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This might be one of the Best Days Ever. I worked hard all morning and left the house about 1:30 or so and headed to Grassy Point. When I got there the regulars were there and had been sailing for a bit.
John, Mike M. & I arranged to sail upwind to the "Playground" -- an area with thigh to waist high chop in the 25 gusting to the low 30's we had. It's not easy getting there (wait until I tell you about getting back). It's almost straight upwind from the launch and you have to go around two points and an island. There are some really shallow spots on the way there and back, too, but the Playground itself is deeper -- some spots around 6 or so feet (over head high at least). I went to rig my 5.4 and we all sailed for about 30-45 minutes to make sure everything felt good. I'm glad for this because my harness lines were off (AGAIN!) and needed some arranging. My left wrist has been really sore lately, from a couple of whacks and poor computer posture. It was killing me for the first few minutes. I didn't know if I would be able to continue. I finally got the harness lines set right and felt better. I went in and got everyone together. Crab was a last minute addition, and being the most experienced, he led the way. We went upwind to about parallel with the island, tacked and headed around to the other side to a shallow spot near an old duck blind. There we stopped to regroup and made sure everyone made it okay (no problems by anyone), then we walked over a shallow area and launched again, sailing up to the main point, tacked, then upwind again to the main reach. When we got there it was blowing pretty heavily and I was overpowered at times. The board was pretty big in that chop, too, but I was stoked so it wasn't bothering me too much.
I'll tell you what, Bump & Jump is about the funnest thing I've done windsurfing. Coming from the small to medium-sized lakes in Montana to the Laguna meant I'd never really sailed any chop at all. This stuff was round, some organized, some not (depending on the bottom, I guess) and jumpable. I caught a little air a few times and had one really good wipeout. I could have jumped any old time I wanted, but I don't have that confidence yet. For the most part, I was just happy to keep it all together and rip along. I got tired after only about 30-45 minutes so I headed back the same way, which was very tiring! I was going well off the wind in overpowering conditions, but at least it was flat. My main worry was running aground or hitting an old gas barrel or something someone long ago had left behind. No such thing happened, but it was entertaining.
I came back to the beach and John had a cold beer waiting for me. I drank and chatted for a bit, then went out for another hour. All-in-all a fantastic day. I'm considering buying a used board from a friend, it's a 95 liter 1999 F2 Wave 264. It's an onshore wave board, so it would probably be pretty good for the 5.4 and 4.7. It's been repaired a few times, but the price is really low, so I might go for it. Maybe the fact we got our tax refund today, the day many people I know were filing for extensions, was an omen to go ahead and buy it.
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