Sunday, December 16, 2007

12/16/07 Rodanthe

SW to W 35-45. Air 65-70F, Water 60's. 3/2 no booties. Sailed JP 74RW for the 1st time. First went out with 3.7 and was overpowered. Tightened the sail and went back out, never felt really right, then wind died. Rigged 4.5 and whole different ball game. Felt great in all aspects, much better session. RW sails great but demands faster responses as it turns so fast. It goes rail to rail with ease and feels great in the air, handles chop great. Probably could take a 5.4 in a pinch.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

11/7/07-11/11/07 Windsurfing Weekend

Left NJ Wednesday AM and met Ted in Salisbury around 4PM. Arrived in Norfolk in time to get Dan at airport and went Tortilla West for dinner, Raav meeting us later that PM. Ted and I hitch up his Suburban and hit the road around 8AM. Windy as we cross the sound cold. 55F max. No wind in Waves but surprise solid 6.0/102 in Avon. NW so no wind really at Ego beach so session was at the hole. Me, Ted, Carl, Dan, Raav. 3/2 full no booties but should have had them. It was COLD. Shortish flat water sesh then to ASH to pick up the repaired Icon and I bought 2 shirts and a neoprene hat which worked great. Chad at OAR lent me booties, big TV and mattress. Dinner at the house with frozen pizzas and The Windsurfing Movie, Detroit Rock City and Dazed and Confused.

AM session Friday. At Barton's. Colder than day before but booties and hood help me. 6.0/102. Flat water, still no real wind on ocean. Dinner at some restaurant and 300 that eve.

Sat forecast does not disappoint. NNW 5.0/Acid Ego beach. Big, big jumps and decent wave riding which got better as the day went on. Locals showed up and about a dozen sailors at the max. It got windier as the day went on 4.5 on the sound and on the outside at the ocean. Stayed on the 5.4/Acid combo because still lightish on the inside. Really tiring but water was in the upper 60's. Much warmer than the sound. Sailed until the sun started going down. We went drinking at the bar from the night before and stayed there for several enjoyable hours with many locals showing up including Olaf and the dude from Sailworld, also the guys who rented all that gear from Windsurfing Hatteras who were in from Boston. Overall a great weekend. Carl's house was perfect and the group was geling.

Back to Norfolk Sunday AM.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

10/28/07 East Beach

Finally some real wind and some Acid action. N & NNW wind 25-30mph. Acid, 5.4. Large swells great sailing. Keith, Carl, Uvee, Tom Britt, Wayne, Alexander, a few others. Generally sailed upwind of the jetties and got as far back up the beach as possible to ride through the soup. BIG airs, nice wave rides and a back loop attempt, which will be landed soon. 35+ gust slammed me into my 5.4 Icon which ripped. Plan to send it to ASH and pick it back up for Windsurfing weekend. Oh yeah, short sleeve full, but was a little warm. Cuts on feet bothering me a little.

10/27/07 Corolla

A.M. drive to Corolla with Francis and Adam, stopping for SEC's at Hardees along the way. Took longboard and big windsurfing gear. Forecast was for south wind and SE swell 5'. Checked it at the Duck pier and the waves looked epic. NO wind and peeling and lined up. Got to Corolla more of the same. Met Pat and we surfed at Buck Island with some other guys for a little over 2 hours. Bareback, I had a slow start but got some great rides after an hour or so. Went to Tomato Patch for lunch, I had a cheesteak sub. Thought about not going back out but went out anyway this time Section C. Long sleeve shorty. Even better waves and more rides. Saw Face there. Drove back to ORF and picked up LJM to grab dinner with the family at Tortilla West. Red Sox game on, restaurant too cold. Great, great day.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

10/22/07 Virginia Beach 48th st.

Bab passed away yesterday AM. Wound up on 7.2 and 102. Really fun, thought about grandparents while sailing (a first). SE wind. Nice to be on the ocean. Had a hard time staying upwind. Sailed for 90 minutes or so. Wind died.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

10/20-10/21/07 Willoughby/Buckroe

Cut foot, 6.2/102 short sesh, flat, boring, lots o formula sailors, next day skunked at Broe.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

10/5/07-10/9/07 San Diego

Solid chest high waves in PB and Delmar. Great waves. Surfed with Plastic and Dan in Delmar on Saturday. Sunday same people at PB in waist high. Monday and Tuesday surfed alone at PB in waist high waves, AM only.

10/11/07 Seashore State Park

NW To W wind.15-30. Very gusty. Sailed 102 and 6.2. Me and Raav. Small but fun waves on the inside but we sailed out past the pound nets and into the mouth of the bay. Water was extremely jumbled. Tide ripping out, wind gusty, very bouncy uncomfortable ride. Fun though because of the skunk session at East Beach this AM. Some kiters out. Hope to sail in the AM. NOAA and IWindsurf disagree.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

9/29/07 Avon

LJM and Hooper accompanying me. Ate dinner w/ McKendree's Friday PM and stayed in Corolla that night. Next day arrived at the Hole around noon. Looked at Ego and decided to rig 6.2 and JP 102. By the time I got out it had increased to solid 5.0 so I decided to tighten the sail and stay with same gear. Got some of the biggest air I have ever had. Big jump after big jump after big jump. Real nice wave riding as well. Waist to chest. Sailed for almost 2 hours and then went to the sound and sailed with Karl for a while. He did a sweet fwd right in front of me. Went and had lunch, rigged down to 5.4 and went back out on the sound. Boring so went back to the ocean. Watched the Hatteras locals sail for about 1/2 hour before I went out. Sailed 102 and 5.4 but should have been on Acid. Too lazy to get it off the truck. Combination worked out well and had a great session with some of the dudes still out. Wave riding got a little tougher because swell started to angle away from the beach making it harder to wave ride. Nice session overall, finally got some real wind.

Friday, September 14, 2007

9/14/07 Buckroe

7.3 Disco/FSW102. Winds E to ESE 14-18. The disco and the 102 continue to be a light wind machine. Glenn, and old dude and George Lamb. Sailed about 2 hrs. some nice swells, nothing to rave about.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Sunday, September 9, 2007

9/9/07 Aydlett


Raav, Billy, Bob R., Contos, Wayne, an asian dude. Picked up Raav at a Walmart the size of Ghent outside of Elizabeth City. Tropical Storm Gabrielle; full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Well actually signifying ESE 5.4, 6.2, 102 and Acid. Various combinations. Wound up 6.2 on the outside practically to Whalehead Club. Nice 4-6' air came down and Powerex 430 snapped...POW! Raav witnessed entire thing and sailed in and he and Billy came to rescue in Billy's boat. No damage to sail or boom. Not too much action after that. A little 4.5 but only 1 run. Apparantly Raav and Bob had yet another conversation about the dreaded sandbar in Frisco. Raav peed in a water bottle on the ride home, met a dude from Hood River while buying beer. He declined when we offered a beer and handed us a business card made of hemp. Dinner at Zio's with The McGowster.

Buckroe 9/8/07

102 FSW/7.3 Disco. Slightly better than yesterday with larger more consistent swells and slightly stronger wind. Lots of guys out. Contos, Rowland, Jouchim, Britt, Glenn, Kashy and some other dude, Knight, Chad, Lisa. Duck jibes really working even some decent air in the gusts. Heading down to Aydlett this AM hoping to get on the RW74. We shall see.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

9/7/07 Buckroe Pier

FSW 102 and Disco 7.3. Winds almost straight onshore, with just a hint of south, ESE. Knight, Joachime, and Pete Wells of all people. One of the best 7.0 sessions I have had with the Disco. Sail and board felt great, Nexus harness definetely comfortable. MFC freewave fin seems slightly small when beating but shines on the swells, which there were many and some waist high. Had power most of the session but I really had to concentrate to sail fast. Knight was on a Techno and a 6.2 and was planing most of the time and was about the same speed as I was. 6.2 would never have gotten me moving on the 102. Sailed from 3:30ish to 6ish. Tom Britt showed at 5:30 and the wind died shortly thereafter. Tons of dolphins right with us, actually concerned about accidentally hitting one. Got to order a new door for my boomhead. Iwindsurf forecast was exactly correct with the wind switching and coming up in the early afternoon. Could happen again today but they are forecasting same scenario with less strength.

Monday, September 3, 2007

9/3/07 Atlantic Charter Offices, VA Beach


Atlantic Charter Office; Noonish.
Unwrapped JP Radical Wave 74II this afternoon with Raav and Hooper. Raav also received his copy of The Windsurfing Movie.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

9/1/07 Buckroe

6.2 gusty; JPFSW 102. Knight, Kashy, Uvee?, Britt, Had a few nice airs, not as great as I would have hoped but Buckroe never is. No Limitz 430 silver slid off the back of the truck; never to be seen again. Ouch. Spoke with Kashy in detail about his fins, and formula sailing in general. He offered to loan me some gear but had to go move some paintings. Called Pete Wells to replace mast, 50/50 at best for a result. Met Keiths' baby. Seeing Kashy with his new NP Hellcat and some F2 slalom board made me think maybe I need bigger gear...

Friday, August 31, 2007

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Corolla Trip 8/17

Went to Corolla Friday 8/17 pm after missing 4.5 wind in Hatteras. Iwindsurf and NOAA predict 6.0 wind for Sat AM in VA and Currituck. WRONG, 5-10 at best. Surf was OK. Sat afternoon provided knee high waves with waist to chest sets on the outside, but inconsistent. Long waits inbetween sets, caught a few decent rides. Sunday more of the same waves. Moderate SE wind not holding much interest. Knucklehead on the beach bitching that Hooper was not leashed. I ignored him, LJM did not. Those Bostons are vicious though. Watched the flags blow straight all Sun evening at Tides game with Dad, Roger, Rick and some Korean dude. Looking for a high wind board, want to get it before Hurricanes. Time is tight.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Friday 8/10/07

Hatteras trip with Raav, Karl, Chris B. Left Norfolk around noon. Took 2 separate cars, Rob & I with the trailer and Karl rode with Chris B. Stopped in at Sailworld and bought a new harness (Dakine NEXUS) and looked for a small wave board. Nothing in stock but the AB+ wave 82 ltr wave board looked good, nice v in the tail section. Might be great in a smaller size, will look into it.
Parked at the hole and sailed at EGO beach for a few hours. Acid and 5.4 Icon stock fin. Very gusty and rig was not well balanced, spinning out a lot when not fully powered. Waves generally small with some waist to chest sets. Caught a few nice waves, one in particular was chest high several nice turns. Some really nice tight jibes on the outside on faces of swells, ACID continues to be impressive in wavy conditions. Rob looked pretty good with several nice ducks and inside transitions, Karl looked better than either of us with the starboard jumps, easy 8-10fters, didn't see him in the waves. Crossed back over to sail the hole and hang with Chris B. conditions deteriorated quickly with more frequent wind fluctuations. Switched to JP FSW 102 w/ weed fin, and kept 5.4, OK for 15 minutes or so. Rob and Karl dicking around with freestyle moves, Robs vulcans continue to give him trouble and Karl showed us some nice shortboard tacks, willy skippers and helicopter tacks. That stuff does not seem fun to me but whatever. Chris B. said his session was ok, in the front strap for part of the day until wind died. Wind dies and we derig, have a few beers and head north around 7PM. Stopped for dinner around mp 8 on the beach road at some Mexican joint. Drunk at bar bitching to Karl about Americas cup. Fish Enchiladas, Pacifico and ride back North. Home around 10:45.
Not the trip I had hoped for, wind generally too gusty and a little too much west.