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HUGE cold front moving down from the arctic was creating snow in Dallas and
sleet in Austin. We awoke in the morning to howling wind and 58 degrees,
and that was about as warm as it would get all day. Brian and Laura wanted
to go wavesail in Port Aransas, and even though I suck at wavesailing, I
want to get better and I need a heck of a lot of wind to get going on my
biggest wavesail (a 5.5) so.... off we went. The wind was as advertised
at Port Aranasas with the waves being slightly smaller than expected, which
suited me just fine, but it was COLD, extremely COLD. Colder than I'd
ever sailed. Brian immediately rigged along with some other folks while
Easter tourists looked on in parkas with disbelief. I was seriously about
to chicken out when Laura said she was going as well. At that point I figured
I had to go--after all I had brought my 5/3 suit and even my diving hood
in case I got to sail Lake Powell later this month. I had all the equipment
needed for the conditions, just not the talent! The water was warm, maybe
mid 70s which made for an apres ski hot tub kind of experience. You'd much
rather stay in the water than freeze on the beach. I sailed out through the
surf the first time without too much problem. My grip and forearms are usually
the first things to go and I was still fresh, even with my harness lines
being out of wack. Once I got to the outside I blew the jibe and started
working on adjusting things. I headed back in and eventually found myself
between two macking waves on a smaller midsize wave. The wave behind me
was too far back and no way to drop in on the wave in front of me, so I
hoped my little guy would form up for a good ride. It did, sort of. I
rode it backside way upwind (because I didn't trust I'd be able to keep
from heading down the beach). Eventually I'd gotten so far up, I decided
to actually swivel around and try sailing it downwind like everybody else.
Well, my little wave just kind of petered out and didn't have enough
power to keep me on a plane without any help from the wind. So I sunk.
Then tried to head back out through the surf. Only this time my arms were
shot, and I got a bit unlucky with the sets. I decided to retire to the
beach to rest up. After 30 minutes headed back out, but the wind had dropped
and I had a hard time even waterstarting the 5.5 and no power to punch
through the surf. In no time my arms gave up. I really need to hit the
gym. The conditions were excellent obviously. I just needed a bit more
power and a bit more strength. The same thing happened to me at Packery
last year--one trip out and back and then the arms were shot.
Instead of heading back to the *luxury* condo with my tail between my legs, I
decided to go to BIB to do the harness-potato thing giving my arms a rest and get a bit
more time on the water. So I derigged and drove off. Temperature just kept on dropping
and a light rain started to fall.
When I got to BIB it looked good enough for the same 5.5, especially since
the lines were already balanced. Had a great time for about an hour
essentially way overpowered (jibes were interesting) but then it really, really
picked up. One time I tried to flip the sail while down in the water and
the whole kit levetated and flew 10 feet downwind. So I rigged the 4.5
which is as small as I go. More good times and crazy, crazy overpowered jibes
until I was just worn out and the temperature had dropped to 48 degrees, my
new low temperature record. Time to pack it up and hit the hot tub!
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