Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sandy Point, Maryland

March comes in like a Lion!

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY JANIS MARKOPOULOS
Woke up to find and inch of snow on the ground, and the wind out of the north and blowing 20 at Thomas Point Light. So Janis and I headed out for an early morning sesh, in the snow, at Sandy Point, which is just next to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
A fine day to go sailing!


Rigged my 5.8 and my floaty RRD.


Then Attila the Hun showed up.

In all seriousnes, he happens to be a friend of mine.

So while Ken rigged......


I headed out


Under a low cloud ceiling, and falling snow


There are rock jetties that you must navigate around at Sandy Point


You get silky smooth water on the inside between the jetties thats so sweet to carve gybes off of or...

work on your transitions.



In honor of Andy, who as I write this post is experiencing Maui for the first time, I carved a few gybes right in front of our own little rock garden


Be sure to check Andy's blog this week. Hopefully he'll be blogging on his Maui experience.


Two sailors at the spot is about as crowded as it usually gets.

Starboard!


Time for a heli-tack...

Nice set up, looking good..............

Doh!

A few of cool shot of Ken





Me again








Nice gybe sequence of Ken









Ok, sailing is done so now its time for a snowball fight!



Turns out Ken has some equipment failure today

His carbon mast cracked-the bottom half just at the ferrule.

Ken called me tonight, and he'd already submitted a warranty claim with Sailworks. Bruce Peterson himself had ALREADY responded to Ken's query, and promised and expeditious replacement. Talk about good customer service!

We have a sweet forecast toomorrow:

COASTAL WATERS FROM CAPE HENLOPEN TO FENWICK ISLAND DE OUT 20 NM-
937 PM EST SUN MAR 1 2009
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON

MON
N WINDS 25 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 35 KT...BECOMING NW
20 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 7 TO 11 FT...SUBSIDING TO 5 TO
8 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW IN THE MORNING...THEN SCATTERED SNOW
SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. VSBY 1 NM OR LESS IN THE MORNING.

TUE
NW WINDS 20 TO 25 KT...DIMINISHING TO 15 TO 20 KT IN THE
AFTERNOON. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT.

Problem is we also have 6-12 inches of snow forecasted, so the darn roads may be closed.

Live2saill
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: the storm has spun into a Noreaster. WINDY! But we're snowed in. Close to 9 inches of snow so far.





Bout 12 inches now

We heat our home primarily with a wood stove


This is all that remains from our original 3 and 1/2 cords. Heckava lot cheaper than oil lemme tell you


10 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I love you dady!!!!!!!!!!!

George Markopoulos said...

love you to sweetie!

Bill said...

Hey George,

Have you been marking your days in a calendar this year? You must be killing it for days on the water so far this winter!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for encouraging me to get out there George. I'm actually a little sore from our mild action!

The mast break was a surprise. My backbone skinny 400 and 430 have carried me through a lot of catapults, failed loop attempts and humiliating attempted beach starts in big shore break with no worries. My 460 hasn't gotten much use. Great customer support from Bruce. No doubt where my next rig purchases will come from!

George Markopoulos said...

Hey Ken, glad you could make it out. I had alot of fun, though sorry i didn't toss the forward like i promised. Most of the day, I really wasn't fully powered and my back foot wasn't ever entirely snug in the straps, but was always poised to resume the slogging stance. NEXT time we score a deep water venue together, i promise to throw myself over the bars with reckless abandon!

Bill, I've been fortunate. I scored something like 8 days in Feb, and now chalk another one up for March! However, may I suggest using the word "winter" in the past tense. As far as I'm concerned, we've turned the corner. Spring is just on the doorstep guys, we'll be headin out to to jam together at Lifeguard beach in no time at all!!!!!!.

Lano said...

I cant believe that snow! That looks so cold! I also cant believe how many pics you have have of yourself sailing and how many you put up on your blog, it must take ages to post up!

Dave,

Bill said...

I don't know George...snow here again in Nags Head yesterday?! Today, sub zero temps, and ice outside on my hut tub cover!

Though, at least the long term outlook on WindGuru had air temps climbing back into the mid 60s. Hopefully, they stay there for the majority of March and beyond!

George Markopoulos said...

Dave, my wife doesn't miss a shot!
If we can swing June, perhaps we'll get a few of you guys?

Lano said...

June 10 - July 2 - try and be there George! We are locked and loaded!