Monday, May 5, 2008

A Good Saturday

Saturday, May 3, 2008 was as close to perfect as windsports in Tidewater, Virginia can get. It was warm and sunny with SW winds in the 10-20 knot range. Yes, it was gusty (you can see me caught in a lull in the slideshow), but relatively speaking it wasn't bad. What really made it special was the good group of windsurfers and kiters who all brought their stoke to the York River Seafood launch.

On the windsurf front there was local dude and photographer Chris Coyne (thanks for the pictures), W&M undergrad Greg Cooper, and VIMS Grad Students Heather Wiseman and me. On the kite front there were local dudes Paul and Eric, and VIMS Sail and Paddle Club President Sam Lake. Sam and Eric both brought their beautiful girlfriends out to spectate, which made all of us guys on the water step up the show-off factor. Eric really impressed everyone when he hit the bottom while braking near the shore and got yanked across the beach into the bulkhead. Ouch!

I sailed a 6.6 Aerotech Charge and 114 liter Fanatic Skate, which was just about right for the conditions. In the flat water near shore and in the lee of Allen's Island I was actually able to plane out of some jibes, more or less. Woo hoo!

I'm embedding Chris' pictures as a slide show, which I've never tried before. Hopefully it works out alright. I think you can click the slideshow to see the bigger pictures in my "windows live" album.


Windows Live Spaces

4 comments:

John said...

Glad to hear you got out saturday, it really was a beautiful windy day. I got out as well at buckroe, with out a wetsuit, on my new formula board. unfortunatly, i was by myself, windsurfing is always that much better when you are out with other people sharing the stoke.

Outdrsmn said...

Had a great time out there with everyone. Awesome launch and great people. Looking forward to the next wind event.

Catapulting Aaron said...

James, glad you got a great session... I'm down in the obx since Friday and there's been great wind every day. You oughta come down to Avon on Thursday or Friday if you can get away from the thesis! We've got a place for you to crash and many beers in the fridge...

James Douglass said...

Hey Dudes- Glad that everyone "got some" on Saturday. Aaron, that's awesome that you've got a whole week in the OBX. I'm in Ohio now so I can't visit, but I'll vicariously catch up on the windsurfing through your blog. :)