day after a good 4 hours on the water. At least the next 45 degree day won't be as much of a shock to the system. A shout out goes to Billy, Vito, Keith, John Q, Matt Yvette and Peter for sharing the day. Unfortunately Yvette and Peter didn't get wet. The conditions were a little more then they could handle with their gear. I'm sure they will be ready for the next time.

Sorry no photos today.

Got to love Coastal lows.

We have been in a prolonged period of storm activity with coastal lows spinning up just off shore and heading out to sea. That means we have had bit of wind over the last week. I finally got out today and sailed Factory Point with a 5.8m2 sail and 102l board. NW is usually good at Factory and brings out the crew. With most of the W.E.T. contingent sailing all week in Avon no one was there. I thought I was going to end up sailing alone but Matt the guy who runs the Windsurf Resource website showed up as I was getting ready to rig.

It wasn't epic just a good hone your skills day. The wind swell from today's NW and the leftover swell from all the NE wind the previous couple days combined to make it pretty rough. Not exactly what I would call psycho chop but pretty close. It made straight line runs interesting and every once in a while a nice peak would pop up in front of you for a little air. Jibing was most definitely a challenge but it helped me work on keeping my weight forward to smooth out the transition. I even managed to plane out of one or two. There were also quite a few that felt like rodeo rides so I blew my fair share.

Matt went out on a 6.6 and 145l board so he experienced a bit of jostling. He did well though and was planning quite a bit.

The wind is picking up as I type so I expect I'll be out on small gear tomorrow. Hopefully the sun will show itself and take some of the chill off. If not, Oh well. It wont be any worse than sailing in January or February. I do like sailing this time of year. The wind kicks in and the water is still relatively warm so the colder air isn't usually a problem.

4 days of solid wind on tap

Seems like we have gone from summer to winter in the last few days and skipped fall all together. Sunday it was in the mid 80's. Today we will be lucky if it gets over 50. I like the warm weather but I also like the consistent winds of the cooler months. I guess I'll have to break out the thick wetsuit a few weeks early this year. The water temp should be decent for little while longer. I guess it could be worse I could be on Long Island. Michael the Peconic Puffin is already talking about drysuits, hoods and fleece for this wind event. Yikes!!!

Here is the forecast graphic. Nice 5 to 6 meter sailing for the next 4 days.