Paddle Boarder Dies on River

We had some south winds come up Sunday and Monday. Sunday from 3:00 to 5:00pm it blew pretty good. Dino sailed for an hour or so and said he was well powered on a 6.2. Monday it blew all day but not as hard and some rain came through. I was able to sail for an hour in the afternoon on a 7.0. There was a lot of commotion at the boat ramp with the Marine Patrol, Sheriffs dept. and a news van. Someone saw them removing a body from a boat and I found this link to T.C. Palm news saying a stand up paddle boarder had died.

Swap meet?

The causeway cookout is coming up on March 23rd and I was thinking we could have a swap meet. So bring that gear you no longer use and we could buy, sell, trade.

The Night Crew is Back

I was on the water yesterday at 5:30 and sailed till sunset. At times I thought it was going to die and then it would fill in with a vengance! I was on the 101L futura and a 7.0, the wind was out of the NW with a clear sky. James was there and we kind of pushed each other to see who would quit first. OK he was the last one to haul his rig out of the water.

Causeway Cookout

We thought we would have another cookout before folks start migrating north. When: Saturday March 23rd. Where: Stuart Causeway east island. Time: I will start firing up the grill around 2:30pm. Bring your favorite cookout food, beverage & appetite. I will bring ice, eating utensils, plates, cups & charcoal. Please talk this up with fellow windsurfers since I don't have everyones email address. See you there!

NW wind made for some chilly windsurfing yesterday, especially when the clouds came in. This is the first time I wore a full wetsuit this winter. I rigged a 7.0 on the 101L futura, I was glad I had a lot of downhaul because I was really powered at times.

Southwest wind blowing 25 - 30 mph provided some nice windsurfing yesterday. Mostly sunny skies with temps in the 80's made it especially nice.

Palm Beach, Aruba 2/12/13

Last stop on the cruise was Aruba. When sailing this beach it is an offshore wind so standing on the beach it seems real disappointing because there is no wind. However if you look carefully offshore you can see the white caps. I sailed out of the Vela windsurf site which was great because you had a nice selection of equipment to choose from but it was difficult to sail from. The shop is sandwiched between the Mariott on one side and an equally huge hotel being built on the other. They judged the wind to be 18 - 20mph off shore and I usually sail a 6.0 in 21mph. He said to rig one size up because of the gusty conditions. So I went out with a 7.2 on a 121L futura. I was able to get offshore without to much trouble but when I found the wind line I was super powered and the water was pretty choppy. So I decided to sail closer to shore and find the right combination of flatter water and wind speed and this worked pretty well. When sailing directly offshore of the hotels the wind was gusty in places and dead in others, however when sailing north of Vela it was great. The wind would fill in and near this rusted out boat this gentle ocean swell was coming in. Passing the boat you would pick up speed when bearing off on fairly flat water. Returning to Vela was a struggle with zero wind close to shore. This must have been an awesome place to sail before all the high rises were built. I logged 30mph top speed on my gps and sailed for 2 hours. For more photos click here: more photos.