This weekend I met Hanna.

This weekend was an eventful one. RIR hosts the final Nextel Cup race before Chase the first Saturday night in September. It is one of the events I look forward to all summer. It ends up being a "Guys day". We go to the track early to tailgate. We grill some good food, drink beer and take in the sights. The sights are usually worth the price of the ticket. There is something about racing, alcohol and warm weather that lowers the inhibitions and brings out the exhibitionists. It is great fun and gets better when the drinkers inevitably go from just being drunk to being stupid drunk. I think of it as a people watchers paradise.


This year Hanna paid us a visit. No, I'm not referring to a woman at the track I'm referring to Tropical storm Hanna. She arrived Friday afternoon and commenced to stop all race activity till Sunday afternoon. It was actually a blessing because I would be able to try some high wind sailing. It may seem stupid that a person of my limited skill would look forward to sailing in a tropical storm but how else do you improve if you don't push the envelope. Of course I always take proper safety precautions. Don't sail alone, flotation vest even though the water was shallow, sail in safe location, etc... I even went out and got a helmet just in case.


The really good local sailors headed out early to catch the Southerly winds at Buckroe beach. A place that is well beyond my skill level. I held back a bit and waited till around noon. I knew that as the storm center got closer and the wind would start to shift and allow me to sail at Factory Point, one of the safer launches, in extreme conditions.


I did drive by Buckroe on my way to Factory Pt. just to see what it was like and to snap some photos of the action. The winds were SSW averaging 25 to 30 when I took these shots.

Click photos to enlarge




Unfortunately for me the crew that was there earlier had already packed up and headed home so I didn't get any action shots. There wasn't a whole lot of post session chatter but what I did read was this. (Please bear with me as this is my interpretation of the cypher.) The conditions were extreme it was all or nothing, no time to be timid. Some made it, some didn't, some ended up with busted gear.


When I showed up at Factory Pt. I expected there to be some people out sailing. Not a soul was there. The wind here was slightly offshore and really strong. It was averaging 28 mph on my handheld anemometer. There was no way I was going out alone so I sat around and waited. After about an hour A couple people showed up, looked at the conditions and determined it to be to strong and off shore for them and headed back home.


I really wanted to sail so I waited a little longer hoping the wind would drop off or someone else would show up. About 3:30 there was a message on the Letsrig mailing list from Alexander looking for a place to sail. I relayed the conditions where I was, now WSW averaging 28 and continuing to clock more west. While I was waiting for him to show the wind went due west and increased averaging 35 with gusts well over 40 for a good 20 minutes. I was thinking that I wouldn't get the chance to sail at all because there would be no way I could hold down my smallest sail, a 4.1 in those winds.

35mph average on the Back river



This is the highest windspeed I recorded. several much stronger gusts rocked the truck while I waited.





The winds did start to come back down and another sailor showed up. Craig was traveling through on his way to Myrtle Beach, SC. and decided to stop based on what he had read on the WET website regarding this launch. Alexander and John Quinn drove up in quick succession. Now it was on, 3 of us rigged our 4m sails and John rigged 4.5. Craig was the first out and it looked like the sail choice was right.


Craig setting up for a Jibe



Alexander


John finishing rigging his 4.5
Almost forgot the fin.
John did well holding down the 4.5 and even had it bagged out by the end of the session.



I first tried my Cross 102. I beach started and immediately went for the straps, the tail sunk the fin dug into the sand bottom and the wind dumped me. I tried again. This time I'll try to plane first then get in the straps then hook in. That attempt ended with and explosion of spray as the sail was ripped out of my hands by a gust as I blasted across the water. Next attempt plane, hook in, then straps. Result, catapult before I could get to the straps. I decided I didn't want to destroy my board so I headed back to the launch for a board change. I was dunked twice on the way back in but did manage to sail in control a good bit of the way, no straps or harness I just kept hanging off the boom like a monkey.


I grabbed my big board the 145L plastic Hifly Matrix, put the smallest fins I had on it and set out again. I know you might be thinking... More volume in those conditions???? I did this because I was told by a wise instructor to sail what I am comfortable on when trying something new. Now I'm not one to take baby steps so I had to at least try to use the smaller board first. The problem was I could have gotten in more sailing had I heeded his advice.


On the Matrix I still had the same problem, every time I went for the straps I would explode into the water. I went back to the beach and moved the straps to the novice position and problem solved. Made a couple runs, completed some tacks even attempted a jibe or two, all with only a few minor crashes. John did give me some high wind sailing advice before I got on the water that really helped. He told me to sheet in the sail instead of out to spill power in the gusts. It worked like a charm. I was starting to get comfortable but the wind was getting holey and the water was getting pretty shallow so it was time to call it a day. It was pretty cool though. I can now say I've sailed a Tropical Storm and I also got to use my 4.1 sail. Alexander mentioned it was good that I got to use it because it's the sail most likely to collect dust around here.


Just before we left we did spot a couple people sailing the Messick Point launch and I snapped these photos. Don't know who they are but they were flying across the water.

( Edit: 1 sailor identified, Dave T. )






There were a couple things that I learned. First, the over sheeting advice from John for sailing high winds was priceless.

Second, and I have to thank James for pointing this out as I certainly would have left the board at home. For learning something new or sailing in different conditions than your use to, it may be better to use a board that you are comfortable with rather than one that is more in line with the conditions. Now this may only be true in this specific instance because of the boards design or because of the venue but it was definately easier to sail the big board. The reason I say the venue might have helped is because even though the wind was upper 20's to mid 30's the chop and swell didn't get to bad.

That brings me to the third thing Factory Point is definitely a friendly venue especially if you are working on improving you skills. Just be mindful of the tides because of shallow water.




We did get to enjoy the race on Sunday. The tailgating was not nearly as fun as usual because of the midday start and the absence of my friends Rick and Frank. They both had to work Sunday so the postponement was bad news for them, fortunately they didn't have to eat the cost of tickets. The biggest disappointment other than Johnson winning, was having to listen to the Cleveland Browns get beat by the Cowboys while sitting completely stopped in post race traffic for 2 hours.

Vacation is over

--This is a double post. The older new post is just below this one. I got lazy and didn't plug the photos into the previous post till now--

All in all it was just what I needed as far as R&R. The wind definitely could have been better though. On Thursday, After I wrote the previous post I was blessed with 3 hours of planning wind. Once the storm cleared out we got some gusty SE in the 14 to 18 range and I even got use my 6.7 instead of the 7.8. That evening we went to our friends house for part two of our 8th annual seafood night. We bought way too much food for the previous night so we had to do it again.

Friday the wind was again light so we packed up the 4x4 and headed out to the beach nearest Hatteras inlet. I haven't done this in a couple years, I had forgotten how much fun it is. The surf was a blast to play in. The larger waves came in around 3 feet. The area where we were had a gentle sloping bottom and the tide was low. That combination allowed for some pretty good rides for the kids on the boogie boards.

ORV

That evening when we got back to the house there was a little wind, S 12 to 15. I grabbed the 7.8 again and made a few runs on the Hifly. Since the Cross hadn't been wet all week I put the 7.8 on it just to see what would happen. 7.8 is the largest recommended sail for the 102l Cross so I didn't have much hope of it doing anything with the 9.5 Surfgrass fin on it. Once the board got some forward momentum (schlogging) it just wanted to go upwind. I was really expecting to have to walk the board back upwind with the smallish fin and big sail. Strange thing was it actually schlogged upwind better than the Hifly with the 7.8 and twin 29 cm weed fins. I went ahead and sailed out to where the wind was stronger on my previous runs. Unfortunately the wind had dropped off so I couldn't get the board to plane up. Being that the wind was light I tried to tack the board to get back in. With the big sail on the small board naturally I fell in. I struggled for 15 minutes trying to get sailing again. I was bound and determined that I was not going to walk/swim the board back the 1/2 mile or so I sailed. The wind was too light to do a deep water beach start and the sail was to big to uphaul on that board. I'm sure with practice I could do it though. Finally I caught enough of a gust to mount the board. With great effort and what felt like a hula dance I was able to get enough momentum to get balanced and sail back to shore. I had to push hard with the rig to make the board go downwind, I managed to sail within 50 yds of my launch area. I would have never imagined having to do a downwind walk but that's what happened.

One of the other great things about being on Hatteras Island is the abundance of wildlife. The number of small crabs scurrying about after the rain surprised me. The kids found turtles, hermit crabs, skates and even had a water snake swim much too close while wadding in the sound. I saw a small sand shark swim by while in the ocean. There were numerous species of seabirds including the resident ducks and a crane. There was a possible Sasquatch sighting, we even had a Hornet doing ariel maneuvers directly behind us over the sound.

For those of you who don't believe in evolution here is the proof.

Sorry, I know I shouldn't poke fun at anyone but I couldn't resist.

FA-18 Hornet out of Oceana doing dog fighting maneuvers

I thought this Old growth juniper was pretty cool to look at.

It would make a great jigsaw puzzle.

Mid week vacation update.

Well what had looked to be a good week of windsurfing has followed this phrase titling one of my previous posts "The OBX is like a Box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get". Each day this week has fooled the forecasters the only day they got right was Monday when they forecasted light winds. Tuesday we were supposed to get a good SW flow topping out @ 20 it actually topped out at 12. The following day we were supposed to get NE 20 to 25 for a good portion of the day, E @ 12 would have been the accurate call. Wednesday we were expecting a good NE shifting to east and diminishing, then it was revised to ESE and building throughout the day to upper teens. Never materialized, only time it got over 15 was just before and during the couple of late day rain squalls. Here we are, it's Thursday and the forecasted upper teens wind has not materialized until right now during a thunderstorm that is going on as I type. I'm jonesing for some planning wind but I don't want to risk electrocution to do so. The real salt in the wound is it has been @ 20 the last couple days back home, What can you do?

The storm is upon us

That is not to say I haven't gotten out each day. I look forward to this vacation because I get to windsurf all I want and if there is enough breeze to move the board then I will sail. After my Kona Surf experiment I took it back and swapped it for the more beginner friendly Exocet Medium Cruiser. I rode that for an hour or so on Tuesday. That board makes for a really good first board and I believe with the right sized sail and a long fin it would end up being fun for recreational formula sailing.

On Wednesday I sailed my biggest gear again, there were just enough sustained gusts that you could plane every now and then. I tried to focus on sail trim to get the most power out of the available wind. Hopefully I learned something that will allow me to be more efficient in higher winds. I also practiced swimming my gear into waterstart position in the channel.

The bad thing is I messed up my wrist and ankle doing a light wind jibe in a foot of water. A gust backwinded the sail an knocked me off the board. I guess since the sail had power the additional force tweaked my ankle and bent my hand backward toward my forearm at an angle. The ankle is fine but the wrist still hurts, to top it off the strength is limited. I'm guessing it's just a mild sprain. It's definately not going to keep me off the water, if I can catch a break with the wind.

As far as non windsurfing activities I went surf fishing on Monday morning the weather was perfect. There was no wind which made the water glassy but the surf was awesome with chest high waves and some were even bigger in the sets. Kind of made me want to try surfing again. Andy apparently was out further south somewhere near the thunderstorm in the photos.

Sunrise on the OBX

Nice chest to head high sets and not a breath of wind

Thunderstorm headed offshore

I went fishing again Wednesday morning caught couple Taylor blues and a really weird fish it was a little over 2 feet long, really thin and 2 inches from top to bottom. It was a beautiful silver iridescent color it basically looked like a ribbon with teeth. Here is a cell photo, if you know what it is leave a comment.

Time to disconnect from reality

I'm down here on the Outer banks this week for our annual Family vacation. We stay in the village of Avon and live the island life for a week. No appointments, no schedules, no mentioning work, oops!!! broke my own rule. We pretty much go with the flow eat when we want, sleep when we want, windsurf when ever there is enough wind and drink plenty of adult beverages.


In other words a total disconnect from reality.


Saturday when we arrived we checked into our house, It a nice place directly on the sound. We spent an hour unloading our groceries and other stuff then another hour rigging up a couple sails and getting the boards ready, It's great to not have to rig and derig every time I want to sail. I did get out a little bit on my 7.8 and 140l Hifly for about an hour. Made a run way up past the transformers launch on the east northeasterly winds. That evening we went to a close friends house to celebrate his wife's birthday. Large quantities of Tequila, Vodka, Southern Comfort and Beer were consumed by all. Of course the price was paid the next day, several people were still quite groggy mid afternoon the next day. Thankfully I know when to call it quits.

Sunday was a light wind day only hit 10. I did rent a Kona surf for the kids to sail on. Of course I had to put it through the paces. I put the 7.8 on it rigged full. The board sailed really well, another mph or two and it would have planned. The glide was better than expected especially since it has less volume, less length, and less width than the Kona One. The dagger was sufficient to get you up wind although it is really stiff to operate. You can't deploy it while under way. The board I sailed does have the same dagger system as the Kona One, it's not the easy to operate Allgaier dagger that comes on the newest production models but it will stay in whatever position you put it in. All in all I would own it, it works pretty good for my 155 lbs in light winds. It was a little tippy for the lightweight newbies but they did manage, I ended up swaping it out for a Cruiser, a true beginner board.
I did SUP the Kona Surf. I really don't have anything to compare it too yet but I was able to do it with relative ease.


I did stop by Sailworld Avon and met Andy, seems like a great guy, and quite knowledgeable. I hope to see him out on the water Tuesday or Wednesday when we are expecting a N to NE 20+ day. I sure do hope it materializes.






Lightwind sailing the Kona Surf with a 7.8.
James, note the stance


Kristen sailing the Kona Surf



The Kids Standuping the Exocet cruiser and Kayaking

Another great day of sailing

Last Saturday was an awesome day for sailing enough wind to make experienced sailors happy and challenge aspiring intermediate sailors such as myself.




First, I have to say I've officially sailed more times over the last 12 months than I have in the last, well close to a decade of previous sailing. I know that sounds like it should be a huge number of sessions but considering I would get out a couple times a year, it's not.



The additional TOW has allowed me to progress and I'm actually starting to feel like a windsurfer. I'm getting comfortable sailing powered to slightly overpowered. I can sail in the straps when the board is set up properly, I can tell when the board isn't set up properly and I'm starting to understand what I need to do to fix it. I'm also finding I want to try riding my smaller board when the conditions warrant it's use. There are things I still have to work on, like committing my full weight to the harness, positioning the sail for waterstarting, properly setting up the gear before getting on the water etc.... But I am getting there.




On this day the planets were aligning. Usually there is wind when I have something I have to do. This day wasn't looking any different. I called my buddy to firm up plans for racing and found out he wasn't up for it. With Car Chief duties set aside I started to keep an eye on the IWS York River East sensor. The official forecast was calling for 10 to 15 SE with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. We got 15 to 20 SE and one brief rain shower, not even enough to get off the water other than to roll up the car windows.






I loaded up and rolled about 3:30 wind was 16SE and still building. I spent an extra 20 minutes driving around the vacationers that were parked on Interstate 64, most headed to the Outer Banks. I showed up at YRS around 4:50 by that time the wind was 18 SE. James showed up soon after and we rigged 5.8s. The launch area in this wind direction gets choppy but not unruly then about 100 yds out you get into some decent swell 3 footers give or take, beyond that is a flatwater paradise behind Allen's island. Great for practicing Jibes.






I had trouble getting comfortable on my Hifly Matrix. I just didn't feel right in the straps at all. If I kept my feet just in front of the straps everything felt great though it did result in a couple of catapults. All the discussion on the IWS Forum regarding helmets kept popping in my mind after each dunking. I don't wear one but I also never let go of the boom when I get tossed, I'm usually still hooked in. I did find out that a cup could have been beneficial after one trip over the bars.




Despite not getting in the straps I did get some good runs. I played around on the swell accelerating down the faces and then turning back to the top to do it over again. That acceleration was an intense feeling. I can only imagine what it feels like on a real wave I'm getting stoked to try it.



Riding small swell




I didn't do any tacks during the session I only practiced jibes. I was able to make one but I guarantee it wasn't pretty like this one.













Waterstarting was another thing I worked on today. I still have a difficult time getting the sail positioned and cleared especially in the swell. It is just exhausting even with a vest on. Something always gets out of position or the sail will loose lift when I'm in the trough then the clew will drop back down in the water causing me to have to re-clear it. If I'm able to just barely touch my toes on the bottom I can set up just fine and get under way. It's having to swim things around that gets me. The odd thing is I have very little trouble waterstarting my cammed 7.8. it's also the only sail I use a regular diameter mast on. Wonder if there is a connection?





After a while I pulled out my Cross 102 to give it a try.




James sailed it first and looked like he was really enjoying it. (Most of the photos are of him on it.) I jumped on, got right in the straps went blazing across the water until I went off the top of the first big swell. I don't know what happened but I ended up pointing the other direction board and all. Had the wind suddenly gone 180 I would have been in position to just pop up and sail away. As it was I wore myself out trying to get the sail in position to waterstart, again!
Once I drifted to an area where I could get my toes on the bottom I got back on the board and sailed no problem. I made up my mind that instead of burning the last of my energy trying to waterstart in the deeper water I would just sail closer to shore and get comfortable with the board. The wind was getting a bit more of a southerly component to it so I just had to pinch up wind on starboard and run slightly downwind on port to stay in the shallow areas. I was impressed with way the 9.5 True Ames Surfgrass fin went upwind. The jibe attempts even seemed easier on this board. It won't be long before I'm hitting my fair share.
Can't wait for more wind.

James launching off a ramp. That is the same boat in the earlier photo

but this is about three minutes later. I guess the conditions were too rough for them.

No were not in China. This foul smelling decomposing algae bloom greeted us at the launch.

Thank you urban sprawl. The seagulls seem to like it though.

This photo of James down in the swell shows the conditons. Nice white caps in the background, sail powered up and twisting off the top.

The swell is actually bigger than it looks. My vantage point for the photo is 12 feet above the water. That one was waist high about 3 to 3 1/2 feet.

OBX 'it's like a.....

box of chocolates you never know what you are gonna get"

I just got back from a 3 day trip to the OBX. I love that place!! We had a family reunion of sorts. Several members of my wife's family rent a house for the week then invite the rest to show up and stay a couple days. It's a fun trip and we always have a good time. This year I decided to bring my gear even though the forecast was terrible as far as the wind was concerned.


One of the great things about the OBX is the unpredictable nature of the weather. If you ever ask for advice on what gear you should bring when traveling to the OBX the only two words you should ever hear are "Bring Everything". If someone tells you different then they have never actually been there.

On this trip each day ended up being sailable, nothing epic but still shortboard conditions. Sunday the first full day started off light out of the east and ended up SSW 6.7 conditions at Windmill point in Nags Head. Monday in Salvo it made it to powered 5.8 conditions for an hour or two then backed off to 7.8 till dark. On Tuesday there was supposed to be a very light breeze out of the NE and it was for a couple hours in the morning. Then it ramped up to a steady NE at 18, ocean side. Could have been another 5.8 day but I was already packed up to head home plus I've never sailed in the ocean. With the wind swell and chop combining with the swell from Hurricane/TS Bertha the conditions were well beyond my skill level. I'm sure I would have sacrificed some gear just trying to get out through the shore pound. There were a couple kiters out enjoying it though.
I'm already counting the days till the next trip at the end of August.

No photos this time. Left the camera at home. It's to bad, the photo ops were plentiful. I could have had numerous shots like these on Andy's blog.

I'm not a wind jinx

The wind was holding in the upper teens most of the day on Monday at my normal launch so I decided to get in an evening session. I touched base with James to see if he was sailing and found him just arriving at the launch. I jumped in the car and 45 min later I was rigging my 6.7. James was already out blasting away on his 6.6 looked like he was buzzing some sailboats and Navy Destroyer coming in for resupply at the weapons station.

I figured I'd sail way out there where he was to see what it was like. I've never ventured out more than about 3/4's of a mile, he was probably two miles out in the deep water channel.

I hit the water, cleared the sea grass beds and jumped right up on plane. Passed the small boat channel marker and figured I'd use the crab pot buoys as visual aids to judge my upwind/downwind performance. Just after I passed the first buoy the wind dropped to around 10 mph. I figured it would come back so I kept on slogging out. 5 min later and still no significant increase in the wind speed so I headed back toward shore. All the while that term "wind jinx" repeated in my mind.

James first words to me were "You missed it". Those dreadful words that no windsurfer wants to hear and that no windsurfer is immune to. James packed up his gear and I decided to stay out and play around in the light wind. As he was derigging the wind increased slightly. I was beginning to plane again for short distances. After James left my persistence paid off. The wind came back enough for a couple planing runs.

I was nice being out there. The warm water, clear skies and the sun dropping low in the sky. It made for a picture perfect evening, unfortunately no camera. There was one other guy out in a sailing kayak that seemed to be enjoying it as much as I was.