To work on freestyle windsurfing is to fall a lot. “It’s a water sport,” instructor Jason Voss said in my first ABK clinic, “your goal is not to stay dry.” But as the water gets colder, falling is less and less entertaining, and the shallow, flat water that’s best for freestyling is usually the coldest. So when drysuit season begins, many of us hang up our freestyle slippers until the spring.
But what were we to do at South Jamesport last Friday? The wind was light, the bay was at very low tide and tres flat, and we were on our big freestyle boards. Peconic Jeff worked on his Vulcans, I played with 360’s and push tacks, and in the lulls we messed with all the usual spins while the Wolf headed to shore to munch Entenmanns.
Fortunately the bay was so shallow that most falls did not result in a head dunking. But Jeff reported an ice cream headache, and I had a few very, um…refreshing experiences myself. Anyhow it was good fun to start dusting off the freestyle cobwebs…unfortunately the wind died after two hours, leaving us all wanting more.
Leave a Reply