I am back, baby. After being unable to windsurf since October I managed four 2-hour sessions in Lac Bay: The previously reported 7.3 day, an 8.0 day (I haven’t sailed a rig that big in ten years), a 6.6, and then overpowered on a 5.9. I couldn’t pull off anything tricky (strictly jibes, duck jibes and tacks) and my recovering arm hurt quite a bit afterwards, but 8 hours in a week beats two minutes over the last several months. I am back, baby!
Lac Bay is wonderful. Truly the easiest place in the world to windsurf. Thigh deep 95 degree water, steady onshore breezes, the occasional amazing blue or yellow or green fish that swims by in crystal clear water. Very nice indeed. For three dimensional sailing you must do what Georges Pav and Marr did: tack and tack and tack until you finally get to the reef that separates Lac Bay from the Caribbean, then sail through the channel into the waves. Mr. Pav reported an excellent session out there!
Back on the flat water Sally (Jibe Sally Jibe) continued to close in on her first planing jibe (in one attempt she was still planing as the sail flipped…a perfect catch would have taken the gold ring but alas) and also is starting to take shortboard tacking seriously.
We met some brand new members of the tribe (Liz and Alex)…Alex is seriously addicted. He took his first windsurfing lesson, and then promptly went out and sailed for four hours, coming in only when I promised him he’d be crippled for the rest of the week if he didn’t take a break. After an hour of conversation we realized that Liz and Alex live around the corner from us in New York City…literally on the same block! We also met sailors from Toronto, Boston, and Lala Land.
Who we didn’t see were Bonaire’s three freestyle superstars: Kiri, Taty and Tonky (currently #2, #4 and #6 in the world) were not on the bay last week. George Pav reports "I sailed with Kiri 3 or 4 times…he waited for the stronger wind at the end of the week. I heard that Taty and Tonky left last week to train in higher winds in Fuerteventura."
There is of course a fourth dazzler on the water in Bonaire…I’ll tell a story about Caesar tomorrow.
(Top: The Bonaire wind cam last Friday. Bottom: Alex, Liz, Lili, the editor, and Sally make medicinal use of caipirinhas after some quality time on the water.)
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