Christmas Eve Copper

A few years back I was driving down Westheimer Parkway on Christmas Eve. It was an icy cold and blustery day. The sort of day where you curl up on the sofa and watch TV with a hot drink.

There are a number of small bodies of water on Westheimer Parkway. I had never considered them sailable before, but on this day the NW wind was cranking and I spied white caps. I also coincidentally happened to have my gear in the van. What a stroke of luck! I pulled into the car park and quick as a flash the 5.3 and freestyle board were rigged and ready to go.

The wind was all over the place. It was either 30 or zero. So the key to making the most of it was to wait for the gust, blast to the other side, bust a move and repeat. The small body of water was fairly close to the road and passing vehicles kept honking their horns. Cool I thought...

Suddenly a loud voice barked "Exit the water immediately".
I looked upwind to see a police car parked next to my van.  "Uh-oh" I thought.
I threw a quick tack, sailed in and walked over to see what the problem was, feeling like a naughty child.
The policeman wound down his window and with a dead pan and grim look said "What you are doing is a federal offence. I can take you to jail for this."
All at once, the fun drained out of me "I'm sorry officer, I..I didn't realize." I stammered.
"Somebody called it in" he said.
"Are you serious?!" I replied before I could stop myself.
"That's right. Do it again and I will lock you up" he said breaking into a grin. "You must be crazy!"
"Yes. Probably". We laughed. "I won't do it again officer. Thank you and Merry Christmas!".

I derigged, put the heater on maximum and headed home.

Boards Mag

If you have even a smidgen of interest in wave sailing then this magazine is a must buy.

 

I picked it up in WHSmiths and haven't put it down for days. It's a veritable smorgasbord of everything wave sailing. There is a piece on 'Dream Quivers' which reckons I need not two but three wave boards for an all-round wave sailor! I knew it!! ;) Actually I pretty much agree with the choices but I would skip the small board and play with fins and mast track position on the larger down the line board to save a little bit of cash.

 

They test a couple of boards and include measurements of strap spread and distance from the tail of the straps and mast track. These are exactly the dimensions I found so interesting when comparing my Twin and custom. Unfortunately I don't know what their reference point is for the measurements. Middle of strap and mast track?

 

I was rather surprised to see an article on the Quatro guys in Abreojos, which I thought was officially a secret spot. I really need to get there this year. There is also a 'Complete Wavesailing Directory' which is cool. Only problem is, I couldn't find any Quatro boards listed! Ironic right? Like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a kni-ife. 

Awfully Windy

On account of the 330 degree wind direction, kicked off the day at Punish on 4.0. Had fun but it was awfully windy. After scrubbing off the excess energy, headed to Packery 'just in case' and it was looking pretty good even though it was NNW. Took a little video, this was the highlight:

Sorry Guillaume! I rode the Experiment at Packery. Too early to judge whether it's going to work for me but one thing is for sure. It turns harder, tighter and faster than anything I have ridden before.

The Experiment

Here it is:

Some background on how this beauty ended up sitting on my living room floor. I think everyone needs a two wave board quiver...don't they? One that is fast and loose for side-on and small wave days (my twin 84). Plus a second for dedicated down the line conditions in head high plus conditions. Previously my Quatro LS75 filled the second spot, but it was a bit small for slog and ride and the KT83 was my dream replacement.

Well I sold the 75 recently and started thinking about it's replacement and the KT was the obvious choice. I did have some reservations about the KT though. I had to find a used one, as I didn't expect to sail it a huge amount. Plus I felt like I wanted a shorter and wider version of the KT. Don't ask my why! I just did.

I asked the opinion of Alex, former Texas windsurfer, now residing on maui. And he was like "I'll sell you my Ho'okipa board". And I was like "Deal!". Here are the specs:

Click on it to see them!

It's interesting to compare it to the Twin which is already a pretty radical design. The length is a full 3 inches shorter than the twin, but the mast track and straps are simultaneously moved back 3 to 4 inches. It has more rocker, less finnage and the orientation of the front footstraps is clearly for surfing not blasting. It is very light (Alex said don't jump it when I rode it in the spring!) and it is wider but much tinner in the tail:

 

Tail thickness



Why did I call it "The Experiment"? As mentioned above, I did ride it at Ho'okipa briefly in the spring and it was super technical and difficult to sail! You don't want to be figuring out a board your first day at Ho'okipa in the middle of logo high waves and the best windsurfers in the world. So I don't actually know if it will work for me. Maybe I'm not ready for it yet. But that's half the fun. The experiment. The journey.  So yeah. I'm psyched. Just need some wind and good waves to try it out.

Bacliff

5:15 am - alarm goes off
5:16 am - check wind
5:30 am - get in truck
6:25 am - "Egg McMuffin with coffee please"
6:35 am - rig 4.2 in dark
6:45 till 7:55 am - shredding
7:56 am - derig
7:58 am - get in truck
7:59 am - wish I had brought a hair brush
9:02 am - arrive at work

El Nino

Up to now, this has been a pretty mediocre year for Texas wind. Don't get me wrong, there have been some great days but they have been mixed in with uncharacteristically long spells of no wind. Two of our best months, May and November, were practically windless.

The culprit could be El Nino conditions which we are currently experiencing. El Nino is supposed to bring increased rainfall to Texas which would reduce the thermal bump we get during SE winds. La Nina does the opposite. So, to see if this was the case I had a look at the history of El Nino and La Nina conditions and compared them with my recent Texas windsurfing history. I don't have statistics but my recollection goes like this:

• 2003 was light - worst year since I took up windsurfing
• 2006 was a stand out year
• 2010 was apparently awesome but not at the weekends...
• 2012 lots of windless spells

For the theory to hold up. 2003 and 2012 should have El Nino conditions whilst 2006 and 2010 should be La Nina. Here is the history of El Nino and La Nina conditions.

There does seem to be a bit of correlation between good Texas wind and La Nina, but really 2008 and 2011 should have been super duper awesome which I don't recall happening, but maybe that's because I'm just a weekender. 

I had this vision that I could find different spots that go off in either El Nino or La Nina conditions and plan windsurfing staycations and vacations accordingly but it looks like a red herring. If anyone reading this has some insight or solid data on this, I would love to hear from you!