Sad day for watersports

Steve Schafer, a kite boarder, died from a shark attack off Stuart beach. My condolences to his family and friends.
Dino told me that Steve used to windsurf but that was before I took up the sport. Our paths crossed a couple times, once Steve and his friend Scott fished me out of the river when I broke a boom.
James Douglass, a marine biologist, who windsurfs at the Ft Pierce inlet has an interesting post on his blog.

Yesterday the wind was out of the N so I sailed at the south jetty in Ft Pierce. I rigged a 6.0 on my 92L board. I had trouble getting on plane on the way out but I could usually catch a wave and get planning on the way in. I will have to work on my light wind skills.

Flat water blasting to wave sailing, all in one weekend!

Saturday the wind was out of the south and shifting westward with the approaching front. I arrived at the causeway around 10:30 and rigged a 7.0 on my 118L board. Dorian was out on a 6.0 and was underpowered but he was expecting the wind to build. I had a good 2 hours on the water but as the wind clocked westward and dragged some clouds with it the holes got bigger and bigger. When I finished there was a lot of windsurfers and a handful of kitters at the causeway. I tried to take some pictures but two sets of batteries failed me. There was over a dozen rigs laying on the beach.
Sunday the wind was blowing out of the north at 22 mph. I met James D at the south jetty in Ft Pierce and Jon was there as well. That is the neatest place to learn to wave sail, the water on the south side of the jetty is flat and on an outgoing tide a nice clean swell is awaiting at the end of the jetty. I rigged a 5.2 (thanks James for loaning me the sail) on my 92L synchro and was nicely powered. To me the swell looked huge (Jon said waist high) but on the river the biggest I see is cabin cruiser wake. So for the first hour or so I was just getting used to this rolling landscape. I can't wait to go out again, maybe on a good southeast wind I will try the north jetty, although southeast at the House of Refuge is hard to beat.

Great sailing Sunday

The wind was out of the SSE and it was mostly cloudy. I arrived at the causeway at noon and there was a lot of sailors on the water. It sounded like the wind was trending upward and people were getting overpowered on their 6.0's, so I rigged a 5.0 on an F2 axxis 258. I pounded my way out to the House of Refuge and sailed for 2 1/2 hours. It seemed like the best water was just north of the spoil island. When you were heading west and crossing the channel the wind was really filled in and the water was real flat as you came into the shallows and it made for some real nice jibes. Dino and Austin headed out as I was coming in and Brandon showed up a short time later. I went out again briefly around 4 and the wind was even stronger.

video from 1/16/10

Alex bustin' some moves

Great weekend for windsurfing

Saturday the wind was steady out of the SE with heavy cloud cover. I rigged a 6.0 on the wave board and was on the water for the afternoon. There was a lot of sailors launching from both islands of the causeway. Art logged 85 miles on the gps with a top speed of 29 plus mph. Late in the afternoon when everyone was packing up James, Dino, Ron and I were racing each other back and forth across the river, it was a hoot.
Sunday the wind was out of the SW and it took a while to build. Once it came up it was a typical west wind with some holes. I rigged a 7.0 on the 118L board and was kind of dissapointed with all the holes. But the wind kept building till I had to rig a 6.0. By this time a lot of windsurfers and some kiteboarders were on the water. The wind was crazy, the gusts would come in like a freight train and I was wishing I had a smaller sail. Then it would go slack and you would do your best to coast to the next windline.