Twisted

After many days of good forecasts that did not happen, the wind finally came yesterday. It had been windy all night long, and meter readings early in the morning were around 25. When we got to the beach, they were 23. When we got onto the water at around 10 am, they dropped to 20. Still enough to have fun, after a bit of re-rigging and switching boards.

Martin was smarter. He was at the beach at 8 am. When I started re-learning my Carve 360s, he showed me how it's done, carving through one in style, with the sail all the way down to the water. Thanks, Marty! I got a few good ones right after that. Seeing how it's done helps. A lot.

Then I saw Marty go for loop crashes. I asked him about it, and he said he was working on the sail ride part. So I figured I'd show him a Gecko Loop. That's a non-planing trick where you can practice pushing yourself up on the boom to ride the sail. I had just learned it at the ABK camp in Hatteras a couple of weeks ago.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that (a) I had learned the move in about 10-12 mph wind, and (b) when the wind picked up to 15-18, my tries got very bad, so that I quickly stopped. Here are a couple of pictures from these later tries:

In this try, I at least got the nose into the water, although not quite enough. Otherwise, the board is too flat - it should be tilted to the leeward edge is in the water, and the windward edge up. My back foot came out of the strap.

In this try, the board is even flatter - I did not even get the nose to go down. Fortunately, both of my feet got ripped out of the straps. This is somewhat similar to many bad loop tries I have done and seen where the timing is off.

When I tried to show Marty the Gecko Loop yesterday, I combined the worst elements of the two pictures above. I kept the board way to flat as in the second picture; but I also had my front foot nice and tight in the foot strap, so that it did not come out. That twisted the ankle in ways it was not supposed to be twisted. Quite a few tendons on the inside screamed at me in protest.

I took a little break to see if they would calm down, and then went back out for a trial run. But every little bump on the water sent little pain signals from my ankle, so I had to call it a day. Too bad, since the 25 mph wind returned a few hours later, and it was sunny and warm. But at least we were early enough to get a seat at one of our favorite places on Main Street, and were pleasantly surprised that the new cook at Gringo's can make some decent veggie tacos. So overall, I'll call the day a win - several good things (wind, sun, friends on the water, and decent food) beat the one bad thing. Seems I was lucky, anyway, and did not break or tear anything: a day later, I can walk (mostly) without pain, so this seems to be just a little strain that should go away in a few days. Maybe even in time for more wind on Tuesday...

New Toy

The new toy:

The story:

It is dangerous to visit the windsurf stores here in Hatteras. They have way too many cool toys! Ocean Air is bad enough, but at least they have some kites to distract you. No such luck at Wind-NC. My advice: if Andy starts using his high-pressure sales tactics ("You might be interested in this..."), plug your ears, and run out of the store!

A couple of days ago, Nina needed a new outhaul line, so we stopped at Wind-NC. I should have known better to come in with her! Right away, Andy pointed out a little board he had lying on his big "Buy This" table: an Isonic W54 speedboard. I was not in the market for a speedboard. Sure, a few years ago, when Cesar planted the idea of speedsurfing in my head, I had bought an old F2 Missile. But its 62 liters were not quite enough for my 200 lb and the gusty and unreliable winds we typically get. It took me quite a few sessions before I managed to get a few decent runs on the Missile. So the Missile ended up mostly as Nina's speedboard, which she jumps on every once in a while.

I suspect that Andy reads this blog. How else can you explain that he mentioned that the Isonic has 72 liters? Ok, maybe I asked, but still! I definitely told him that I did not want to know the price. A new board would go for about $2500. This board had never been used, but it had spend several years in the corner of a warehouse, forgotten an neglected. Which meant that the price had dropped to about 1/3rd of the price of a new board. And bad Andy told me so. Hook, line, and sinker.

The final straw was that I had a little accident with our van just before we came to Hatteras. Someone had opened their car door all the way just as I was pulling into a gas station. His door was toast, my van had a little dent. The insurance decided he should have checked his mirrors before opening the door all the way, and sent me a check for the repair. The amount on the check was exactly the same as the price Andy quoted me for the board. How could I possibly ignore such a sign? So I bought it.

Even the wind gods cooperated, and I got to take it out yesterday. I got it to start right away, without first sinking to my hips into the water - nice! It cut through the chop nicely, and I felt right at home. I even managed to jibe it dry after just a couple of tries, and went for a few little speed runs. No great speed yet, that will require a bit more tuning and practice (and maybe less chop). I can't wait to sail the board on really flat water, though!

Blowup Sail

We're back in Hatteras. The wind has been on the lighter side, but that has not kept us from having tons of fun. I got to play around with a blowup windsurf rig in light wind, thanks to the friendly folks at Ocean Air. It's amazingly light, sets up in 2 minutes flat, and is tons of fun. Great for playing around in light wind on a hot summer day, or to get your kids to windsurf! Nina right away suggested that it's perfect for trying Caesar Finies' trademark move, the Hail Mary:

Praying that the rig will come back...

Even with a rig that weighs almost nothing, it's not an easy move. Perhaps I did not pray enough, or maybe I forgot Andy Brandt's advice that you have to look good waiting. Or maybe I just was too eager to get the rig back:

No, it did not

Tons of fun to be had with this rig. I got all of the ABK instructors to try it, too, and they came back with smiles on their faces. Many thanks to Martine, Brian, and Chris from Ocean Air to letting us try it!

Nina used the light wind times to work on pirouette tricks, looking good (as always):