Tuesday, November 1, 2011

John "Badass" Coelho

Shortly after I moved to Massachusetts last year I met a couple of really good wavesailors who were "dialed" at Nahant, my local launch. One of the dudes was named John Coelho. At first I didn't know his last name, so I just put him in my phone as "John Badass." Last weekend he proved that he deserved the name when he was one of only two windsurfers to successfully challenge the humongous waves and icy temperatures left in the wake of our freak October snowstorm. (The other victor was pro sailor Josh Angulo, though, truth be told, Angulo didn't get out there until the afternoon when things had mellowed out.) Here are some shots of Mr. Badass. I think they were taken by Jay Turcot, but I'm not sure.

Note the snow on the grass in the background.
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Well done, John. Maybe next time I'll join you... Or maybe not. :)

5 comments:

Morley said...

OK, your forgiven the girly-girly last post! This shows definite machismo, though I know some local ws girls who would probably give even those nutso conditions at least a try.

Guy has no helmet or hood? Water not cold yet then?

George Markopoulos said...

This is Mass?

James Douglass said...

Morley- The water is in the balmy mid 50s but the air was a frigid 40 degrees, if that. I have no idea how John was surviving without a hood. Like I said, he's a badass.

George- Yep. Nahant, Mass. There is a long, East-facing beach there that picks up big swells. The bonus is that the beach is on a low-lying causeway, and westerly frontal winds blow right over it to create epic side-off conditions.

Lady Notorious said...

Great shots. Doesn't even quite cover how intense those steamroller waves were.

Jay said...

Yea buddy! Those photos are courtesy of me! :o) -Jay