Why Opposite End Windsurfing?

Long Island, NY
I really,really like to windsurf. It is my favorite thing to do, except for teaching kids about physics, that is. The only problem is that I am not so great at windsurfing, at least right now. Several people in my area have created windsurfing blogs, but they are really, really good at windsurfing (and not too shabby at blogging). So, I've decided to give a perspective from the opposite end of the windsurfing skill spectrum, hence the name Opposite End Windsurfing for my blog. In it, I will share the experiences of someone who is trying to become a really good windsurfer.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Most Reliable Wind Forecast Ever

So, I was thinking today when I clicked on my Yahoo mail account to check for new mail that I had finally found a way to get reliable wind forecasts. It seems to be the most reliable wind forecast available and I am even thinking of getting rid of my iwindsurf account. Who needs meters and meteorologists when one has access to the most reliable wind forecast ever, and it's free?

So, what is this most reliable wind forecast? The longislandwindsurfer group, of course. You see, I only use
my Yahoo email account for this group, so all of the mail I get is LIWG traffic. I don't even have to read the emails to find out if it's windy or not. Of course, if I want to find out WHERE it's blowing, I usually only have to read the subject lines of the emails.

What I have determined is this:

If there are more than 10 new emails in the morning, then the wind will be sailable, but not great. If there are more than, say, 18 emails in the morning, the wind will be really good. Less than 5 emails means it probably won't happen, while less than 2 (that would be 1 or 0) new emails means that it is a great day for a long bike ride.

So, I would like to say a big thank you to all of the members of the LIWG for providing me with this most reliable of wind forecasts.

The address for this awesome, accurate, and avid group of windsurfers is longislandwindsurfer@yahoo.com

Friday, September 10, 2010

The littlest RRD comes home..

Well, at least its the littlest RRD in my collection and it just came home to me today. As a result, the song for today is "Brown Eyed Girl". When you see the pictures of my new RRD FSW 85 X-Tech below, you will understand why I picked that song.



So now, I just need some wind to try this little baby out. I did sail after work on Tuesday, and it was another awesome day at Tanner Park. SW, low tide, so it was flat, flat, flat. I sailed 5.5/102 for almost a couple of hours. It was really blowing but I managed to hang on to the 5.5. For comparison, Jim M. went to a 4.0, but Scott D and the great George M. were also on 5.5's. It was a great session, even George M. went so far as to say I was soooo close to completing that elusive full planing jibe. He suggested I flip the sail sooner, and I will try that next time out. Anyway, without further ado, here are a couple pictures of this cool new little board:


















Sunday, September 5, 2010

At last...

a great day. No, I still haven't completed a full planing jibe but am getting closer and closer. Now I am getting onto the new jibe, clew first on a plane (sometimes). No song for today, but this little video should suffice (I apologize that I haven't learned how to add music yet, but I was able to edit it down to three minutes):


Tanner Park, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010 from Dennis Grunbeck on Vimeo.


Anyway, here's a little update. This past Thursday, Sept. 2, was the first day back to work for this year. So, naturally, there was some wind. I was able to get down to Tanner and start sailing some time after 3 PM. Sailed for about an hour and a half in perfect SW 5.5/102 conditions with Jim M. Took Friday off, supposed to have been a big hurricane, but it pretty much "Earled out" (aka "petered out"). I am sure loads of real windsurfers got some sailing in that day.

Yesterday, Saturday, the wind was from the West, not ideal for Tanner, but went there anyway. I was twitching all morning while looking at meters. The forecast was for 20-30 or something. I was so anxious, called Jim M, decided on Tanner. Well, it was really, really gusty, something like 11-31 knots. I went out on the Naish 85 Wave with 4.7, first time out on that board. I bought it used and thought it would be good for higher winds. It was hard to get it on a plane and the gusty wind really frustrated me and I didn't have a great day sailing. But, I did sail on 85 liter for the first time. However, Dave K and Scott seemed to be having a great time with their 5.3's, albeit way overpowered in the gusts. Curt E, Cecil, and Jim M were also in attendance. Another guy, Steve I think, showed up later on and he looked like he had a good time also. I guess I need more experience on smaller boards.

On to today. I ran down to the beach  (Tanner, again) as fast as I could, but with a newspaper as I was figuring that I would have to wait for wind. Nope. Wrong. Good thing. Curt E, Dave K, Cecil, and Jim M. were already there. Rigged 5.5/102 (my current fav. combo), the wind was more South than yesterday, but still almost perfectly sideshore, real low tide, but still pretty flat (see video above). It was a halcyon day. I know I've said that in a few places about today, but it's true. A gorgeous day, great breeze (a bit up and down, and started to die around 4:30 - 5:00 PM0, but all in all my fav conditions, fav board, etc. I had a grat time sailing today and feel super comfortable on the RRD FSW 102 C/K (I've called it an LTD before, but in 2007 the light weight versions were called C/K's - for carbon/kevlar). Turns really easily, planes easily ( I can now pump myself onto a plane), and just too much fun. Except............I've now used my GPS speed thing with this board and sail combo four times and 25, 26, 25, 25 (mph). Does the board have a speed limit or is it me? After a break today, I set out and went faster than I had all day (I think), but had turned off the GPS and had forgot to turn it back on. Oh well, maybe next time.

Jibing: as I stated above, getting better, esp. in these easier conditions. One thing I've learned is that if I do the sail flip boom to boom, with the boom shaka and underhanded grab, and throw mast to windward as I am looking ahead, then I almost always complete the jibe, just not on a plane. Also, I've learned to do the step a bit earlier than I have been and have been experimenting with how sharply I can turn this board (really sharp).

Until next time...............