June 2007 Trip Review: Saturday

The June expedition started normally enough. The team consisted of Jason, Amy, Jonathan, Marty, and myself. Amy, Jonathan, and Marty were first-time windsurfers. Welcome to the sport, guys. Jason and I are veterans, but only by our own very low standards.

The ride down was mostly uneventful. Except perhaps for the mystery of the flying frog. Amy and Jason tried to sleep a bit to make up for the 3 hours of sleep they got. Apparently they drove to Dallas to see a concert on Friday. The first thing Jason said to me that morning was "You're going to be so mad at us." I guess because they forgot to invite me.

We stopped for lunch on the island (I can't say where, we took a vow of secrecy) before cruising down to Worldwinds. The weather looked sad at this point, rainy and calm. But we're troopers, we don't just give up. Well, not today.

After finishing lunch at Worldwinds, Amy and Jason passed out in the Jetta while the rest of us watched windsurfing videos and waited for the weather to clear up. There was talk of giving up for the day (mutiny!), but we held things together until Don and Olivier gave the green light.

Jonathan and Marty started their beginner lesson -- their first hit. I rented a F2 Stoke 155 and a 5.3 meter sail. Each of us donned attractive wetsuit tops to dull the cool wind. Amy and Jason continued to recover from their concert the night before. Jason claimed that he would only sleep for a little bit longer, but I didn't believe him.

After an hour or two, Jason surprised me and joined us on the water. Now I know to believe. The man is made of stern stuff. Amy opted to read her book and hope for more inviting weather Sunday. She also kindly shot photos of us on the water.

Hours past. I think Jonathan gets voted king beginner windsurfer of the universe. He managed to return to Worldwinds without walking. He tacked all the way back, just like a champion.

We checked into our hotels and started the process of desalinization. Jason somehow got the shower slot before mine and spent 3 hours in there. He eventually popped out, announcing proudly that he had shaved his chest. This became the fallback joke of the trip. When in doubt just chide Jason.

For dinner, we hit the Waterstreet Seafood Co. Actually, first we went to the Waterstreet Oyster Bar. We decided there that the line was too long, so we got reservations at the Seafood Company.

We then suffered the delusion that the Oyster Bar was cheaper. Cheaper means better, so Jonathan left to get reservations there. While he was away we had a debate about the relative cheapness of the two restaurants. Careful weighing of the evidence let us conclude that the prices were identical just as Jonathan emerged with an Oyster reservation.

We immediately applied our new knowledge and sent Jonathan back to cancel the reservation. Our confusion worked out perfectly. Jonathan walked out of the Oyster Bar and lo! the Seafood Co. beeper beckons us to our table. We successfully distracted ourselves from our gnawing hunger. Teamwork!

After dinner, we drank beer and listened to some music on the Executive Surf Club patio. We then migrated to Cassidy's Irish pub to end the night with a round of tasty beverages and traditional Irish music.

Trip Plans: Corpus Christi July 20 - 22

You know the drill. Windsurfing fun starts Friday July 20. Ask for the day off or simply quit your job. We'll leave Austin at 7am and return on Sunday afternoon after sailing for a bit.

If you don't know the drill, take a look at previous trip posts.

To Join in the fun:

This is your to-do list. Please don't procrastinate -- hotel rooms and classes will fill fast:

1. If you have an invite please respond. If you don't have an invite, you can shoot a mail to john AT windaddict dot com.
   
2. Make reservations at the Best Western Marina Grand hotel, the Bayfront Plaza, or arrange to share a room with someone who did. Check in on 20 July, checkout 22 July. I am staying at the Best Western. When I checked, the 14 day advanced discount was the best deal there. You are responsible for your own hotel reservation.
3. Call Worldwinds at 1-800-793-7471 and schedule your classes, or reserve a board rental if you don't want to take a class. Tell them that you're with John Knox's group. At this point there still seem to be beginner (and other) classes open on Friday, but they do fill fast. Make a reservation ASAP. I am taking the Planing in the Harness class at 1pm on Friday.
   
4. Arrange to carpool and share your room. Feel free to post comments asking for rides or riders.
   

You can find more information on Worldwinds, what to pack, and more in other posts.

Planning for a July Trip

Planning for trips to Corpus has become more and more difficult as the number of interested folks has increased. To help me help you not be sad, please let me know of any bad July dates by commenting below. If you give me dates in person, by phone, by email, by IM, by fax, or by carrier pigeon, I will promptly forget them. On purpose.

Of course, I can't promise to please everyone with the dates I pick. Sorry about that. Even if desires don't conflict, hotel and Worldwinds availability might. Still, you face far better chances of getting to windsurf if you give me your details in the comments for this post.

So, what are you going to do right now? That's right, you're going to look at your calendar for July. Then you will leave a comment on this post. This comment will contain any dates that would conflict with a trip to Corpus Christi. Thanks!

Trip Plans: Corpus Christi June 23 - 25

Our next monthly trip to Corpus Christi has been scheduled for June 23-25. I think this will be trip #6.

We'll surf by day and enjoy Downtown Corpus by Night. Except for the windsurfing, everything is within walking distance of the hotel downtown. You can see the photos and posts from a past trip here, here, here, here.

If you have any questions, you can leave a comment, call me, or shoot an e-mail to john at windaddict dot com.

Feel free to invite others!

Lodging:

For lodging, I'm staying at the Best Western (Best Western Marina Grand Hotel). This hotel is downtown, right next to a marina on the bay. You can find more info on it elsewhere on the blog. Check-in time is 3pm, checkout time is noon.

To Join in the fun:

This is your to-do list. Please don't procrastinate -- rooms in this hotel will fill fast:

1. If you have an invite please respond. If you don't have an invite, you can shoot a mail to john AT windaddict dot com.
   
2. Make reservations at the Best Western Marina Grand hotel or arrange to share a room with someone who did. Check in on 23 June, checkout 25 June. When I checked, the AAA rate was the best deal. You are responsible for your own hotel reservation.
3. Call Worldwinds at 1-800-793-7471 and schedule your classes, or reserve a board rental if you don't want to take a class. Tell them that you're with John Knox's group. Please note that Beginner classes are quite full on the 23rd. There are beginner classes open on the 24th however, if you're willing to just rent a Kayak or otherwise amuse yourself on the 23rd.
   
4. Arrange to carpool and share your room. Feel free to post comments asking for rides or riders.
   

You can find more information on Worldwinds, what to pack, and more in other posts.

Class Suggestions:

Beginners:

You'll want to take the beginner class on Sunday (as noted above, you probably can't get a class on Saturday). You can ask Jay, Jason, Matt, Karen, Freddy, or anyone else -- it isn't hard, and it's lots of fun. The beginners class will probably start at 11:30 am.

On Monday, you might want to try the intermediate class if there are openings. I suggest at least giving it a shot, but it's up to you. The difficulty level increases a little, but it just means falling off the board a bit more often. Falling is half the fun.

Intermediate and Beyond:

I strongly suggest taking a class ASAP even if it is just to get a refresher. With a month between each surfing session, a refresher can mean the difference between struggling all weekend and moving on to the next level.

Don't forget to reserve a rental board for the days you don't want to schedule a class.

Schedule (suggested):

Saturday:

The drive from my place down to Corpus takes about 4 hours. If you live north, it will take longer. Lets leave Austin at 6:30am. This will give us some time to get there without rushing, and maybe pick up lunch along the way.

We should be surfing at Worldwinds by 11. Worldwinds closes at 6pm, so we should all be checked in at the hotel by 7pm or so. We'll desalinate and aim to grab dinner downtown at around 8pm. I'm thinking that I'd like to try the Waterstreet Oyster Bar.

Sunday:

Sunday, maybe we can get breakfast at La Bahia. After, Windsurfing class or practice for as long as we can take it. We'll play it by ear for dinner.

Monday:

Lets do breakfast at Agua Java. Afterwards, of course, more surfing. Around 2 or 3 pm, I'll probably drive back to Austin.

May 2007 Trip Review: Sunday

Sunday, like Saturday, started with rain. When I arrived at Bird Island near noon, black clouds hung on the horizon. Distant thunder rumbled ominously. But where I stood the sun peeked through the clouds and the winds hovered around 10 MPH.

I rented a board, the F2 Stoke 155 again. This time I got a 6 meter sail. I spent a couple of hours practicing tacks, beach starts, and trying to sail fast.

I'm starting to feel good about my fast tacks. Turning the board the final distance through the wind still trips me up occasionally, but not often. I found that it helps to tilt the sail out before moving it forward again. This speeds the rotation of the nose through the wind. Putting the mass of the rig over the water gives something to pull the nose against.

While practicing lots of quick tacks in shallow water I ran into Olivier teaching a class. He complimented my improving sailing ability (go me!) and said I should start using the harness. He suggested that I spend some time practicing hooking in and out.

Up to this point I admit I have been a bit afraid of the harness. I had taken a harness class, but I was still a bit worried about getting carried away to Mexico or catapulted.

Actually, I'm still not sure exactly what a catapult entails. The texts seem fuzzy on the definition. I imagine medieval siege engines, boulders sailing over walls. But perhaps it just means getting pulled down with the sail -- not so bad.

Anyhow, at this point I was feeling better about performing tacks and more in control of the board. Even if the harness pulled me to the straights of Florida, I'd be able to turn the board around and get back.

I rented a harness and followed Olivier's advice. I hooked in and out of the harness repeatedly. Gradually I became used to the process and my fears subsided. I ended up hooking in for longer runs and catching some gusts. A several times I even got up on plane for a moment.

Much to my amazement, I only got pulled down by the harness a two or three times. It didn't hurt, although one time it did take four tries to unhook the harness from the fallen rig. Each time I pulled the harness line out of the hook, it sprang right back in before I could roll off the sail.

I learned a few things about harness sailing. First, dumping the wind means twisting the sail. You can't just let go with your back hand while wearing a harness. That path leads to imbalance. No, instead it seems to work better to rotate the sail so the mast turns windward. Pull with the front hand, push with the back. This quickly reduces the force on the sail. Of course, you'll never go fast dodging every gust.

Second, with good wind you can put a lot of weight in the harness. I found it a bit difficult at first to rely on the harness to hold the force of the sail. I had to fight the urge to wrestle the boom with my arms. Despite my reluctance, putting weight on the harness seems fine. If the wind dies, recovering a stable standing position requires only a quick yank on the boom.

Still, I have many areas for improvement. I had a difficult time keeping the board pointed windward while hooked in. A beam reach seemed like the easiest position to sail while harnessed. I think this may have something to do with my positioning on the board, but I'm not sure.

I also still need some guidance on getting and staying on plane. Planing really excites the heck out of me, but my limited steering control makes it feel like riding an acme rocket. Perhaps practice will reveal a solution.

I headed in around 5:30 as Worldwinds threw a little party. Don cooked up some excellent sausage wraps and other yummy food. Having spent most of the day sailing, the food hit the spot. I chatted with some of the other sailors and ate like a pig.

I returned to the hotel, desalinated, and watched another big thunder storm move through the city. I retired with blistery hands, sunburned shoulders, and a smile.

May 2007 Trip Review: Saturday

Saturday didn't start off looking very promising. The weather report predicted rain, the sky hung dark, and the wind barely hit 5mph. There was a handful of folks sitting around Worldwinds reading, waiting for wind.

Through some miracle, the breeze hit the double digits around 2:30. I rented an F2 Stoke 155 with a 6 meter sail. By 4 the sun made its appearance and it looked like paradise. Suddenly there was a crowd on the water.

After an hour of sailing I decided to come in and get more sunscreen. When I came back to the beach I couldn't figure out which board was mine. I knew that I had a f2 stoke 155, but the sail on it seemed wrong. Nearby there was sail that looked like mine, but the board was a JP X-cite Ride 160 -- also wrong.

I bent down to take a closer look at the sail on the Stoke and was convinced I had walked into another dimension. In addition to the color, the harness lines definitely didn't match what I had just sailed, and the sail seemed huge. Do I fly around on giant sails in this alternate universe?

I touched the sail and nearly jumped out of my skin when Don shouted from the deck "That's not your board... Not unless you want a 9 meter sail."

I contemplated this and decided I definitely didn't want to sail the monster. I learned that one of Don's customers was performing research on the x-cite and the stoke. I talked to him as we walked to deeper water. The gent was planning on buying one of them to take back to Phoenix. Our boards were swapped so he could compare. Mystery solved.

Later my path crossed again with Mr. Phoenix on the water. We stopped to compare notes on the Stoke 155 and the x-cite ride 160. We both agreed first and foremost that the JP had a sinky nose. When performing tacks, the front tends to swamp and the chop washes over it.

The stoke felt like the front had a lot more float. In addition, the F2 felt more stable at low speeds. The board seemed to forgive small mistakes that would sink a rail of the JP.

However, the JP did seem to plane faster than the F2. Since I'm just starting to get the feel for planing, I'm not certain if the board or the rider should be blamed for this. Mr. Phoenix thought that the x-cite might possess more room for growth than the Stoke. A little instability leads to fun tricks perhaps?

Mr. Phoenix also noted that the fin on the Stoke seemed to break free easier than the JP. He seemed to think this was correctable. I can't say that I have the skills to have an opinion.

I'm finally starting to get the hang of fast tacks. Or, at least, I'm falling off a lot less, even when I sink the nose. I don't think I've quite put the fast in the tack, but I'm faster and I no longer tip-toe around the mast as much. Now I stomp around with big steps that miraculously don't throw me off the board. Steering feels more natural too.

Beach starts feel easier, even in deeper water. I'm successful around 75% of the time. Unless my cheapo aqua socks get pulled off by the muddy bottom.

I occasionally found myself planing. I'm still not sure how to control or maintain it, so it doesn't last long. Sure is fun though. If the weather cooperates perhaps I'll get help in my Sunday class.

Online Windsurfing Lessons

The Corpus trip is about three days away. Prepare yourself with some online training from US Windsurfing. Link.