Tuesday turned out to be a great day on the water. I rigged a 7.0 on my 118L board. Wind was out of the SE and it was nice and sunny. I sailed with Art for an hour or so at the House of Refuge and had a blast. There was a group of porpoise in the area and they seemed to be having fun to. I saw Henry, workin Ron, Dave M, David, Jon and Fred out on the water.

Saturday I arrived at the causeway at 9:00 am and it was 53 degrees. (Dave M said to start early) Wind was north at 12 - 18 and wind chill was 42. I rigged a 7.0 on my 118L board and the first 45 minutes was OK and then the wind faded. I derigged and was talking to Dorian and then the wind started to come up. I rigged an 8.5 and went out on the formula board. There were quite a few sailors on the island at this point, it was around 12:00. (This was about the time Dave M finally showed up) I had plenty of power and it continued to build so after 1 1/2 hours I called it quits.
I wasn't able to go out Monday but Brandon called me about 3:00 and said it was blowing 5.0!
Tuesday I went out, it was forecasted to blow in the 30's. I rigged a 6.0 on my 88L board and it wasn't filled in enough. You could make some long runs but the wind would back off and leave you hunting for gusts. I switched to the 118L board and had plenty of speed but to much air under the board when the gust did come through. At the end of the day I was in Port Saint Lucie and the gusts were hitting 20 mph so I went to some ponds in Southbend. I rigged a 7.0 on my 118L board and went cruisin' for alligators. It involved a lot of jibbing since the pond was small and there was a very narrow spot where the wind really filled in. It was odd sailing in peoples backyards. Sarah stoped by since I was in her neighborhood and took some photos. Click on this link to see her photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamtaylorproductions/sets/72157612806232780/show/

Sonic Ron

1/17/9

Ron breaks sound barrier

Residents of Sewalls point and surrounding communities reported a muffled boom Saturday afternoon. Marion, a visitor to the area, remarked in a gravely voice, " why yes we were sitting in our sun room when we heard this boom and the dishes rattled" Her husband Jack joined in, "I was enjoying a hot cup of tea and spilled it when I heard the noise". The culprit of all this commotion was none other than Ron, a local windsurfer! His wife Ingrid said, "I kept telling him if he would close the gap on that sail he could sail really fast......and he did!"

Ron's cruisin'

1/16 David and Dino

The railings were rattlin'

Friday the wind was up (northwest at 26 - 30 mph) and the windsurfers were out. It was warmer and sunnier than I had expected. When the gusts came through the bridge railings directly above the island would rattle and it would help refocus my attention on what I was doing....get out on the water! I rigged a 5.0 and was on my 88L board and stayed a couple hundred yards north of the bridge. Jibing was easier on the west side of the river because the water was flatter. The channel had some pretty heavy chop and it was easy to go airborne when heading west. I had a great time and it was hard to walk away from. Tuesday was not so good. Wind was out of the southwest and I rigged a 7.0 on my 118L board. The wind was up and down and when the gusts came through the 7.0 was just right but the holes were so big a formula board would have helped.

Dave's jibing at the causeway

James with the House of Refuge in the background.

WooHoo what a day! Wind was SW so you could expect it to be up and down, and it was. I was on a 6.0 with my 88L board and for the most part I was rigged right. I tried to sail the channel but most times when I was lined up the wind would fade some and I would have to come off the wind. But I had a couple of good runs. At one point this huge gust came through and I stayed sheeted in, the board came up on its tail and then we went airborn. For the most part we were sailing from the east island south towards Sail Fish point and back.

Art's cruisin'. Check out the twist in the leach of his sail.

Ron's enjoying the wind and sunshine

Jon's coming out of a 360

1/1/09

Great day windsurfing to start the new year! I arrived at the causeway around 10:00 and Jenny and her dad were rigging. She took off on a 6.0 with an 88L board and was nicely powered so I rigged the same. I made a few runs south of the island and then headed out to the channel and worked my way over to the House of Refuge. I was out there for almost two hours when Art and James showed up. James and I raced around for a short time and then I headed back to the island. Once I got over to the west side of the channel I realized I would not be able to get back out to the House with this rig because the wind had faded some. The island was really crowded with windsurfers, it was quite a sight! I ate some food and couldn't decide if I wanted to go out again. Finally I grabbed my 118L board and went out for another hour. The wind was lined up so you could run up and down the channel and I was able to get behind this big cabin cruiser that was throwing out a huge wake and was able to surf it for quite a ways.