A Tale of Two Sundays

As Joe4.7 had said on Saturday, "Manana". He had then pointed down, meaning it was going to be happening here, at Heck, on Sunday.

Sunday, Part One.

Woke up, got out of bed, checked the iWindsurf meters. 26 NE at Bayville. 23 NE at Gilgo. 11NE at GSB. What to do? First of all, when its NE, I historically have missed it because either 1. the weather is lousy (rain and all that stuff), which takes the stoke right out of me, 2. I don't get up early enough (NE seems to always die pretty quickly around here), or 3. I just simply don't know where to go.

Then, I checked the Long Island Windsurfer's Group forum on Yahoo (LIWGF). This REALLY bummed me out. It was 8:11 AM, or thereabouts. George and Pete (and probably others) were already sailing 4.2's at Overlook. Overlook? What and where is Overlook?

So, I went down to Heck. Heck, Joe4.7 called Heck yesterday, and he always seems to know what to do, right? Arrived at Heck at 9:30 AM. No wind. No cars. No people. Drove back up to the north shore to Crab Meadow. There was some wind, woo-hoo!! Bummer, though, the only two windsurfers were just leaving as the wind was starting to die. Was I going to miss yet another NE day? Even the kiters were preparing to leave. Well, since I had to go back to work in two days (today), I better go for it, I thought to myself. The guys who were leaving had been on 5.8. So, I rigged a 6.3, pulled out my beautiful and lovely RRD FSW 102 (that I really can't jibe) and went out. It wasn't constant, but I was planing most of the time. The water was, for me, super. Large (for me) swells, well spaced. Not the choppity, chop-chop stuff like Heck. Jumps (well, sort me, at least it seemed like it to me) on the way out, wave riding on the way in. Changed my life. Seriously. All my life I've had this thing about surfing and surfing lifestyle. I've been surfing like two or three times (not including body surfing). Over 35 years ago. In high school. Down at Tobay. My friend's Dad took us. He was real good. It was awesome.

Well, that's the feeling I had Sunday morning. Three runs in and out. Made 2 out of 3 jibes. Amazing, now I can jibe, awesome. Then the wind died out some, so I headed in. One cool thing is that a lifeguard was watching me, and as I walked by him he said "Are you Mr. G?". Good thing it was the best windsurfing I've ever done on that board. Turns out he is a student at the school where I teach. Today he was telling everybody what an awesome windsurfer I am. Just lucky, I guess.

So, I headed home just before noon, prepared to quit for the day, but happened to check iWindsurf one last time. GSB at like 25, ENE. This is it!!!

Sunday, Part Deux

I ran, as fast as my van would take me down to Heck. You know the feeling when it's blowing and you can't get there soon enough? The arteries around your heart are tense, your mind is blowing itself out through your ears, your legs are twitching, you feel like you are going to die if you don't get to the beach NOW. Well, that's what I was feeling. All thoughts of the morning are gone. Just MORE, MORE, going through my jellied brain.

And then, of course, some guy in front of me at the gate guard shack has to give the gate guard a hundred dollar bill or something, the gate guard is probably texting during the transaction, then the guy has to ask her an hour and a half of questions about who knows what. Finally, after about 5 hours, I finally roll through, go 25 times the speed limit to get to the beach, AND.... the parking lot is crowded and everybody has been sailing on 4.2s for hours. "Where were you?"

So, quickly rig the 4.2 and head out. I'm feeling all flushed about my newfound jibing ability from the morning. But this is Heck. Things are different here. The choppity chop-chop is worse than ever before. But, speed is good. Jibing is not so good. I think I made about 2 jibes all day. But what fun, oh what fun!!

Laughed it up with Curt, Sesel (sp?), even John M., who was doing amazing stuff like an Essex duck jibe. Really cool. Curt sailed across to other side with a few others. Joe4.7 was out on his old Bob Dill board. Some guy on a Maui Sails sail was jibing, tacking, doing amazing maneuveurs. Upwind Mike was doing his normal thing cranking out jibe after jibe without, seemingly, losing any speed whatsoever. Everybody was having an amazing day. "Someday", I thought to myself as I crashed for the umpteenth time.

But, you know that foot thing I talked about in my first post, well, that works. Helped me in the morning and I did it all day long. I am almost there. So close. Just need to do a thousand more jibe setups and entrances, and I am sure I will be able to do a carving, planing jibe in the not so distant future.

Yesterday, Monday, Labor Day:
Nothing really to talk about, except for talking to a few people. Then headed out on 7.5 , 133l to practice tacking, trying to get footwork right. Frustrating, but some progress made. Then laughed it up for a while before heading home and getting ready for the big day today. Wind tomorrow, they say, but I can't make it. Maybe Thursday afternoon. I sure hope so. If so, see you all there!!