SE day at York Point video

What better way to spend an August Sunday afternoon. SE wind Upper teens to low 20s and a bunch of friends. Dave Kashy running helmet cam chasing everyone down.
Thanks again for the video Javier.

Kashy-Cam at York Point, August 15, 2010 from Javier Garriz on Vimeo.

Trying new things.

Sunday I tried out a few new things... First was a Formula board in conditions that were conducive to sailing it. Second, my new GoPro digital camera.

The formula board was awesome in the conditions, a nice steady 10 to 12 knot SW wind (at least for most of the session). Air temp was in the 70's and the water was in the low 50's warm enough that gloves and cap and booties were not necessary. Unfortunately I sailed alone so I couldn't compare what I was doing to the other sailors. I will say the ability to point up and down wind was instantly noticeable. The ease at which it planed up was also immediately noticeable.

I can sail in 10 to 12 knots on my freeride board with the same 7.8 sail I was using but it is only good for BAFing, planning is marginal and I generally wish I had a bigger sail. On this a couple pumps and I was off and running. Transitions were mostly dry thanks to the width.
All in all I enjoyed my first formula experience. Now I'll need to try it with a real race sail.

As for the GoPro I'm impressed! I don't have any elaborate mounts for it yet so I basically tied it to the tail of the boom on one side and filmed from that location only. The video quality is nice for it not being the HD version.

Attached is a quickly edited (No music) clip of the session including a nice little wipeout at the end.

YP formula 3.21 from Chris C on Vimeo.

Friday April 3rd, Afternoon session.

I bailed on work about 2:00 to meet Dave for an afternoon Session. When I got there the wind was in the 17 to 22 range with higher gusts. 5.1 and 102l was going to be the call. I had a nagging feeling that was the wrong choice.

Greg showed up while I was carrying my gear over to the rigging area. He decided to go 4.2 so I changed my mind and went with a 4.6 instead of the 5.1, figured I'd split the difference. It ended up being a good decision. I stayed mostly powered to overpowered, at times I wished I was on the 4.1. I did pull out the 85l and try it again. It is just not the board for me so I will be officially putting it up for sale, cheap. It just needs a bigger sail, 5's to low 6's. I just won't use it in that capacity, I have the Cross for that sail range. I'll continue my search for a board in the 80-85l range that works with 4.0 to 5.0. Sure wish I could afford a new one, I'd find another Cross.

Back to the session.... I got a lot more waterstart, jump and gibe practice. The waterstart with the small sails seem so much easier. Trying to start the 5.8 and the 6.7 become a real struggle, what is strange is the 7.8 cammed sail I use is fairly easy to start. I'm thinking it might have something to do with the skinny masts. I made a few more small jumps, most were intentional. I have to work out the timing I keep trying to pop the board the same as I did wake boarding and it feels all wrong. As far as the Jibes. The footwork seems solid, I'm able to get nice carves but the sail flip is still hanging me up. I'm either too early or too late or a gust hits at the wrong time. I'm so close but it is still just out of reach.

Saturday was another good West wind day. I had to miss it to make up for the work I didn't finish on Friday. The forecast for Monday and Tuesday is looking promising but I expect this week will be the usual craziness work wise. Easter Sunday's right around the corner have to get the yards looking good.

I'll post up some pic's later.

Cabin Fever and a York point session.

Sunday turned out to be a good early spring SSW day. The morning started out with a threat of thunderstorms. By mid afternoon it was sunny skies and warm winds. My day began at an event called Cabin Fever. It is the second annual gathering of a bunch of local outdoor clubs. The purpose if the event is to showcase the each clubs particular sport or recreational activity. Bruce, John C. and Jack were manning the booth promoting W.E.T and trying to get curious people passing by interested in our sport. They had a land trainer out there, a fully rigged shortboard and John's extensive collection of toys. During the time I was there 4 people received tutorials on basic sail handling and lots of fliers were handed out promoting the two introduction to windsurfing lessons planned during the summer.

The W.E.T. experience, Cabin Fever 2009




Jak giving a quick land trainer lesson


See how much fun, hopefully she will be at the intro.


Couple of WET guys. Dave T, Jak, John Q, Bruce.

The wind was beckoning and I had yet to get in my March session for the 12 month club so I had to bail around noon to go sail. I headed on over to York Point as that was the closest SW launch. When I got there Dave had just come in from a 5.9 86l run. Pete had just arrived as well and we both rigged 5.8. I went with the larger volume board at 102l and rigged with extra downhaul. Before I got out I snapped some photos of Dave buzzing the pier. The way his pier comes off the point allowed me to get some nice up close and personal shots.

Winds were S to SW air temp was 60-70 and water was low to mid 50's.

Once I hit the water I found there was a little rust to knock off, it had been over a month since my last session. The wind was wild, the board and sail combo ended up being perfect about 65% of the time, 15% was underpowered and 20% way over powered. I got slammed quite a few times in the gusts, After about an hour it seemed like the wind was getting stronger, well at minimum the gusts were. I went in and rigged 5.1 and changed to a smaller fin. Had I brought the 85l I would have pulled it out. The chop was getting pretty rough for the 102l. Thank goodness the Cross has those dual density pads, they made the ride tolerable.

A couple cool things happened this session. I made my first jump. It wasn't anything to write home about but it was significant to me because a saw the ramp, steered to it and consciously made the attempt. I do know I cleared the fin because when I landed I spun out. That in itself was another accomplishment as I was able to recover without crashing. After a rest and a tour of Daves new construction I headed back out for one last sail. The wind seemed to have backed down some so I grabbed the 5.8 and hit the water again. In the gusts the combination of the bigger sail the chop and the small fin kept causing me to spin out. I did finally adjust my stance and sheeting angle to stop it from happening. The final accomplishments for the day were completing my first tack and first jibe on that board. Only one of each though.

The wind came back up again but I had enough, my body just couldn't take any more. So I pulled the camera back out and got a few more shots before packing up and heading home. All in all it was a great YP session Dave had his highest head count with 8 sailors enjoying his launch.

Looks like another good couple days on tap hopefully I can find time to get in another session. Maybe with the air being warm the water temp will come up enough so the shorty can come out of the closet soon.

Jump sequence Dave Kashy

George

Dave and Greg

Kashy fins Hydrofoil???

Todd

Pete

Survival sailing is fun!

I was lazy so you get two sessions in one post.


Wow!!! Thursday was a great day for high wind sailing, almost too good at times.


Factory Point was the call Glenn, Bob, Jack, Billy, Tom and I hit it around 10:00. Chad and John C. showed up later. We were treated to steady 60+degree, 25 mph west wind and an incoming tide for the first hour or so. The water had actually warmed up quite a bit, mid to upper 40's, thanks to the unseasonably warm days we have had for the past week.

Most rigged low 4m sails and 80 to 90l boards. Tom rigged a 3.7. I used the Bic Saxo 85 liter for the first time and a 4.1. Everyone was powered nicely.


I had a time getting used to the board. It is very different from my other two larger boards the mast track and straps are further apart which made getting into the straps difficult. When I did get a foot in, the board was a little too loose for my taste. So most of my day was spent sailing strapless. I couldn't really push the limits, but I did find that smaller boards really are so much more comfortable in rough water. I think with 5.5 to 6.0 conditons in rough water this board would be perfect. That is just not what I need so I will likely be looking for a different high wind board.


The wind shifted toward NW and picked up while we sailed, it also became quite gusty. I had started a run out after making an adjustment to my outhaul and got flattened. I assumed the adjustment caused it until I surfaced and got ready to go again. The sail was ripped out of may hand and the board and rig did a cartwheel across the water. I raced for the board and grabbed it. This was when I realized it was a nasty gust that was causing the trouble, the water looked like snow from all the whitecaps and the spray was obscuring the shore on the other side. Now I understand "liquid smoke". I walked my gear back over to the launch area and tried to wait it out in the water. The board kept getting picked up and tossed around from the wind. Thankfully, I had good control of the sail so it didn't get away. I spent 10 minutes waiting for the wind to die down, it never did so I headed for shore. When I tried to grab the board and sail to carry it up on the beach the sail slipped from my hand and went directly at Bob. I instinctively backpedaled into the wind while holding the back footstrap. Fortunately the sail missed him by a couple feet. I thought for sure he was going to get clobbered but he didn't seem phased by it. I made sure no one was even close to me when moving my gear the rest of the day.


I'd estimate the wind was 40mph+ for about 20 minutes. Bob, Billy and Tom continued trying to sail. Bob and Billy had a much tougher time than Tom on his 3.7. The blow did claim a few pieces of gear. Right after I nearly clobbered Bob he made his run out and heard a pop on his way back the subsequent start from the launch made it known the he snapped his universal. Moments later Billy came in with a busted Stainless steel spreader bar.


The wind did drop back down after a while though it did get a bit gustier with the difference between the gusts and lulls getting greater. Glenn got tired of survival sailing on his 4.2 and rigged down. I didn't have anything smaller so I added some downhaul and went back out. I spent a lot of time water starting thanks to all my crashes. I would get going nicely and because the board felt good where my feet were, out of the straps. I'd end up going a little too fast, catch air off the chop and lose touch with the board. If those darn foot straps had been about 10 cm closer to the mast track I would have been much better off. As it was I still had a blast, I learned some things and I found I really enjoy High wind sailing. The moment I realized it was right after getting launched this one particular time. I lost my footing on the board and fell to windward because I didn't let go with my front hand, the clew rotated 180 and dug into the water first, my body contorted and I smashed my hip into the mast. I took a few minutes to walk it off but I couldn't resist getting right back out there. The next couple days I will nurse my wounds, begin my search to replace the Bic with a board that better suits my style of sailing and keep an eye out for the next 4.1 day.


Oh I forgot to mention there was one additional piece of gear claimed by mother nature John ran a ground and snapped both arms on his carbon boom.


The previous Sundays post is below this sessions photos.


Glenn



Billy

Tom




Bob Jibe Crash

Broke Boom

Separated Uni

Jack


Jump shots

Sunday's post....

York Point was again the call with a 15 to 20 knot SW to W wind forecast. The air was warm 65+, even the water had warmed up considerably thanks to several days of 60 to 70 degree temps. The previous session the water was 37 and today it was 5 degrees warmer. Not bad for February.

The ride out the launch was a little hairy I almost didn't make it and if it weren't for instinctive reactions and lots of practice driving on slippery roads as a teenager I might not be doing much sailing for a while. In my rush to get to launch I accidentally took the interstate off ramp at to high of speed It is a ramp that have used many times so I should know better but I was really anxious to get on the water. well it's really tight radius cloverleaf, fortunately it was pretty smooth and wide. I got off the Interstate traveling the legal speed limit of 65 but I only bled off about 10 mph of speed in the deceleration lane before entering the leaf. The moment I started the turn I knew it was to fast, a second later all 4 wheels started squealing. I knew if I hit the brakes I would just loop the truck into the guardrail so I hung with it drifting 3/4 of the way around the ramp. By then I had bled off enough speed that the truck regained grip. After that hair raising experience I will be sure to put pre-session day dreaming on hold while behind the wheel. There is a little chatter on James' blog about pre and post session driving.

The session was nice the wind was up and down. Two other guys came out to sail the launch with Dave an I. Pete T. and John G. a fellow blogger who has been on hiatus. Everyone was using larger sails 7.5 for Pete well downhauled and 6.7 for me with minor downhaul and 140 l freeride boards. John and Dave were on Formula with 9.5 and 11.5 sails respectively. There are two places that the wind backs off on a run in the SW and W direction. I don't know if it is just detaching from the surface in those areas because of the cool water or if a feature on the opposite shore is messing with the wind. Maybe it's a combination but it has happened in the same places the last couple sessions.

Pete did nicely on his kit. There were a few lulls that slowed him down but all in all he planed consistently. That's really no surprise, he is a very efficient sailor. Dave was flying all over the place.

John, well he had a rough day. He busted two downhaul lines while rigging his race sail. Dave loaned him a length of the "white line" so he could get out on the water. Unfortunately his run of broken gear wasn't quite over yet. He brought his board down to the waters edge and went back for his sail. Just then a strong gust came and picked up his board introducing it to one of the pilings on the pier. A nice 4 inch ding was the result of that introduction. I told him not to worry that was his third strike for the day so the streak of bad luck was over, plus I had a barely used thing of Marine Tex in my gear bag. He was out on the water with the rest of us in no time. The gusty conditions were a challenge for him when making the transitions but he was riding pretty well otherwise.

Since I was the last to rig and the wind seemed to be building. I figured I'd be ahead of the game on a smaller sail and just adjust outhaul and downhaul as the conditions changed. I should have rigged 7.8. I could have planed with that sail all day and easily handled the gusts. Oh well, live and learn.


John

Pete

Dave

Dying winds (This one looks better enlarged)

February sailing at York Point.

York point has turned out to be a great cold weather SW sailing site. When the tide is right you can sail in waist to chest deep water for nearly a mile. If it's low you can sail the channel and pretty much parallel the shallows. That was a real benefit Sunday, the air temp was in the upper 50 to low 60's but the water was around 37 degrees.

Dave and I hit it just after high tide. The winds were anywhere from 14 the 21 knots. Dave rigged up a 6.7 race sail and grabbed a slalom board. Even with the shallow water I wasn't real keen on spending much time in it so I grabbed my 140 l board and rigged a 5.8 and a 5.1.

Dave was pretty well lit, there were a couple areas where the holes were pronounced and we had to schlog through but for the most part we stayed powered. It took me a few runs to get my harness lines right. I can't figure out why they were so far up on the boom. Their position gave me fits in the early gusts but once they were in the sweet spot it was smooth sailing. Dave went out sans gloves so frequent breaks to warm the hands were in order. I sailed with full protection, the Glacier gloves kept my hands nice and toasty so my breaks were due to fatigue.

Toward the end of the session we got a half hour or so of stronger wind in the 18 to 25 knot range. I was still using the 5.8 and blasting on the edge of control in the strong gusts. That is until I hit a piece of chop wrong and got pitched. I often wonder just what I look like as those crashes occur. It has to be hilarious because I was laughing the whole time I was flying through the air and skipping across the water. The only part that wasn't funny was that cold water. After that I went in and swapped out sails. The 5.1 was better suited for the gusts unfortunately it was like hitting the brakes in the lulls.

I offered use of the 5.8 to Dave but he said his sail had so much range that he will usually go from it straight to a 5.0. He was right he handled it no problem. He looked like a rocket skimming the water. It would have been interesting to see the GPS speeds if he'd had one on.

I forgot to bring my camera so there aren't any photos.

After my last run I did come in and grab my cell phone hoping to get a little video clip of Dave coming back in. I was successful capturing the video and it looked pretty good on the little phone screen but on here it's not so good. The clip shows him completing a nice jibe around a channel marker then Murphy says hello on his way back out... Darn sand bars.


I know it's terrible. A video camera is on my wish list. I hear there is a new waterproof one coming out. I am available for product testing if someone wants to send one my way. If only I could get so lucky.

This coming weekend and part of next week we are looking at a string of 65 degree days. Might get a couple more February sessions in short order.

York point Session

Saturday I sailed with Dave Kashy at York Point. We started off at 1:00 to warm (mid 50's) SW winds and sunny skies. The wind was averaging around 15 mph when we rigged. Dave pulled out his Formula gear to prepare for the race he is attending down in Miami next week. I rigged 6.7 and grabed the Hifly.



The water was very low something like -1' on the tide graphs, plus the wind was blowing it out into the bay so we had to walk out a little bit to get to deeper water. By the time I finished rigging Dave had sailed his way out toward the bay and was making his way back in. I had never seen a Formula board in action and was amazed how high and how deep off the wind that thing would go.




While we sailed the wind continued to increase. I rigged my sail knowing this was likely to happen so early on I was jumping in and out of the straps quite a bit. There were a couple really good runs and as time progressed the gusts were more pronounced making things more challenging.

I figured I'd take a break after one more run out. Half way out the wind speed spiked. Fortunately I saw it comming so I locked in my stance and was able to continue sailing out through it. I made the sand bar where I was practicing my jibes and a more powerful gust ripped sail out of my hand. The wind didn't drop off much as the gust passed it was now sustained in the mid 20's. I started back in and I saw another gust blowing across the water I locked out and braced myself hoping to just punch through it and get back to shore. The wind had other ideas. This gust must have been pushing 30 mph. I was using every bit of strength I had to lever against the sail and over sheet, I just couldn't hold on. The board had topped out and it couldn't go any faster, it was like having a tug of war against 2 NFL linemen. I knew if I stayed hooked in it would likely result in an ugly Catapult so I managed to unhook. That way the sail could just get ripped out of my hands without taking me with it and avert a huge crash.

I held on like that for about twenty more seconds before the next puff finally put me in the water. The water was a brisk 43 degrees but I had my gloves and hood on so it wasn't bad at all. I tried a couple waterstarts but the sail size and high wind wouldn't allow it. I just stayed with the board till it got shallow enough to walk back in. While I was walking I kept thinking "didn't I just go through this same thing at Messick a couple days ago". I have to say today was much more difficult though due to the larger sail. See previous post

Once I was in, the wind continued blowing in the mid 20's or better. The sand being lifting off the beach confirmed this. While we rested and I contemplated rigging down. Dave asked my advice on placing some shrubs and trees that would likely get destroyed in the demolition. We grabbed some shovels and I helped him move them to a suitable location. It was kind of funny us out there in our wetsuits and booties digging up plants. I was sure glad the soil was soft.

The wind steadily dropped as it got closer to sunset and we decided to head out for one last sail. It was schlogging only so Dave did a little freestyle on his formula gear. He talked me into trying to sail back winded, I yelled back to him that I had never tried it and didn't want to fall in again. I was pretty much dry at this point. He assured me we were in shallow water so I tried it. I nearly made it around and then as expected, I ended up in the drink. My feet never did touch the bottom. I did try it a few more times since I was wet again, each attempt was unsuccessful. That is something I will have to work on when it warms up.

Well It is January 10th and I'm still sailing, 2 sessions so far this month. Once February is done the rest of the year will be a cakewalk. I want that 12 month club sweatshirt.

Dave

Tide is low

Dave the Wetsuit gardner.

If this is the price to pay for sailing this spot.

No Problem, glad to help.

Still need that haircut, and a shave too!