Green Recreation

Looks like your holding up 10.0 m sail :shock:
lets see some pics with you back in the straps and hooked in :wink:

ok ,i looked at all the of pics... your hooked in 8)

i have always found lake sail hard.. the winds tend to be sooo gusty ..

gotta come to the cape and sail some sweet SW thermals
 
That is a 7.5m sail. Winds were fairly light but picked up while I was out.

I'm just an aspiring intermediate. Just got my waterstart last season and am working on getting in the foot straps when on plane. It is difficult to do in the gusty south winds and I took a few headers that day when I wasn't ready for the gusts. That is par for the course when lake sailing. I actually like that it is up and down, especially in the beginning of the season...I get a chance to rest. But once I get my muscle memory back I'll be wanting more steady winds.

I was on my old big Starboard GO. I bought a brand new Excocet S-cross 120L board at the end of last season http://surfingsports.com/images/exocet_ ... 0_deck.jpg
I have yet to dial that thing in. That is my goal this season, along with feeling confident on-plane, feet in straps.

I LOVE this sport. It is so challenging and every day I go out I learn something new and move up a notch on the learning curve. It is very rewarding and exciting. I am psyched that I am finally back on the water. The water temps just got above 50 degrees. Our deep lakes stay cold for a while, but now they are manageable in a 4/3 wetsuit.

Driving 8 hours to Cape Cod would not be fuel efficient! I took up windsurfing because I can do it close to home from May through October. I know conditions are not ideal here, but when I go to The Gorge in August, I'll be psyched!! I am also going to Dewey Beach in October with our windsurf club. That will be my big road trip weekend.
 
Is that on Cayuga lake? Looking good on that board!
That's on my list for this year (or next); learn to windsurf so I can enjoy my Lake Ontario weekends without burning fuel. I got rid of the big boat two years ago, and I couldn't be happier.
Tom
 
I love the sport too, but waiting around for wind kinda gets old. I've been Windsurfing for 18 yrs and the thrill of planing never gets old. When you become proficient at a high speed carving jibe the sport will take on a orgasmic feel 8) .

I have sailed all over on the east coast and Aruba. Never at the Gorge can't wait to read the report...

By the way , the best sailing spot on the east coast. Barnegat Bay ,NJ.
Waist deep and warm for miles....
 
I had 2 skier friends take up windsurfing in a big way from 1987-1992. As jason notes, when you get good at it, you demand a minimum wind speed to plane consitently, which I recall from them being around 15 knots.

The SoCal coast thermal winds in the summer are fairly weak in most places and typically blow only from about 2-6PM. The Palos Verdes peninsula accelerates the wind a bit into Cabrillo Beach on its eastern side, so that's where my friends hung out. The California coast north of Point Conception is great, but SoCal is considered mediocre for serious windsurfers.

Both of my friends moved East. George in Connecticut still gets out some. Dave is in Charlotte, NC. He lives next to a lake, but the lake rarely has any wind at all. Anticipating the next question, Hatteras is an 8 hour drive, and he has hardly windsurfed at all the last 5+ years. Dave expects a long and gradual builup in his conditioning if he were ever to attain the skill level he had when he lived here.
 
You would be surprised how little conditioning you need , when you reach a certain level.
Give me a 18knot steady breeze with a 5.6m sail , i can lean back with my hands off the handle bars (boom) and just cruise. Similar in a way to skiing Deer Valley corduroy, doesn't take much effort. If you crank up the breeze and throw some chop into the mix, it's a different story.
 
When you become proficient at a high speed carving jibe the sport will take on a orgasmic feel
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This is what I'm aiming for...and it is a steep climb on the learning curve the get there, but I get closer and closer every time I go out.

Our club brings in a couple of pros for a clinic each June. I've come a long way since last June and I hope to get a lot out of this year's clinic and get closer to that orgasmic feel. Learning to jibe is on my to-do list!

While we don't always have planing conditions, there are plenty of other things to do on our lake. I also waterski (not very green, but lots of fun!) and just going out in a kayak is nice as well. It doesn't always have to be windy.

But it's windy right now, so I'm busting out of work early to get out there.
 
Cabrillo has 2 beaches, divided by the L.A. Harbor breakwater. The "Inside Beach" is therefore flat water, but the wind is almost directly offshore. Therefore amateurs such as myself occasionally have to be retrieved by Harbor Patrol and taken back to the beach. My friends usually sailed the "Outside Beach," which has cleaner water, side shore winds, usually a bit stronger, but also has a surf line to get through and swells when you're sailing. The outside is usually beyond my very low intermediate comfort zone.
 
Therefore amateurs such as myself occasionally have to be retrieved by Harbor Patrol and taken back
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Been there done that.. Decided one day to take a late afternoon sail across the Hudson River. It's a 3+ mile crossing, half way across i broke my universal /mast base. That's one mighty big river to be floating in all by your lonesome. Eventually i was picked up under the TZ by very nice boater.
 
Been there, done that...at the southern end of the Great Sacandaga Lake, in November, midweek, drysuit on, wind honking, rain/sleet fying sideways, five- or six-foot swells, alone, a mile or so out when my carbon mast snapped. There wasn't a soul in sight.

If you ever have that happen to you it sounds like a gunshot.

If you know that area, you know that it's mostly summer cottages in the area. Thank God a guy was working on one of them that aftenoon and noticed my predicament. He fortunately had his jet-skis stored at the cottage and hadn't yet winterized them and came out to get me. In 15 min. of paddling I'd barely gotten anywhere. I was just about to jettison what remained of my rig when I saw him coming out.
 
Admin":6rtk5wwv said:
Been there, done that...at the southern end of the Great Sacandaga Lake, in November, midweek, drysuit on, wind honking, rain/sleet fying sideways, five- or six-foot swells, alone, a mile or so out when my carbon mast snapped. There wasn't a soul in sight.

If you ever have that happen to you it sounds like a gunshot.

If you know that area, you know that it's mostly summer cottages in the area. Thank God a guy was working on one of them that aftenoon and noticed my predicament. He fortunately had his jet-skis stored at the cottage and hadn't yet winterized them and came out to get me. In 15 min. of paddling I'd barely gotten anywhere. I was just about to jettison what remained of my rig when I saw him coming out.
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Both of those stories (jason and admins) give me chills. Many adventurers have been in a solo situation when all of a sudden it becomes clear that you MIGHT be screwed. The great Sac is a huge lake - must be four miles wide down by mayfield. And it's definitely good fortune to be found like that at that time of year. What's with those cheap masts anyway.
 
What's with those cheap masts anyway.
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When i first started the sailing the mast were made out of aluminum or fiberglass. They were heavy ,but rock solid. Carbonfiber is nice and light, but fragile.
 
The only real fear in windsurfing (unlike whitewater kayaking) is being stranded out there with broken gear or an injury on a very windy day. There are usually not many boats out when it is very windy, and fewer if any in October when the winds are best. I don't mind windsurfing with the kiters. They are all really nice guys and I know if they hadn't seen me in a while, they would come looking for me. They even have 2 rescue boats, so I am on their listserve so I know when they are out.

Some windsurfers have issues with kiters, due to the amount of realestate they require and a bit of the badassness associated with it. Not unlike the rivalry between snowboarders and skiers. I have no problem with them and enjoy their company. Everyone is respectful and enouraging. We drink beer together when the wind dies down. Many of them used to be windsurfers anyway.

Yesterday I got an earful of how much more fun kiting is than windsurfing. It is also a lot more dangerous than windsurfing (right Admin?!?!?). As they were trying to convince me over to the darkside I pointed out that there are not many (if any) middle-aged women taking up kiting...and there may be a reason for that. I was with my friend who's got about 8 or 10 years on me, and she's just learning to windsurf. Not an easy undertaking for someone over 50. She couldn't even imagine kiting.

As I was poking along out in the middle of the lake with dying winds, the kiters whizzed by woohooing. Yeah, it looks like fun, but I just enjoy being out on the lake. When the winds pick up and I can get on plane, I get plenty of excitement. I think at my age, that is just fine.

I'm also not ready to get into another $$ sport anyway.
 
Sharon":i6a7rk3a said:
Yesterday I got an earful of how much more fun kiting is than windsurfing. It is also a lot more dangerous than windsurfing (right Admin?!?!?).
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:oops:
 
jasoncapecod":wutg7yj0 said:
When i first started the sailing the mast were made out of aluminum or fiberglass. They were heavy ,but rock solid. Carbonfiber is nice and light, but fragile.
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Makes you sorta think about how all the new airplane models are replacing aluminum with carbon fiber.
 
Good point, Rob. The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner is made heavily from carbon fiber (mostly to save weight and make the plane more fuel efficient), but you do have to wonder about the long-term durability of the planes. Needless to say, there are tremendous operating stresses on the fuselage of large jet aircraft. Even with the extensive testing that the airlines must do before getting FAA approval, time will tell if the planes hold up.
 
The shops near Cabrillo have been pushing kiting for the past few years. Supposedly it's easier to learn and better suited to gentle wind locales like Southern California.

Dave once took a couple of days in October and drove to Laughlin, Nevada to windsurf Lake Mojave. He hit great conditions with high winds funneling down Black Canyon below Hoover Dam. But Dave said he was the only one out there and would have been in big trouble if his equipment had failed.
 
Harvey44":3bfswxcu said:
Admin":3bfswxcu said:
If you ever have that happen to you it sounds like a gunshot.
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Both of those stories (jason and admins) give me chills. Many adventurers have been in a solo situation when all of a sudden it becomes clear that you MIGHT be screwed. The great Sac is a huge lake - must be four miles wide down by mayfield. And it's definitely good fortune to be found like that at that time of year. What's with those cheap masts anyway.
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I raced Hobie 18's for a bunch o' years. I grew up sailing Buzzards Bay where it blows 20+ knots in the afternoon most summer days and a Hobie will sail faster than true wind on a reach. I had a few, err, debacles...

I was out on a nice balmy April day wearing nothing but a hoodie. I capsized and the mast stuck in the mud. 2 big guys couldn't right the thing. After about 30 minutes, a sailboat came by and got me unstuck. He got a sail full of mud on his foredeck as thanks. That's probably the coldest I've ever been.

I got dismasted once 5 miles offshore after sticking the lee pontoon into a wave and pitch-poling. Fortunately, I had a handheld marine VHF aboard.

My closest call was blowing across the bay in the fog with pretty minimal visibility. I was just about passing astern of a tug when I noticed that it had a tow cable and there was a barge 1/4 mile behind it. Another 5 seconds and I would have hit the tow cable and I'd probably be dead.
 
Geoff wrote:

My closest call was blowing across the bay in the fog with pretty minimal visibility. I was just about passing astern of a tug when I noticed that it had a tow cable and there was a barge 1/4 mile behind it. Another 5 seconds and I would have hit the tow cable and I'd probably be dead.
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that is pretty f'n scarey!!! :shock:
 
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