Back to Reality...

and it's not too bad, however..... I came back from Hatteras two weeks ago and was looking forward to getting in a lot of windsurfing and building on my TOW, but have been only able to sail 4 times since then, and only about 2 - 2.5 hours per session. The two most recent sailing opportunities that I had were Friday and Saturday (yesterday) on 7.5/133l board, both at Tanner Park.

 Friday was quite interesting as the wind was on the light side to start and Jim M. and I were both on 7.5's. After an hour or so, the wind picked up. Enough that Jim went in and rigged down to a 5.8 and a smaller board. I was unwilling to waste sailing time (I started at around 4 PM, Jim had started at 2 PM or so) rerigging so I downhauled and out hauled the Ezzy Infinity 7.5 (new this year) and went back out. It was really windy (over 20 mph) and I had a bit of a time going upwind, but when I headed deep downwind my board just kept going faster and faster. It was, in the dictionary sense of the word not the slang over-used sense, AWESOME. I didn't have my GPS with me, but I did go by Jim one time almost like he was hardly moving and he said his GPS read about 24 mph around then. Really cool.

Yesterday, I got in about 2.5 hours with Jim M. again, again on 7.5's. This time it was more real 7.5 conditions and fun. Jeanne B. also came out for a while on a 6.0 and 101 liter board. Then, clouds rolled in and the wind died. but a fun day and good to sail two days in a row. Lessons learned from these two sessions: I need to get further to the leeward side when cranking into jibes and need to keep the weight on the inside rail in order to keep the board turning. As you can tell, still haven't done a full planing jibe but was really close the last day or two in Hatteras. Wish I could have stayed there for another week.

As it was, though, I did get to sail (plane) six days in a row down in Hatteras. It was great fun and actually perfect conditions since I hadn't really sailed since last fall (my two abortive attempts to sail earlier this year notwithstanding) and so the conditions down in OBX (I love saying that) ended up being perfect for me. Day 1 - 7.5/Pacer. Day 2 - 7.5/Pacer then to 7.5/133l. Day 3 - 6.3/Rogue Wave 102l. As you can see, the wind just built and built until it was like 30 on Thursday (Day 5) - sailed 4.2/85l although I probably would have been more comfortable on my 3.7, as George M. was. Then Day 6 it backed off a bit and I got back on the new Rogue Wave (which I've named "Stoker" in honor of my first boat, a Laser, that I got back in 1971 or 1972. Any way, that board is just amazing, and in spite of what Billy T. might think, who picked it up at Heck last week with a 32 cm weed fin in it and proclaimed "Wow, this thing really is solid". I took that to mean that it felt heavy. It's really not, it's pretty darn light. Anyway, it seems to plane in a fart and seems to be really fast, although I've gotten out on it 3 times now (twice in Hatteras, once at Heck since I got back).

Anyhow, I am still working towards completing that full planing jibe, but like I said to Jim yesterday, to expand on what Thomas Edison once said, I have now learned 5000 ways NOT to do a full planing jibe, so I am that much closer to it. It seems like I may never get it, but I know that I will and to be fair to myself, I've sailed so little the past two years (this is the first time I've gotten to sail in the spring in 3 years) that I really don't count those years as years sailing.

Oh, and you know how I mentioned in my last post that I had loaded all of my wetsuits? Well, I discovered over an hour into my trip that I hadn't put any wetsuits in the van at all. So, I ended up buying a 3/2 on the way to Frisco Woods at Ocean Air (where I ran into a contigent of LI'ers) on that first Sunday of vacation and ended up wearing it 3 days, if I remember correctly. The other days were all in board shorts. Oh, and the trip down on Saturday (the day  after my last post) ended up being "The Night of Tornados" in Va. and I stopped that night in Gloucester, Va. and saw the aftermath of a tornado strike on a middle school about a 1/4 mile down the road from where I pulled off for the night due to yet another traffic jam that night and seeing ambulance after ambulance go up the road the other way. I think I missed that tornado by 15 minutes or so. THAT was an AWESOME night also. I am thankful for having made it through that.

So, now that I have received the clew-view mount for my Go-Pro (invented by Jerry Evans at Chatham Wind and Time, whom I met at Hatteras - he was just a couple campsites over), and the windsurfing mounting plate for the Shadowbox, I can't wait to get out and make ride recordings and videos which I hope will advance my learning curve, plus provide insight as to how I really sail.

Btw, I've already made reservations for campsite 32 at Frisco Woods Campground for April vacation next year. That's my new favorite place in the world, much like Newport, RI was when I was racing sailboats.

Oh, and I need to thank Pete R. and his son Devon for helping me to have a great time. It was my first vacation in over two years and it was one of my all time best. Also, thanks to George M. and his kids for making me laugh so hard. It's been a long time since I laughed like that.