OBX Pilgrimage

Pretty much every year that I've been in grad school (don't ask me to count), the VIMS Sail and Paddle Club has done a fall trip to the Outer Banks, organized by me. We stay at a funky little campground in Rodanthe that caters to surfers and other lowlifes (like graduate students). This year we had our biggest trip ever, with 8 people (one year it was just me and my friend Keith).

It wasn't very windy, but since most of the people were newbies to windsurfing, that was no big deal. The weather was beautiful, and it was heavenly to glide over the Pamlico sound, looking down through the clear water at a mosaic of sand and seagrass. After s'mores on Saturday night the moon was so bright that I went for a nocturnal windsurfing session. WOW, what a neat feeling. (Don't worry mom, it was safe because of the shallow water, the lights on shore, and the complete lack of boats.)

[I had a picture of the moon over the water here.]

Despite the idyllic beauty of the calm weather, myself and fellow wind-addict Sam Lake (a kiteboarder) were jonesing for more wind so we could get our adrenaline fix. It finally kicked in from the North while we driving home on Highway 12 across Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. Of course we stopped at a pullout, ran out across the dunes, and frantically rigged up to shred in the ocean. I used my 6.9 sail and 114 liter board, and Sam used his 13 m kite.

Both of us were dialed, but Sam couldn't stay upwind because of the alongshore current, and he had to do "the walk" 3 or 4 times. Ha ha. The ocean was beautiful, tropical colors. At one point some small cownose rays swam by just under the surface in front of me, their graham-cracker colored backs contrasting sharply with the deep azure below them. Awesome.

I made it in and out of the surf zone without incident until the very last time I returned to shore, when I found myself in vanishing water in front of a rearing chunk of shorebreak that worked me pretty good. (See diagram) Next time I want to be just BEHIND the big wave instead of in front of it.

Saving the Environment?

Good grief. I got THIS in the mail today:


I swear, environmental organizations are some of the worst offenders when it comes to bulky paper mailings. Now I have to donate my life's savings to the environmental cause just to undo the damage inflicted by their overstuffed solicitation letter.

PS- To those of you who will be receiving Christmas cards from me on this free gift stationary, sorry for ruining the suprise.

Supernatural Experiences

Repetitive daily routines, clichéd popular culture, and confining, man-made landscapes can make you feel anxious and trapped.

[Original post had a picture from the movie Office Space.]

Fortunately, it is possible to break out of this mundane mire. Sometimes all it takes is a NATURAL experience, like going for a walk outside. Tuning in to the deeper rhythms of nature can help you transcend the petty stuff. However, if the world is really getting you down, it might take something stronger to rise above it; what I’m calling a SUPERNATURAL experience.

A supernatural experience is a natural experience, but with an extra edge of excitement and freedom. It requires not only a mental transcendence of the mundane, but a physical escape, as well. It involves defying assumed physical boundaries and doing something rare or seemingly impossible, like climbing to the top of a tree or scuba diving to the bottom of a lake.

Creative folks have found many routes to supernatural experiences. The video below shows how a guy named Frank in suburban Illinois escapes a dreary winter day with the magic of (what else?) windsurfing! The soundtrack is one of my favorite tunes by White Zombie; Electric Head, Part 1.

[Sorry the video is gone- You should just go windsurfing and experience it for yourself.]

It's crowded at the pinnacle of stupid

Kari Smith auctioned off tattoo space on her forehead for $10,000, reportedly to provide a better life for her son. Thanks, mom.

If you think this is funny, you might like the movie "Idiocracy". It's a comedy about a future dystopia in which society has been ridiculously dumbed-down by generations of bad tv, advertising, junk food, and only stupid people breeding. Here's the intro.

Happy Hour

Diffuse light and heat filled the atmosphere. August haze obscured the horizon. A 16-knot Southeasterly stirred the silty Chesapeake. Bay Tree Beach, isolated row of homes at a marsh margin, was as close as I could come to this humid breath from the Atlantic. I rigged my windsurf on a damp lawn aside a hurricane-prone house. (I'd befriended the owners the previous summer, and now they let me launch from their private beach.) Eager to escape the mosquitoes and flies in the lee of the house, I carried my equipment into the water, and with a sigh, sank up to my neck.

All I felt was wet. Everything else was neutral; the color, the temperature of the air and water, even my own mood. It was five fifteen on a Friday; happy hour, and I was alone, losing my senses in liquid. The reverie lasted a few moments, then, dutiful to my wind obsession, I lifted the sail and was pulled onto my board.

I windsurfed for a long time, carving in and amongst the soft swells, and now and then trailing a lazy hand in the tepid blood of the bay.

Don't ask me, I'll ask myself

There are times in life when you get asked the same questions over and over again. The questioners are usually well-meaning, but by sheer force of repetition, their questions can become mildly annoying. Here are the questions most commonly asked of people at different ages, along with typical answers:

To a little kid:
Q- How old are you?
A- Free and a haf

To a medium kid:
Q- What grade are you in?
A- Fourth, again.

To a teenager:
Q- What are your college plans?
A- Dude, I’m in the 7th grade, I don’t freakin’ know.

To a college student:
Q- What’s your major?
A- Uh, I'm still undecided.

To a graduate student:
Q- What are you studying?
A- You wouldn’t understand it- I don’t.

To an adult:
Q- How’s work?
A- I’ve been overwhelmingly busy and my coworker Mr. ______ is a dimwit.

To a parent:
Q- How are the kids?
A- They're all successful, attractive, well-behaved, athletic artist geniuses... on the inside.

To a retiree:
Q- How was your cruise?
A- Good, except for the Ebola.

To an old person:
Q- How’s your health?
A- Just kill me now.

Seriously, though, there are some questions that I am asked ALL all the time. I’ll try to answer some of them for real in this blog.

Career / Life questions

Q- What are you studying at VIMS?
A- I study eelgrass, which is a plant that lives under the ocean. Eelgrass needs unpolluted water to live, and it also depends on animals like shrimp and snails to keep its blades clean. I’m trying to learn more about animal interactions with seagrass so we can use that knowledge to help save it. There are lots of good reasons to save the eelgrass, like the fact that it helps clean the water, provides good habitat for fish, and protects shorelines from erosion.

Q- When do you graduate?
A- I hope to become Dr. James in May 2008.

Q- Then what are you going to do?
A- I’m not sure, but I’m applying for “post-docs”, which are low-level research positions at universities or other scientific institutions. After that I’ll try to climb the career ladder and get an interesting academic or government job related to marine biology and ecology.

Q- What’s it like living in Gloucester Point?
A- There aren't a lot of distractions.

Q- Where do you eventually want to live?
A- The West Coast would be nice, but the East Coast South of DC is ok.

Windsurfing Questions

Q- Have you been windsurfing lately?
A- Yeah.

Q- How fast can you go on that thing?
A- My fastest recorded speed was 31 mph. The world record is 54 mph.

Q- Can you do a flip?
A- No, just regular jumps. I’m still trying to get up the nerve to try a flip.

Q- Have you ever tried kiteboarding?
A- No, I have not. But it looks like like lots of fun.

Random Date Questions

Q- What kind of music do you like?
A- Mainly rock, reggae, and techno. I have some latent bohemian tendencies, but lack the motivation and cash to be a real hipster music connoisseur. My most recent album purchase was The Shins’ “Wincing the Night Away”.

Q- What do you look for in a woman?
A- I’m not going to go there.

If you have any questions I neglected to ask myself here, you can ask me in the comments section.

It’s lonely at the pinnacle of cool

“Formula” is a class of windsurf racing with giant sails, short, wide boards, and long fins. A formula windsurfer can get hydroplaning in lighter winds and sail around a course faster than any other type of windsurfer. Riding formula is an intense feeling of power and speed, and racing formula is like being in a jet plane dogfight.



Yet, only a tiny minority of windsurfers race in the formula class. If formula is so cool, why isn’t it more popular? Here’s my theory:

1. Too hard / too scary.

The biggest sails for recreational windsurfing are about the same size as the SMALLEST sails for formula windsurfing. But to keep up around the formula course, you need to rig big. The wide boards make it possible to handle an oversized sail, but it’s still a difficult and scary task, especially when you’re barreling downwind at breakneck speed. After a 20 minute formula race you’re exhausted, more than likely humiliated, and, if you’re Alan Bernau, the pain makes you ornery (see below).

2. Too expensive. All the gear for formula windsurfing is made to be ultra light and strong, which means it’s super pricey. The carbon boom alone can cost over $700, and because you’re pushing the equipment to the limit, you’re likely to break stuff and need lots of spares and replacements. Also, there’s a rapid arms-race with the gear, so to stay competitive you need to shell out for the latest and greatest stuff every year. What allowed me to dabble in formula for a few years was the glut of second and third hand equipment. In the picture below I’m riding Soheil Zahedi’s old Starboard F158 board, hanging on to John Quinn’s old 12.0 Gaastra Nitro III rig, and getting lift underwater from Alan Bernau’s old Curtis FR17 fin. I actually won a heat that day- the highlight of my brief formula career.

3. Too dependent on conditions. Though formula gear can get planing relatively early, it still requires at least 8 knots of wind to work properly. I’ve been to some events where the formula sailors waited around for days and never got to sail, while the traditional “longboard” windsurfers had lots of good races in light wind. Also, the long (70 cm) upright fins of formula boards are no good in shallow water, or water with seaweed or debris that can get snagged. And because the boards and sails are so big and lightly built, they are difficult and dangerous to launch where there are breaking waves (see Ron Kern pondering the shorebreak at Buckroe Beach in Hampton, VA).

Despite these disadvantages, there are a several formula fleets in the US. The best one is in San Francisco, where strong, consistent winds, high population density, and a culture of windsurfing and yacht racing create the perfect environment for hard-core formula racing. This year the US Windsurfing Nationals were held in San Francisco, where young racer Seth Besse took first place. I was rooting for Steve Bodner (2nd) and Andreas Macke (9th) because they both have cool blogs.

Maybe someday when I’m more upwardly mobile and I have a van, trailer, and / or a garage I will get back into formula windsurfing. Until then I’m pretty satisfied with the more low-key longboard racing.