All Along The Watch Tower

Last night, temperatures in Maryland dropped into the single digits.


Ice is spreading on the eastern side (close to Terrapin Park) of the Chesapeake Bay. This picture was taken today 1/16/09.


Definately check out Andy's post for some wisdom on mitigating the pain of sailing in extreme conditions. Bottom line, you should really think twice about going out when its THIS cold.

So despite the possibility that I may be off the water for an extended period of several weeks because of the sub-freezing temps, I'm still smiling. Why? Well because I know that very soon, I'll once again be powered up with a small sail at Assateague, riding waves on the way in, and tossing huge aerials on the way out.

The minute I step onto that board, the pain of these mid-winter blues will just fade away. I'll be hooting and hollering, and grinning ear to ear. Or maybe it'll be that primo Hatteras forecast that forces me to cancel all prior commitments for a weekend trip! Yeah, windsurfing is definitely on the comeback trail here on the Delmarva!

These are Watch Towers at Fort Miles in Cape Henlopen, Delaware. They were used during World War Two to look out for German U-Boats.



Gun turrets


Here are a few pictures of Delaware Bay from February 2007

2007 was the last time we had a hard freeze, and my stretch of consecutive months on the water ended. Are those white caps out there....or ice bergs!?!

But for the freeze of Feb 2007, I would have close to 4 years of consecutive months sailing here on the east coast. As it stands now, I've sailed every month since Feb 07, so the streak is currently at 23 months.



Check out Makani's video of the Kona conditions that hit the north shore of Maui yesterday. Jason Polakow, Robby Swift, Kevin Pritchard, and Francisco Goya rip up the waves at Lanes. The conditions yesterday didn't reach the epic proportions of January 2007, but still it looked pretty big to me.

Giampalo also has a great video up that shows how difficult the conditions are, and the work it takes to get out. I particularly found interesting the segment of Francisco Goya on the rocks. His movements in that situation are so deliberate, with no panic.