Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Finally, A Sesh!

Finally, after way too long, I got some windsurfing action last Sunday. The wind was fun at 10-22kts from the SW. I picked up stranded James and a bunch of gear at 10 and we went to York River Seafood.

When we got there it was at the low end of the 10-22 range. I rigged my 6.6 on the Ultra Cat. I got some really fast runs as the breeze freshened. I did manage to get my rear foot in the forward strap. James was impressed with that run, but when I told him where my feet where, he made a funny face and said something snarky. I kept at it for a while longer.

The wind was increasing and James switched to a smaller sail. I switched to a 5.2m sail and a Mistral Prodigy beginner’s board (250L), at James’ urging. I’m glad I did; it was very fun and easy to sail. I immediately got my feet in the straps and had some nuking runs. It was so easy to handle compared to my longboard. I may have to re-think my whole “longboards rule” philosophy.

The only painful thing that happened was when I had a lull and fell back with my foot, too far into the footstrap. I was under the sail, in the water, with my foot still painfully in the strap. I yanked hard and got out, to my relief.

I met Chris (Outdoorsman). It’s cool to meet someone from the blogosphere in person. Not only does it make blogging more fun, but now I know another local windsurfer to meet up with for future seshes. He advised me to be careful not to stick my feet too far into the foot straps and at the end of the day, he offered to let me ride his short board.

I wanted to but after over 5 hours of sailing, it was time to go. I had a party to attend, a storm was brewing and my arms felt like linguine. It was a great day, and as an added bonus, I didn’t rip any sails or break any boards!

Sam and James who was testing out the Prodigy rig
jgd and sam may 18 08

Sam with a little Hang Time
Sam May 18 08

3 comments:

Catapulting Aaron said...

Those prodigy's are good fun, dude... glad you got a good session. Getting stuck in the straps still happens to me. I usually don't realize until I'm half way through a jibe though =P

Outdrsmn said...

It was great to meet you too. You seem to be moving right along on the learning curve.
Don't give up on the long board, if you want to sail a lot you will need it. I sold mine to get the short board I was riding. There are days when it is blowing nice and steady just under 10 knots where I can barely get on plane with that board and my largest sail. Makes me wish I had kept the long one. By the way, the offer to try my board still stands for the next time we sail.

Unknown said...

So nice! Hun? It always bring a lot of fun in my mind when I went out for a adventurous longboarding. Some beginner riders can't make decision to select their suitable longboard from thousand of models. So there some Guide to select a perfect matched longboard for the newbie Riders.