This adventure actually began five years ago, when long-time friend Michael got me interested in windsurfing. He selected equipment for our family to purchase and then attempted to guide me how to set it up over the phone, prevented from coming in person by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mike is an expert windsurfer, and I have been desperate for a lesson ever since we first tried the equipment. He calls South Hampton and the Peconic Bay out on Long Island his base, putting him some four hours away from our lake house. So, what happened this week took a special kind of commitment. He came to visit and taught me both how to properly rig the sail, and to adjust my stance so that I had proper form on the board. We had a great day together.
Who is Michael?
Mike and I have known each other since we both attended TV production classes at Bayside High School. We became friends during my first year at NYU when we re-met on line for registration. We were both commuting to school from Whitestone, Queens (a bus and two trains, Yuk! I made a fun film about that!) We had classes together, worked on and sometimes starred-in each other’s videos and films.
I also owe Michael a debt of gratitude because he is the person who introduced me to several of my favorite things: the music of Carlos Santana, sushi, sake, novels by James Clavell & JRR Tolkein and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
In return, I used to build special effects circuits to put into his guitar and enrolled him as a roller skating clown for the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Mike is passionate about windsurfing. He began publishing an informative blog called Peconic Puffin way back in 2006. The website outlines his adventures on the water and the fun created within his community in the Peconic Bay. This class of hard-core aficionados often get airborne and are not shy to sail in drysuits in frigid temperatures and high winds. They are as serious about windsurfing as it gets!
Mike plays a record groove circa 1980
Rigging
Over the past five years I have tried my best to setup and use the equipment Mike selected (there’s only so much you can actually learn from Youtube). I am comfortable balancing on the board and positioning the sail when traveling downwind, but never learned how to tack through the wind successfully. This meant I could not direct the board into the direction the wind was coming from. So every windsurfing session resulted in the same, very long, “paddle of shame” back to our dock. As you will see later, some of this was my technique, but some was also the setup of the sail.
Michael and I started our session together by assembling the kit and Mike demonstrated appropriate tension to create luff on the sail. Overall, we needed substantially less tension than we had been providing on both the downhaul and the outhaul, to let the sail curve and provide the aerodynamic lift we need to turn through the wind.
It’s time for the lesson: Stance and Balance
After getting the rig set just right it was time to go on the water. The wind was light, coming from an easterly direction. In this case that meant it was effectively blocked by the hill our house is on. So the conditions on the water were like an eddy coming down off the mountain: extremely light and variable, shifting in a seemingly random manner, predominantly on-shore. This was not ideal, but we did get sufficient wind to teach and learn, and due to the conditions, I got a master-level class in my first lesson: Patience.
We took turns sailing. When it was my turn, Mike made suggestions about my stance and form from a nearby kayak. I learned to position myself with my front foot just in front of the mast, with toes pointed slightly towards the direction of travel, rear foot behind the centerboard. I also learned to reach further out with my leeward hand to create more lift from the sail. To make my tack, I need to add subtle pressure to my toes, helping the board carve into the direction of the wind. Lastly, my head position was all wrong. Mike repeated a windsurfing mantra “Look where you want to go. Only look at the sail when you buy it, rig it, or take it apart!”
I feel like I did well and learned a great deal. I cannot wait to try the new position with some consistent wind.
End of a fun day
After the morning lesson, Sherry fixed us a delicious lunch and we all went out for a boat ride to explore Candlewood Lake. Mike got a chance to drive “Unagi”, our SeaRay Sundeck power boat named after my favorite sushi, a fresh water eel.
After packing up and driving on land back to Westchester, we ended the day quite appropriately at a nearby sushi restaurant. I had some unagi, of course, and we both shared some sake. Mike and I reminisced about our time at NYU, including that now famous party with the grain alcohol in the “Jonestown Punch.” To this day, I am still not sure how I got home that night, but I am certain Mike was the sole reason I ended up in my own bed.