Friday, August 22, 2008

Caribbean Crap Wind!!

Finally got some sailing in today! It really reminded me of the Caribbean out there. Crystal clear blue water, warm (well, hot), and some sucker wind. Just enough breeze to lure you out there, but not enough to really get you moving. Super up and down, just like the Caribbean! There were even those weird yellowish-orange weed clumps floating around. But who cares when there's a bit of swell and some nice poofy clouds in an otherwise blue sky? Very pretty out there today. The only thing missing were the rum shacks right on the beach!

Tough schlog out, if you mis-time it.... Stuart, facing a few walls of white waterStuart and I grabbed a morning session down at Isabel's, which lasted about 5 minutes for me. Schlogged out, pivot jibed onto the first wave I saw, got one good backside lip smack, and then proceeded to pearl on re-entry, go over the falls, and break my mast in half... Luckily, it was a nice clean break so the sail came away unscathed. I think that if there had been just a touch more wind, I would have been fine, but as it was, I had nothing to work with. Usually, in that scenario, I just tuck my chin and sheet in as hard as I can so as to rotate halfway through a "forward." That gets the mast to line up at least parallel with the wave. Today, however, with no juice at all, sheeting in just sent me straight forward and jammed the mast straight into the sandbar.... Doh! Heard it snap underwater, too... That's a pretty unique sound, and you always know *exactly* what it is. That didn't deter me, though. I had my surfboard, so I grabbed a few waves while Stuart kept on sailing.

Nice Long Faces. Stuart heads down the line.
I decided to head back down this afternoon, and ended up schlogging for a few hours. Frisco George and a visiting sailor named Takefumi were also out there, nabbing a few waves and enjoying the day. The afternoon session was WAY better than my morning sesh. Both the wind and wave directions were oscillating a little bit, so it kept it interesting. Some sections lined up for big backside smacks, others for some down the line action, and if you were lucky, some would line up for a few hits in both directions! Good, solid, summer-time fun!! Gotta love it!

The swell is supposed to build a bit over the next few days! Not sure about wind, but you never know around here... See ya out there!

9 comments:

George Markopoulos said...

Nice pics. glad you got some action. carnage huh! niiice.
glad stuart is back on it.

Catapulting Aaron said...

LOL yup... that's pretty much what it was in Bonaire. 6.0 if you were really lucky and even then, still usually underpowered. It'll just tease you for hours too..

James Douglass said...

I like your description of the mast-breaking sound.

The yellowish brown weed is Sargassum; the same kind that floats around in the Sargasso Sea / Bermuda Triangle area. Definitely a tropical visitor.

SlideHappySailor said...

Those "yellow clumps" are sargassum seaweed. makes sailors loose races.. also provide a wonderful offshore sanctuary for all kinds of critters. Which in turn cause delicious creates like Dolphin(see: Mahi-Mahi) and triple-tail(see: delicacy) to lurk underneath any clump off about 4' across or bigger.. The just of it: "You should have been fishing..."

Anonymous said...

It's Take,a Japanese sailor based in DC. I was so happy to watch your riding. See you in fall.

EC said...

WTF, save your mast for that never to be seen tropical swell we'll never get... Forecast is getting ridiculous, doldrums are hitting hard, booz is flowing and the withdrawals building.

Forget the mast, when we hit Ocracoke, whenever that is, there will be carnage, boards, masts, sails, flooded cars, broken egos and one big beach party.

Common' mother nature....

Andy said...

hmmm sounds like I should've been sailing a SUP while trolling a fishing lure off the back! Mahi mahi... mmmm....

Sorry for the name mess-up, Take! Good sailing with ya, hope to see you soon!

I hear ya EC... Not too worried about the mast, though, there's plenty more where that one came from! Small price to pay for a great afternoon on the water!

uglyjiber said...

i heard that sound underwater at waddell the other day.... so funny, if your gear is in your hands, you know the *instant* it happens - to fast to even be bummed about it!

Just another 'oh well'. small price to pay - that mast lasted me three years!

Anonymous said...

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love the waves...