“Where is Christian,” Tomas asked.
“In Hersey Pennsylvania, with a pistol in his mouth” I replied.
We are all grateful to Christian, who promised to be a wind sacrifice for the holiday weekend, and delivered mightily.
Friday: Olympic conditions at East Landing. George, Joe Natalie, Scott, Bill, Hulse, Tomas, Jonathan, the Wolf, a friend of Dr. Pain’s, me in 4.2-4.7 conditions with sweet ramps and rolling swell on the outside. I arrived, rigged my new 4.7, but then Bill came over and said the wind had dropped…I needed to rig bigger. Derigged the 4.7 just in time for Bill to come back over and tell me that the wind had come up…I should rig 4.7. Ha! 
Got out there and was sweetly overpowered for a few hours…then I was just overpowered. Air was cool (too cool for shorties) and blowing more from the North than we usually sail East Landing in (the reach was to the right instead of the left) but the Peconic was a warm welcome bathtub. Good jumping, good jibing off the swell…an excellent sesh! (editor's addition: I forget to mention the rain. Yeah the rain was sometimes blinding, sometimes hitting the water so hard that there was an "echo fog" from the rain splash a few feet off the water. Big deal…I'd take this day again in a second!)
Saturday: Sebonac Inlet, y’all. Tomas, Jan & Bruce, Felix, George, Joe, and your editor on five meter sails under sunny blue skies. For Felix it was his introduction to Sebonac, which while friendly was not serving up the trademark ramps. Took the 5.5 out. After 90 minutes (for me…George and Joe were on it early) the wind began to lighten, and some of us switched from chop hop mode to freestyle. I blew various attempts at donkey jibes and upwind 360's (hadn't hit a UW360 since Bonaire) before lightening winds forced us to pack it in. "We milked it to the end" George said.
Sunday: Return to Mecox. The forecast for Mecox was perfect: Warm building southerlies. Sally, Eileen and I launched from the Yacht Club…Sally on a 4.5, Eileen 5.0, and me on the 6.2/99 liter Skate (could have been on the 5.5). This was Sally's triumphant return to windsurfing after our February Bonaire trip. She felt overpowered but managed some deep water waterstarts, whilst Eileen claimed a perfect jibe. For myself it was mostly jibatorium step and ducks, as the UW360 continued to humiliate me. Until my very last attempt! Yes… Also on the water: Eileen's dog's vet (I sailed with two veterinarians in one weekend…a first) and one lucky guy with a house on the bay.
Three days of windsurfing on the Fourth of July weekend…that my puffins is a summer holiday!
(Top: Eileen and the editor inbound at the Yacht Club. Middle: Dr. Tomas is not in fact working with medical marijuana. Bottom: Sally shreds.)
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