Saturday, July 28, 2012

3rd day sailing this year

I'm pondering whether to change the blog title to "Rare windsurfing...." I have only sailed 3 times this year. Once in June and twice in July. After a tough working week, I decided that last Thursday forecast (SW winds gusting up to 30 knt) was a well-deserved gift from God so I headed to Shirley at round 3pm. The beach perennials (Steve and James) where already out on 6.0-ish. I rigged the 5.5/90L combo. Boys, it felt good to be on small gear after so long. Sweet port tack jumps! Obviously, after such a long period of inactivity, I could barely water-start but things are coming back... I had not crossed James in long time and (after seeing him wearing a helmet) my question were about the unfortunate accident that occurred at Shirley last year during the passage of hurricane Irene when Joe Rocco lost his life. James was the one who first pulled Joe out of the water. He told me the bay was littered with huge debris that day (such a massive chunk of dock). Joe had sustained severe head injuries but his board and fin didn't show apparent signs of damage as if he had hit a floating debris at full speed. James' rule is "always wear a helmet when it gets rough" and I think I'll stick to that too.
my favorite toy
James schlogging is way in after the wind dropped a notch. The cloud at the horizon is a big thunderstorm coming our way.

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