The forecast was for funky wind from the south. South Jamesport was the call…Scott, the Wolf, George, Artie, Dan, Christian and your editor were on the scene. Artie and I arrived last, and given the flukeyness (“been here four hours sailed 40 minutes” Scott said) some held off while I threw up a 5.4. “I’ve got four different boards to put it on!” I said. Yeah kinda.
I launched on the 100 liter Skate. Scott said “get it now, look!” and pointed to dark clouds on the horizon. At this point I’m thinking “loss of sun means loss of wind.” So I jumped on it, planed a bit, but then got tired of gagging and came in. Just as Artie decided to launch on a borrowed 6 meter. Someone mentioned lightinging but The Art of Windsurfng was unimpressed. He launched, he was ripping, and as the dark clouds were getting closer I thought “go join him!”
It was a good time for about ten minutes. Then the view of the sky above was absolutely Steven Spielberg. I sailed in, and Artie was about 30 seconds behind me.
Everyone derigs and starts heading home. All of our phones go off as a TORNADO WARNING comes out. Driving becomes crazy…depending on where you were you got crazy rain, flying crap ripped off the road, hail. Further south in Shirley a small tornado touched down.
Damn.
Nobody got hurt. Artie and I got to be appropriately (for windsurfers) fun and stupid.
Always sail with a friend. Or six. Guys like these.
(Photos: The sky while we derigged, about 15 minutes before all hell broke loose. Me happy to be off the water, courtesy Artie. The tornado touching down in Shirley, via "Only in Mastic" on Instagram.)
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