Sunday, September 20, 2009

A Soul Searching Glorious Day At Assateague

All photography by Janis Markopoulos
Shot of the day


Jumpin my you know what off today-some big air out there wohoo!

Port my is strong side


Wow, what and absolutely amazing day on the Delmarva. I honestly didn't expect it to be as windy as it was-juiced 5.0, or as long as it was, 8 straight hours. I'm so dialed into the summer time conditions here, that by default I just threw my light wind kit in the truck, one board and one sail. Well its fall, and you really gotta bring everything. I surely will go to Wavejam this weekend loaded for bear.

As it turned out, I flatenned the 5.8, and had to deal with about 20 ltrs too much board, but its all good and I'm super stoked to have been blessed by another day of magical wavesailing on Assateague.



Nice sets rolling thru :)


Looking good! both the sail and the flag...


Here is a map of Assateague. All summer you could onto drive about 5 miles on account of the Plover restrictions. Well those restrictions where lifted Aug 28th, so today Janis and I drove out onto the sand and drove the length of the island. 11.8miles to the Md/Va state line.

Ken, my theory proved accurate. There was a significant current up north when I first pulled out onto the beach. So basically I figured that the natural curve of the island would have a mitigating effect on the current off of the North/North East wind. That was the case Ken. Only down side was the amount of gas I burned drived the 24+miles in 4wd. Sheesh :(. fyi the arrow on the left is the ramp where you drive onto the beach. The arrow on the right is the spot i sailed today

This is the state line. I believe you can walk thru, but not drive. Kinda reminded me of the Planet of the Apes.




Ken couldn't make it today as he had some errands to attend before Wavefest next weekend. So I went solo.


I launched around 9am, or about an hour after high tide.

Current and shorebreak where not bad because I drove the length of island.






I love sideon port conditions.


For me, wavesailing in side-on conditions has been a long learning process

because you really have to have the clew sheeted way out relative to the wind

and you gotta be flexible and twist your upper body and really commit




Nice set up....

Doh! side on is tough unless you really commit to the bottom turn. You can't sit on the tail






Birds eye view from the dunes

Toward the end of the day there where still some nuggets to be found





My awesome wife!

I had one very scary jump, my back foot came out of the straps on landing, tweaked my knees and strained my groin, but it wasn't too serious, just a little sore today.








Pack it up jack it up bring it on home

So I got what I wanted this weekend, and entire day of powered wavesailing an jumping, perfect tuneup for the Beast Of The East Wave competition next weekend.
We leave for Hatteras thursday night, and we'll be staying with Ken at his new place in Avon, a great beach house that is available for rent.

Check back for daily reports for the islands.

Cya in the straps!

Live2sail

5 comments:

Pål Rype said...

Not much beats powered wavesailing ! Good luck with the contest 1

Ken K said...

Cool windsurfari. Ironic that on all your recent schlog days the surf has been pretty sizeable and then with good wind you get a relatively small day.

Interesting results about the current.

Catapulting Aaron said...

sweet jumps!

Bill said...

Nice George!!
Looks like you will be well oiled for the contest this coming weekend. Great photos!!

PS: That big jump pic looked like perhaps there should have been a "Pull!" there..., aka loop?! : )

George Markopoulos said...

Before today, I must of gone two months without jumping. I certainly didn’t expect the wind to be so solid today, I mean look at the gear I used. I’m not making excuses, well I guess I am, but the board felt like a pig under my feat. That said, I did “pull” the back hand and went over the bars very early in the day. Alas the board didn’t come with me.

Hey, I’m saving it for this weekend!