Wednesday, August 17, 2011

First session of "Rocktober"? + Bday Shout-Outs

New England windsurfers call the fall season "Rocktober" because it's frequent Nor'Easter storms and blasting frontal systems make for epic riding conditions. August 15th, which also happens to be my awesome little sister's birthday, may have been the first day of Rocktober 2011. At first it just seemed like a dreary, drizzly washout, but as the East wind steadily ramped up into the 20+ knot range it started to look like paradise to wind-starved sailors like myself. I got on it at the Nahant causeway at about 5:45 pm, joining John Coelho and Fred on their 5.2 and 5.8 Ezzy sails. I rigged a 5.5 Aerotech for myself, and initially put it on my 106 liter Exocet Cross. That was a powerful combo for getting planing quickly, and blasting out though the crumbly waves. I was on the verge of overpowered, though, so I later switched to a smaller board- an 83 liter Starboard Evo. Good times.



PS- Happy Birthday Anna! (15 August 1982)
Photobucket

PPS- Happy Birthday Mom! (17 August 1947)
Photobucket
at

5 comments:

  1. Johnny DouglassAugust 17, 2011 at 1:18 PM

    I second the birthday wishes to those two great women.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AndyAugust 18, 2011 at 4:54 AM

    Dude, that first jibe was sick! Looked like a great day on the water!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brian SAugust 18, 2011 at 5:14 AM

    Looked like a fun session. Surprised how glassy the water looked in 20+!

    ReplyDelete
  4. James DouglassAugust 18, 2011 at 6:17 AM

    Dad- Yeah! Can't wait to see everybody in a month.

    Andy- Thanks, man. It was definitely a good shake-out kind of day.

    Brian- The big waves break gradually over a broad, shallow area, and they iron out a lot of the smaller wind-chop as they do so. It was bumpier than the wide-angle camera makes it look, though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lady NotoriousAugust 21, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    okay, the song totally makes the video. ;-)

    ReplyDelete