Hurricane Matthew related windsurfing session + red tide

Hurricane Matthew was a terrible tragedy for Haiti, and a major nuisance for some of the Southeast Atlantic coast. Here in Southwest Florida it was just a breezy Thursday and Friday. I was off work because the University had cautiously closed. So, I went windsurfing. This is a video of the session from Friday afternoon, which was the tail end of the strong wind. I went out on real small gear (4.7 sail, 83 liter board) and ended up having to rig a slightly bigger 5.5 sail after a while. The song in the video is White Riot by the clash.

Small board windsurfing 10-8-16 from James Douglass on Vimeo.

The only bad thing about the session was that the water was stinky and full of dead fish related to a Karenia brevis red tide bloom. The Florida Gulf Coast has had occasional red tides as long as records have been kept, but the scientific consensus is that the red tides have gotten worse in recent years due to coastal eutrophication; the pollution of nearshore waters by excessive nutrients from man-made sources like sewage and fertilizer. You can track Florida red tides on the FWC Red Tide website.