I woke up very early to join the gang in a much-anticipated morning session. But we couldn't decide on where to sail. The list of places that were "it" went like this:
Demo*
Ponquogue
The Bowl
Gardiners Bay
Shinnecock Road
Shinnecock Park East
The Bowl (again)
East Landing.
We ended up sailing at the Bowl, where nobody seemed in a rush to go sailing. But after a whole lot of lollygagging Scott and I went out on 5.2/5.5's and big boards. We gagged for a little bit, then sailed powered while putting up with holes, and within twenty minutes we were ready to switch boards and rig down, which got the other lollygaggers…Jon Ford, the Wolf (who explained during some peak lollygaggery that the proper spelling of his last name is "vanderWolf" ) and Bill Barber motivated to rig.
Bowl conditions were sweet…head-high waves in nice sets rolling through clean, with sails running 4.7-5.2. After several hours of this the wind backed off, and we packed up and would have left were it not for the arrival of Fisherman, who wanted to windsurf and wanted company. In time the Wolf, Bill and the newly arrived Jimi Sobeck joined Fisherman for more wave action. Jimi in particular was tearing it up…frontside, backside, skidding across the tops of waves, and the rest of us were getting some worthy rides too. But while I had caught one of the best waves of my life earlier in the day (and didn't make a fool of myself on it) I used this second session to explore some fool moves and get ahead on my dues paying.
Scott (watching from shore) counted three major pummelings. At the time I said "yes there were three big ones" though one I now forget completely, the second involved failing to sail faster than an approaching 5-foot high wall of just-broken wave. The third I remember vividly: I was shlogging in a hole on the way out, but felt confident that I'd clear the wave jacking to eye-level before me. It was only when it had grown to seven feet high and started breaking perhaps five feet in front of me that I realized all was lost. I jumped off, rolled into a ball, and didn't have too bad a time going over the falls. At least one seal laughed at me as I surfaced to swim after my gear.
I'm glad we never went to East Landing. It was one of my favorite Bowl sessions.
*word is an epic session was had by the mid-Island crew at Demo!
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